We present an updated global checklist of extant non-marine Ostracoda, covering taxonomic changes in the published literature up to 31st December 2023. The checklist is subjective, as apart from published taxonomic changes, also some additional alterations are proposed, including ten candonid tribes which are upgraded to subfamilies, six new combinations, one new name, five synonymies and one new taxonomic placement. The checklist presently includes 2420 accepted species in 295 genera,as well as 84 uncertain species that are too poorly described to be recognisable. We also provide the totals of species numbers for each taxonomic rank, from genera up to order, and numbers of species and endemic species in each of the world’s major zoogeographical regions.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2024
The anatomy of Cambaytherium, a primitive, perissodactyl-like mammal from the lower Eocene Cambay Shale Formation of Gujarat, India, is described in detail on the basis of more than 350 specimens that represent almost the entire dentition and the skeleton. Cambaytherium combines plesiomorphic traits typical of archaic ungulates such as phenacodontids with derived traits characteristic of early perissodactyls. Cambaytherium was a subcursorial animal better adapted for running than phenacodontids but less specialized than early perissodactyls. The cheek teeth are bunodont with large upper molar conules, not lophodont as in early perissodactyls; like perissodactyls, however, the lower molars have twinned metaconids and m3 has an extended hypoconulid lobe. A steep wear gradient with heavy wear in the middle of the tooth row suggests an abrasive herbivorous diet. Three species of Cambaytherium are recognized: C. thewissi (∼23 kg), C. gracilis (∼10 kg), and C. marinus (∼99 kg). Body masses were estimated from tooth size and long bone dimensions. Biostratigraphic and isotopic evidence indicates an age of ca. 54.5 Ma for the Cambay Shale vertebrate fauna, the oldest Cenozoic continental vertebrate assemblage from India, near or prior to the initial collision with Asia. Cambaytheriidae (also including Nakusia and Perissobune) and Anthracobunidae are sister taxa, constituting the clade Anthracobunia, which is sister to Perissodactyla. We unite them in a new higher taxon, Perissodactylamorpha. The antiquity and occurrence of Cambaytherium—the most primitive known perissodactylamorph—in India near or before its collision with Asia suggest that Perissodactyla evolved during the Paleocene on the Indian Plate or in peripheral areas of southern or southwestern Asia.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2020