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Article Reference Gigantic mysticete predators roamed the Eocene Southern Ocean
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Article Reference Beef, pork and mutton. An archaeological survey of the meat consumption in medieval and postmedieval towns in the southern Low Countries (Flanders & Brussels, Belgium)
A survey is presented of archaeozoological information from medieval and postmedieval towns in the southern Low Countries (the present regions of Flanders and Brussels, in Belgium). Diachronic changes in the consumption of the three main domestic meat-suppliers (cattle, pig, sheep) in nine towns are investigated, and trends are compared among these towns. At the same time, possible geographical differences in meat consumption are traced. The observed differences in time and space are then explained as part of the economics of animal husbandry and of the interaction between town and countryside. From a methodological standpoint, this survey demonstrates that in a number of cases, information from archaeozoological contexts with varying depositional histories, often reflecting different socio-economic strata, can be combined to obtain a picture of meat consumption, and thus of the town's food provisioning, through time.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2017
Article Reference New specimens of the mesonychid Dissacus praenuntius from the early Eocene of Wyoming and evaluation of body size through the PETM in North America
The Mesonychia is a group of archaic carnivorous mammals of uncertain phylogenetic affinities with a Holarctic distribution during the Paleogene. Intensive fossil collecting efforts in the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, have resulted in recovery of the largest sample and most complete specimens yet known of the mesonychid Dissacus praenuntius from the second biozone of the Wasatchian North American Land Mammal Age (Wa-0). The Wa-0 biozone corresponds to the body of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a brief but intense global warming event that occurred ~56 myr ago that significantly impacted terrestrial mammal faunas, including dwarfing in many mammal lineages. To evaluate the potential response of this lineage to climate change, we compared the PETM sample of D. praenuntius with those recovered from just before the PETM in the last biozone of the Clarkforkian North American Land Mammal Age (Cf-3) and just after the PETM in the Wa-1 biozone. While the sample size is still too small to say with certainty, tooth size (as a proxy for body weight) of D. praenuntius appears to be smaller during the late PETM than during either the pre-PETM Cf-3, or post-PETM Wa-1 biozones, suggesting the possibility of a muted dwarfing response to the PETM. However, the pattern observed for D. praenuntius differs from that of many other PETM mammals, as the shift to smaller body size is less pronounced and may have only occurred in late Wa-0.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference A reassessment of the Oligocene hyracoid mammals from Malembo, Cabinda, Angola
The Oligocene Malembo locality, Cabinda exclave, Angola, has yielded a rich vertebrate fauna represented by fragmentary remains. This fossiliferous locality is the only definite occurrence of Oligocene terrestrial mammals in sub-Saharan West Africa. The hyracoids from Malembo have only been very succinctly described and compared thus far, so that their systematic attribution is not consensual among specialists. A revision now allows the identification of three (or four) medium to large-sized species represented by Geniohyus dartevellei, Pachyhyrax cf. crassidentatus, and two undetermined taxa. The species G. dartevellei is revived for the holotype of Palaeochoerus dartevellei Hooijer, 1963; this species is unique to Malembo but appears close to Geniohyus mirus, a species only known from the early Oligocene of the Fayum, Egypt. Other species of Geniohyus and Pachyhyrax crassidentatus are also only known from the early Oligocene of the Fayum. The presence of Geniohyus and Pachyhyrax cf. crassidentatus at Malembo thus supports an early Oligocene age for the fauna.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference A late early to early middle Eocene mammal assemblage from Bayan Ulan (Inner Mongolia, China): Implication for the reassessment of the Arshantan Asian Land Mammal Age
Paleogene mammal localities of North China are particularly well represented in the Erlian Basin, Inner Mongolia. Among them, the locality of Bayan Ulan is most famous for its late Paleocene Gashatan fauna. However, the younger Arshantan fauna of the same site is not well known, since no extensive study has been done so far. Here, we present a small mammal assemblage based on dental and tarsal material from a new Arshantan collection retrieved from the red beds of the late early to early middle Eocene Arshanto Formation at Bayan Ulan. It consists of at least six different taxa: the basal lagomorph Dawsonolagus antiquus, the large pantodont Pantolambdodon sp., the tapiroid Schlosseria magister, and the rhinocerotoids Hyrachyus crista and Rhodopagus guoi nov. sp. The assemblage is dominated by perissodactyls, especially Lophialetidae and Hyracodontidae. For the first time, p4-m1 of Dawsonolagus antiquus, tarsal material from Pantolambdodon sp., and lower dentition and tarsals of Hyrachyus crista are described and illustrated. Unlike other described Arshantan faunas, the Bayan Ulan Arshantan mammal assemblage has been collected exclusively from a single locality, which contributes to the reassessment of the misunderstood Arshantan Asian Land Mammal Age.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference Ancyrocephalidae (Monogenea) of Lake Tanganyika: does the Cichlidogyrus parasite fauna of Interochromis loocki (Teleostei, Cichlidae) reflect its host’s phylogenetic affinities?
