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Inproceedings Reference Rapid divergence in morphology, physiology and behaviour among island populations of lizards.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Cenozoic evolution of Muricidae (Mollusca, Neogastropoda) in the Southern Ocean, with the description of a new subfamily
Gastropods are among the most studied group in Antarctica, and taxa with an advanced status of systematic knowledge can be used as a model to study how oceanographic and climatic patterns shaped Recent faunal assemblages. Within the ongoing study of the muricid phylogeny, we have analysed molecular and morphological data from species traditionally ascribed to the muricid subfamily Trophoninae. Particularly, the availability of specimens collected in the Southern Ocean and surrounding basins allowed to demonstrate as the genera Pagodula, Xymenopsis, Xymene and Trophonella, which are traditionally classified in the Trophoninae, actually belong to a distinct lineage, for which the new subfamily Pagodulinae is herein introduced. We propose and discuss a possible framework for the origin and radiation of Antarctic muricids.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Algal Taxonomy: a Road to Nowhere? Journal of Phycology
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference A molecular phylogenetic framework for the Ergalataxinae (Neogastropoda: Muricidae)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference The status of the northeastern Atlantic and Mediterranean small mussel drills of the Ocinebrina aciculata complex (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Muricidae) with the description of a new species
The northeastern Atlantic and Mediterranean small mussel drills of the Ocinebrina aciculata complex are here revised and consist of at least 3 species. The type species, Ocinebrina aciculata (Lamarck, 1822), characterized by a slender shell with rounded whorls and primary and secondary spiral cords of approximately similar size, lives throughout the northeastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea at depths usually ranging between 0 and 105 m. Its synonymy is here stabilized by a neotype selection for Murex corallinus Scacchi, 1836. Ocinebrina corallinoides Pallary, 1912 (=Ocinebrina buzzurroi Cecalupo and Mariani, 2008, new synonymy), characterized by a strongly elongate and weakly convex shell and primary and secondary spiral cords of approximately similar size, is endemic to the Gulf of Gabès and is here considered a distinct species, pending genetic studies. Ocinebrina reinai n. sp. is here described from the central Mediterranean Sea (where it is sympatric with O. aciculata) on the basis of morphological diagnostic features of shell (rarest presence of labral tooth, commoner presence of infrasutural apertural denticle, dark spots on the ribs and spiral sculpture with differently sized primary and secondary cords and smaller threads) and radula, confirmed by genetic data. Divergence in COI sequences with sympatric samples of O. aciculata (>7%), confirm their status as a distinct species. A comparative table reporting diagnostic features of the congeneric species of the complex and those with which the new species was previously misidentified is offered.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Resolving an enigma by integrative taxonomy: Madagascarophis fuchsi (Serpentes: Lamprophiidae), a new opisthoglyphous and microendemic snake from northern Madagascar
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Body length estimation of the European eel Anguilla anguilla on the basis of isolated skeletal elements
Using a large series of dry skeletons of modern European eel Anguilla anguilla (Linnaeus, 1758) from Belgium and the Netherlands, the relationship between fish length and individual bone measurements is investigated. The aim of the study is to provide adequate regression equations between both parameters. This methodology is relevant for both palaeoecological and ecological researches since isolated skeletal elements survive in large numbers on archaeological sites and in the stomach contents, faeces or regurgitations of piscivorous animals. The predictive value for the length estimations is explored for various skeletal elements and the accuracy of the obtained regression formulae is compared to that of the formulae already existing in literature. Particular attention is paid to the use of vertebrae, taking into account that different morphotypes can be distinguished amongst them.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Interpreting the expansion of sea fishing in medieval Europe using stable isotope analysis of archaeological cod bones
Archaeological fish bones reveal increases in marine fish utilisation in Northern and Western Europe beginning in the 10th and 11th centuries AD. We use stable isotope signatures from 300 archaeological cod (Gadus morhua) bones to determine whether this sea fishing revolution resulted from increased local fishing or the introduction of preserved fish transported from distant waters such as Arctic Norway, Iceland and/or the Northern Isles of Scotland (Orkney and Shetland). Results from 12 settlements in England and Flanders (Belgium) indicate that catches were initially local. Between the 9th and 12th centuries most bones represented fish from the southern North Sea. Conversely, by the 13th to 14th centuries demand was increasingly met through long distance transport e signalling the onset of the globalisation of commercial fisheries and suggesting that cities such as London quickly outgrew the capacity of local fish supplies.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Stable isotope evidence for late medieval (14th-15th C) origins of the eastern Baltic cod (Gadus morhua) fishery
Although recent historical ecology studies have extended quantitative knowledge of eastern Baltic cod (Gadus morhua)exploitation back as far as the 16th century, the historical origin of the modern fishery remains obscure. Widespreadarchaeological evidence for cod consumption around the eastern Baltic littoral emerges around the 13th century, threecenturies before systematic documentation, but it is not clear whether this represents (1) development of a substantialeastern Baltic cod fishery, or (2) large-scale importation of preserved cod from elsewhere. To distinguish between thesehypotheses we use stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis to determine likely catch regions of 74 cod vertebrae andcleithra from 19 Baltic archaeological sites dated from the 8th to the 16th centuries.d13C and d15N signatures for six possiblecatch regions were established using a larger sample of archaeological cod cranial bones (n=249). The data stronglysupport the second hypothesis, revealing widespread importation of cod during the 13th to 14th centuries, most of itprobably from Arctic Norway. By the 15th century, however, eastern Baltic cod dominate within our sample, indicating thedevelopment of a substantial late medieval fishery. Potential human impact on cod stocks in the eastern Baltic must thus betaken into account for at least the last 600 years
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Sites with Holocene dung deposits in the Eastern Desert of Egypt: visited by herders?
The Tree Shelter and Sodmein Cave are two sites in the Egyptian Eastern Desert with stratified archaeological deposits. In Middle Holocene contexts of both sites, dated to the 7th millennium BP and later, animal dung has been found, in the shape of small concentrations of pellets at the Tree Shelter and of large accumulations at Sodmein Cave. The combination of several lines of evidence, including the size and weight of the excrements, the dimensions of the dung layers from Sodmein and the presence of hearths and artefacts inside them, and the species represented in the bone assemblages from Sodmein and the Tree Shelter, indicates that the dung was mostly deposited by herds of domestic ovicaprines. Sodmein Cave and the Tree Shelter belong to the oldest sites of the African continent where evidence for domestic small livestock has been attested. The importance and size of the herds seems to have been greater than would be suspected from the scant bone remains that were found. The visits to the caves were probably short but repeated over a long time period. Macrobotanical remains recovered from the dung suggest that these visits took place after seasonal winter rains.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications