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Article Reference New species and records of terrestrial slugs from East Africa (Gastropoda, Urocyclidae, Veronicellidae, Agriolimacidae)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2017
Article Reference Octet Stream Origin of nitrogen in the English Channel and Southern Bight of the North Sea ecosystems
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2017
Article Reference D source code Weather and climate related spatial varability of high turbidity areas in the North Sea and the English Channel
Images from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite have been used to investigate the meteorological and climate induced variability of suspended particulate matter (SPM) concentration in the North Sea. The meteorology has been characterized by the 11 weather types deduced from a refined system of Lamb’s classification of synoptic weather charts. Climatological effects have been related to the North Atlantic Oscillation index. The surface SPM concentration maps from MODIS have been ensemble averaged according to these weather types or climatological conditions. The data show that each type has a distinct distribution of surface SPM concentration in the North Sea. The differences are explained by different hydrodynamic and wave conditions. The occurrence of storms will impact the shallow regions by increasing the resuspension of bottom material. Prevailing winds will, on the other hand, change the residual transport of SPM in the North Sea. The more protected Southern Bight exhibits relatively stronger influences of advection, whereas in the central North Sea and the German Bight resuspension is more pronounced. This patterns result in an alternation of relatively high SPM concentration in the Southern Bight and in the rest of the southern North Sea during certain weather conditions. Limitations in satellite images have been assigned to stratification effects due to the occurrence of highly concentrated mud suspensions during certain weather types. The approach provides a tool to improve our understanding of coastal and shelf sea processes, especially with respect to variations of SPM concentration distribution according to weather, climate and climate change.
Located in Library / Pending old publications / Pending Duplicate Bibliography Entries
Article Reference Segmented worms (Phylum Annelida): a celebration of twenty years of progress through Zootaxa and call for action on the taxonomic work that remains
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference MORPHYLL: A database of fossil leaves and their morphological traits
Morphometric characters of fossil leaves such as size and shape are important and widely used sources for reconstructing palaeoenvironments. Various tools, including CLAMP or Leaf Margin Analysis, utilize leaf traits as input parameters for estimating palaeoclimate, mostly based on correlations between traits and climate parameters of extant plants. During the last few years, the scope of information extracted from the morphology of fossil leaves has been further expanded by including leaf economics, which describe correlations between functional leaf traits and ecological strategies. The amount and quality of available data are essential for a successful palaeoecological analysis utilizing leaf traits. Here, the database MORPHYLL is described. This database is devised to offer a web-based resource for fossil leaf trait data. For this purpose, fossil leaves from various collections were digitized and morphometric traits extracted from leaf outlines. Besides metadata such as accession number, repository, fossil site or taxonomic information (for identified specimens), MORPHYLL offers queries for several morphometric parameters and derived ecophysiological traits (e.g., leaf mass per area). Currently, the database contains data from about 6000 fossil leaves from sites in Central Europe, spanning almost the entire Paleogene and part of the early Neogene. The application potential of the database is demonstrated by conducting some exemplary analyses of leaf traits for the Paleocene, Eocene and Oligocene, with the results indicating changes of mean leaf traits through time. For example, the results show leaf mass per area to peak during the Eocene, which is in accordance with general climate development during the Paleogene.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2018
Article Reference A subjective global checklist (submitted)of the Recent non-marine Ostracoda (Crustacea).
We present an updated, subjective list of the extant, non-marine ostracod genera and species of the world, with their distributions in the major zoogeographical regions, as well as a list of the genera in their present hierarchical taxonomic positions. The list includes all taxa described and taxonomic alterations made up to 1 July 2018. Taxonomic changes include 17 new combinations, 5 new names, 1 emended specific name and 11 new synonymies (1 tribe, 4 genera, 6 species). Taking into account the recognized synonymies, there are presently 2330 subjective species of non-marine ostracods in 270 genera. The most diverse family in non-marine habitats is the Cyprididae, comprising 43.2% of all species, followed by the Candonidae (29.0%), Entocytheridae (9.1%) and the Limnocytheridae (7.0%). An additional 13 families comprise the remaining 11.8% of described species. The Palaearctic zoogeographical region has the greatest number of described species (799), followed by the Afrotropical region with 453 species and the Nearctic region with 439 species. The Australasian and Neotropical regions each have 328 and 333 recorded species, respectively, while the Oriental region has 271. The vast majority of non-marine ostracods (89.8%) are endemic to one zoogeographical region, while only six species are found in six or more regions. We also present an additional list with ‘uncertain species’, which have neither been redescribed nor re-assessed since 1912, and which are excluded from the main list; a list of taxonomic changes presented in the present paper; a table with the number of species and % per family; and a table with numbers of new species described in the 20-year period between 1998 and 2017 per zoogeographical region. Two figures visualize the total number of species and endemic species per zoogeographical region, and the numbers of new species descriptions per decade for all families and the three largest families since 1770, respectively.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Article Reference Four new genera and five new species of “Heterocypris” from Western Australia (Crustacea, Ostracoda, Cyprinotinae).
Five new species in four new genera from Western Australia are described. All species have valve characters that are reminiscent of the genus Heterocypris Claus, 1892 and also have similar valve outlines, with highly arched valves. However, all species have a hemipenis morphology that is totally different from the typical form in Heterocypris. In Patcypris gen. nov. (with type species P. outback gen. et sp. nov.), the lateral lobe is large and shaped as a pickaxe, while the medial lobe is divided into two distal lobes. Trilocypris gen. nov. (with type species T. horwitzi gen. et sp. nov.) is characterised by a hemipenis that has three, instead of two, distal lobes. In Bilocypris gen. nov. (with type species B. fortescuensis gen. et sp. nov. and a second species, B. mandoraensis gen. et sp. nov.), the lateral lobe of the hemipenis is spatulate, rather than boot-shaped, and the medial lobe is bilobed. Billcypris gen. nov. (with type species B. davisae gen. et sp. nov.) has a large and sub-rectangular lateral lobe and a pointed medial lobe. We discuss the taxonomic value of the traditional and new morphological characters and speculate that the diversity of this cluster of genera and species may be greater than currently known.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Article Reference Unusual pectoral apparatus in a predatory dinosaur resolves avian wishbone homology
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference New Pliocene right whale from Belgium informs balaenid phylogeny and function
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020
Article Reference Phylogenetic analysis of the Baikalodrilus species flock (Annelida: Clitellata: Naididae), an endemic genus to Lake Baikal (Russia)
Lake Baikal is populated by an endemic genus of oligochaetes (Baikalodrilus), which currently comprises 24 morphospecies. The genus can be considered as a ‘species flock’. However, the validity of many species is questionable: the great similarity in their description and the lack of unequivocal diagnostic characters often lead species identification to an impasse. In order to clarify the systematics of this genus, we analysed two nuclear and two mitochondrial DNA markers of 40 Baikalodrilus specimens. DNA and morphological approaches are mostly congruent in suggesting ten candidate species, although two additional species are suspected. A reassessment of the taxonomic value of the morphological characteristics of Baikalodrilus suggests that there are few that can be used as distinctive, specific criteria in the genus. The association between candidate and nominal species remains problematic, except for three species identified prior to molecular analyses. Baikalodrilus trituberculum sp. nov. is described. Phylogenetic inferences suggests that the earliest split in Baikalodrilus and the time of divergence of most lineages corresponding to species are consistent with the hypothesis of a general rearrangement of the Baikal fauna, following major environmental changes due to a general cooling in the Early Pleistocene.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019