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Article Reference Reappraisal of the morphology and phylogenetic relationships of the middle Eocene alligatoroidDiplocynodondeponiae (Frey, Laemmert and Riess, 1987) based on a 3D-prepared specimen
We describe a three-dimensionally prepared specimen of Baryphracta deponiae from the middle Eocene of Messel (Darmstadt, Germany). Based on a phylogenetic analysis that included the addition of 20 novel scorings for characters previously unavailable for this taxon and the recoding of four additional characters, we found B. deponiae to be nested within Diplocynodon.We propose the new combination Diplocynodon deponiae. The name Baryphracta is thus a junior synonym of Diplocynodon. The small species D. deponiae (∼1 m in total length) shares several features with other species of Diplocynodon, including the presence of two subequal alveoli in the maxilla and dentary, exclusion of the splenial from the symphysis, and the shape of the iliac blade. However, it also differs in a few characters, including the presence of molariform teeth and the extension of osteoderms along the limbs and tail. Such osteodermal cover, which developed very early in ontogeny, easily distinguishes even small-sized specimens of D. deponiae from the co-occurring Diplocynodon darwini. The crocodylian fauna of Messel shows an astonishing diversity including at least seven taxa, with two belonging to the same genus. The two congeners exhibit differences in dentition and size that likely allowed for niche partitioning that minimized competition, thereby allowing them to be syntopic.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference A fossil albatross from the early Oligocene of the North Sea Basin
We describe a stem group representative of Diomedeidae from the early Oligocene (Rupelian) of Belgium. The fossil remains, wing, and pectoral girdle bones of two individuals are described as Tydea septentrionalis, gen. et sp. nov., and constitute the earliest well-established record of the taxon and the first Paleogene record from the North Sea Basin. The new species was about the size of the extant Black-browed Albatross (Thalassarche melanophris) and establishes that albatrosses had already reached a large size 30 mya. The wing bones of T. septentrionalis are distinguished by several plesiomorphic features from those of species in crown group Diomedeidae, which may indicate differences in aerodynamic performance between the fossil species and extant albatrosses. We detail that a previously described early Miocene species, “Plotornis” arvernensis, should be expunged from the fossil record of albatrosses. However, the new fossils provide further evidence that the extant, mainly Southern Hemispheric, distribution of albatrosses is relictual compared with the past distribution of the total group (stem group + crown group). With unambiguous records from the early Oligocene, early Miocene, and Pliocene, albatrosses are now known to have had a long evolutionary history in the European part of the North Atlantic, but the reasons for their extinction remain poorly understood
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference New postcranial Elements for the Early Eocene primitive fossil primate Teilhardina belgica
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Article Reference First evidence of reproductive adaptation to “Island effect” of a dwarf Cretaceous Romanian titanosaur, with embryonic integument in ovo
Background: The Cretaceous vertebrate assemblages of Romania are famous for geographically endemic dwarfed dinosaur taxa. We report the first complete egg clutches of a dwarf lithostrotian titanosaur, from Totes¸ti, Romania, and its reproductive adaptation to the ‘‘island effect’’. Methodology/Findings: The egg clutches were discovered in sequential sedimentary layers of the Maastrichtian Saˆnpetru Formation, Totes¸ti. The occurrence of 11 homogenous clutches in successive strata suggests philopatry by the same dinosaur species, which laid clutches averaging four ,12 cm diameters eggs. The eggs and eggshells display numerous characters shared with the positively identified material from egg-bearing level 4 of the Auca Mahuevo (Patagonia,Argentina) nemegtosaurid lithostrotian nesting site. Microscopic embryonic integument with bacterial evidences was recovered in one egg. The millimeter-size embryonic integument displays micron size dermal papillae implying an early embryological stage at the time of death, likely corresponding to early organogenesis before the skeleton formation. Conclusions/Significance: The shared oological characters between the Hat¸eg specimens and their mainland relatives suggest a highly conservative reproductive template, while the nest decrease in egg numbers per clutch may reflect an adaptive trait to a smaller body size due to the ‘‘island effect’’. The combined presence of the lithostrotian egg and its embryo in the Early Cretaceous Gobi coupled with the oological similarities between the Hat¸eg and Auca Mahuevo oological material evidence that several titanosaur species migrated from Gondwana through the Hat¸eg Island before or during the Aptian/Albian. It also suggests that this island might have had episodic land bridges with the rest of the European archipelago and Asia deep into the Cretaceous.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Extreme tolerance of sexual and parthenogenetic resting eggs of Eucypris virens (Crustacea, Ostracoda)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Towards a Global Phylogeny of the "Living Fossil" Crustacean Order of the Notostraca
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference On the Strandesia obtusata/ elliptica - lineage (Ostracoda, Cyprididae) in the alluvial valley of the Upper Paraná River (Brazil), with the description of three new species.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Vulnerability of sexual and asexual Eucypris virens (Crustacea, Ostracoda) to predation: an experimental approach with dragonfly naiads
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Predation by macroinvertebrates on Heterocypris incongruens (Ostracoda) in temporary ponds: impacts and responses
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference On a new cypridopsine genus of ostracods (Crustacea, Ostracoda, Cyprididae) from the Upper Paraná River Floodplain (Brazil)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications