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A taxonomic update of the Typhinae (Gastropoda: Muricidae) with a review of New Caledonia species and the description of new species from New Caledonia, the South China Sea and Western Australia
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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CO2-enhanced oil recovery and CO2 capture and storage: An environmental economic trade-off analysis
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CO2 enhanced oil recovery can play a significant role in stimulating carbon capture and storage because of additional oil revenues generated. However, it also leads to additional greenhouse gas emissions. We estimate the global warming potential of different CO2 capture scenarios with and without enhanced oil recovery. During a 10 year period in which oil and electricity are produced without CO2 being captured, the global warming potential is 11 MtCO2 equivalents. We show that if CO2 is captured and used for 15 years of enhanced oil recovery, the global warming potential decreases to 3.4 MtCO2 equivalents. This level is 100% higher compared to the scenario in which the captured CO2 would be stored in an offshore aquifer instead. If the capture of CO2 is stopped when the oil reservoir is depleted, the global warming potential resulting from 10 years electricity production is 6 MtCO2 equivalents. However, if CO2 is stored in the depleted reservoir, the global warming potential is six times lower during that period. Electricity production and oil refining are the main contributors to the global warming potential. The net present value analysis indicates that for CO2 prices lower than or equal to 15 €/t and oil prices greater than or equal to 115 €/t, it is most profitable to capture CO2 for enhanced oil recovery only. Because of the low CO2 price considered, large incomes from oil production are required to stimulate CO2 capture. The environmental economic trade-off analysis shows that if CO2-enhanced oil recovery is followed by CO2 capture and storage, costs increase, but the net present value remains positive and the global warming potential is reduced. Authorities could use these outcomes to support the development of economic mechanisms for shared investments in CO2 capture installations and to mandate both oil producer and large CO2 emitting firms to store CO2 in depleted oil fields.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2019
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Reply to Van Peer: Direct radiocarbon dating and ancient genomic analysis reveal the true age of the Neanderthals at Spy Cave
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Van Peer (1) contests the conclusions of our article on Neanderthal disappearance in Northwest Europe (2), but we think his argument may reflect a misunderstanding of the stratigraphy at Spy Cave and/or incomplete reading of our article. We provide here a response to his arguments.The idea that the discovery time of the Neanderthal bones impacts the results is not scientifically valid and indicates an incomplete review of the literature. Among the oldest radiocarbon dates obtained on the Spy Neanderthals are those measured on collagen from material collected on the slope: Spy 737a (OxA-10560) and Spy 94a (GrA-32623) (3, 4). In addition, although found on the slope, the maxillary …
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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Foraging recruitment in Leptothorax uniffasciatus: The influence of foraging area familiarity and the age of the nest-site
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Sexing the bony labyrinth: A morphometric investigation in a subadult and adult Belgian identified sample
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In forensic anthropology, sex estimation is a fundamental step in assessing individual biological profiles when analyzing human skeletons. Yet, current methods are not reliable enough to allow an accurate sex identification of highly fragmented, burnt, or subadult remains. This paper aims to investigate sexual dimorphism of the bony labyrinth on both identified subadult and adult individuals. The bony labyrinth is of particular interest for sex estimation since it is alleged to complete size and maturation pre-pubertally and is located inside the petrous part of the temporal bone which protects it from taphonomic processes. The study was performed on 93 CT scans of identified individuals from two Belgian osteological collections (19-20th century) and from current pediatric images (Erasme hospital, Brussels). Linear and angular measurements were taken on 2D slices of right bony labyrinths. Intra- and interobservers error measurements were calculated. Statistical tests were used to unravel any morphological variations between subadult and adult bony labyrinths and to highlight differences between females and males, separately in subadults and adults. Linear discriminant functions were established by cross-validation and tested on an independent sample from Belgium. Some measurements were significantly different between subadults and adults, and between females and males within both subadult and adult samples. Univariate functions achieved 72.7% in subadults and 68.4% in adults whereas multivariate equations increased accuracy respectively up to 84.9% and 78.4%. This study entails promising results to design a sex estimation method suitable for fragmented and/or subadult remains. Further metric approaches are needed to explore bony labyrinth sexual dimorphism.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021 OA
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Entheseal changes and estimation of adult age-at-death
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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Speleothem-based chronology and environmental context of deposits from the Mishin Kamik Cave, NW Bulgaria–A contribution to the archaeological study of the Late Pleistocene human occupation in the Balkans
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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From toad to frog, a CT-based reconsideration of Bufo servatus, an Eocene anuran mummy from Quercy (France)
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In the 19th century, natural mummies of amphibians were discovered in the Quercy Phosphorites. The specific collection site was never formally reported, which hampers precise dating of these specimens. Still, the name Bufo servatus was erected based on the external morphology of one of the mummified specimens. A tomography of a similarly preserved specimen revealed a preserved skeleton, soft tissues and gut contents. We analyze here the holotype of Bufo servatus using CT-scanning in order to investigate its potentially preserved internal features. Like the previous specimen, a subcomplete articulated skeleton was identified in the B. servatus holotype. Surprisingly, this skeleton is almost identical to that of Thaumastosaurus gezei, an Eocene anuran from Western Europe to which other specimens from this mummy series were previously assigned. The few differences between the specimen skeletons highlight ontogenetic and intraspecific variations, making T. gezei a junior synonym of B. servatus and creating the new combination Thaumastosaurus servatus. Given its association with previously described Quercy specimens, this redescribed anuran is probably from the same time interval as T. gezei. Previous phylogenetic analyses assigned T. servatus to Ranoides, with natatanuran affinities. Using data from this newly described specimen, we tested here further its taxonomic affinities. Our analyses confirm this position, and formally identify T. servatus as a Natatanuran member of Pyxicephalidae (currently endemic of equatorial Africa) and more precisely, a stem-Pyxicephalinae. This result confirms the origin of Thaumastosaurus, a member of the African herpetofauna occupying Western Europe before the Grande Coupure at the Eocene/Oligocene transition.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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Additional vertebral material of Thaumastophis (Serpentes: Caenophidia) from the early Eocene of India provides new insights on the early diversification of colubroidean snakes
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The Ypresian Cambay Shale Formation at Vastan, Mangrol, and Tadkeshwar lignite mines in Gujarat, western India, has yielded a rich vertebrate fauna including madtsoiid, palaeophiid, booid, and colubroideanlike snakes. The latter are particularly abundant, but their systematic affinities are difficult to resolve. Here we describe new specimens of the colubroidean-like snake Thaumastophis missiaeni, including anterior, middle, and posterior trunk vertebrae, as well as caudal vertebrae. The combination of primitive and derived caenophidian and colubroidean vertebral characters confirms Thaumastophis as the earliest known stem-colubriform snake while Procerophis, from the same beds, is more derived and considered to represent a crown-Colubriformes. Additionally, Thaumastophis shares with Renenutet enmerwer from the late Eocene of Egypt a unique combination of vertebral characters that suggests an exchange with North Africa was possible along the southern margin of the Neotethys. We erect the new family Thaumastophiidae for Thaumastophis and Renenutet on the basis of their shared derived vertebral morphology.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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Presence of the large aquatic snake Palaeophis africanus in the middle Eocene marine margin of the Congo Basin, Cabinda, Angola
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Ten isolated snake vertebrae from Landana and Sassa-Zao, Cabinda Exclave, Angola, present a ‘‘primitive” grade morphology with a weak lateral compression and do not belong to Palaeophis aff. typhaeus as originally referred to. They well belong to a single taxon and are here attributed to Palaeophis africanus for which the intracolumnar variation is described and illustrated. This species is Lutetian (middle Eocene) in age and originates from a marine coastal environment confirming again the aquatic capabilities of palaeophiid snakes. It represents the third largest species of Palaeophis with P. colossaeus and P. maghrebianus to which it is closely related in our tentative phylogenetic analysis, indicating that these three taxa could belong to an African clade. This study also contributes to the debate on the existence of primitive and advanced grades among palaeophiid snakes. Palaeophis presents laterally compressed anterior trunk vertebrae that could have been often erroneously considered as representing advanced grade species and potential parataxonomy.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