The faunal diversity of Lake Tanganyika, with its fish species flocks and its importance as a cradle and reservoir of ancient fish lineages seeding other radiations, has generated a considerable scientific interest in the fields of evolution and biodiversity. The Tropheini, an endemic Tanganyikan cichlid tribe, fills a peculiar phylogenetic position, being closely related to the haplochromine radiations of Lakes Malawi and Victoria. Several problems remain regarding their genus-level classification. For example, the monotypic genus Interochromis is phylogenetically nested within Petrochromis; its only representative, I. loocki, has often been reclassified. As monogenean flatworms are useful markers for fish phylogeny and taxonomy, the monogenean fauna of Interochromis loocki was examined and compared to that of other tropheine cichlids. Three new monogenean species belonging to Cichlidogyrus are described from Interochromis loocki: Cichlidogyrus buescheri Pariselle and Vanhove, sp. nov., Cichlidogyrus schreyenbrichardorum Pariselle and Vanhove, sp. nov. and Cichlidogyrus vealli Pariselle and Vanhove, sp. nov. Their haptoral anchors remind more of congeners infecting species of Petrochromis than of all Cichlidogyrus spp. hitherto described from other tropheine cichlids. Attachment organ morphology has been proven to mirror the phylogenetic affinities of Cichlidogyrus lineages. Therefore the monogenean parasite fauna of I. loocki reflects this host’s position within Petrochromis. Moreover, I. loocki differs in habitat choice from Petrochromis spp. This study hence confirms that host range and host-specificity in Cichlidogyrus spp. parasitizing tropheines is determined by the host’s phylogenetic position, rather than by a shared ecological niche.
Located in Library / No RBINS Staff publications
Article Reference Evolution of the hypercarnivorous dentition in mammals (Metatheria, Eutheria) and its bearing on the development of tribosphenic molars
One major innovation of mammals is the tribosphenic molar, characterized by the evolution of a neomorphic upper cusp (¼protocone) and a lower basin (talonid) that occlude and provide shearing and crushing functions. This type of molar is an evolutionarily flexible structure that enabled mammals to achieve complex dental adaptations. Among carnivorous mammals, hypercarnivory is a common trend that evolved several times among therians (marsupials, placentals, and stem relatives). Hypercarnivory involves an important simplification of the carnassial molar pattern from the ancestral tribosphenic molar pattern, with the modification of the triangular tooth crown, and the loss of several cusps and cuspids typical of the tribosphenic molar. These losses confer to the molars of the hypercarnivorous mammals a plesiomorphic /paedomorphic morphology that resembles more the earliest mammaliaforms than the earliest therians. Here, we demonstrate that the modification of the molar morphology is fully explained by a patterning cascade mode of cusp development. Contrary to what was previously proposed, our study concludes that the metaconid (mesiolingual cusp of lower molars, associated with a puncturing function) does not influence cusp development of the talonid (distal crushing heel of lower molars). Moreover, it provides a new example of how heterochronic changes were crucial to the evolution of mammal dentition. To overcome the difficulty of applying behavioral or ecological definitions of diets to fossil animals, we characterize hypercarnivorous dentitions on the basis of the molar morphology and more particularly on the loss or retention of crushing structures, each dentition resulting from adaptations to a distinct ecomorphotype. Despite repeated and convergent evolution of hypercarnivorous forms, hypercarnivory appears as a highly constrained specialization (i.e., “dead end”) that is unlikely to evolve back to omnivorous dentition, especially when the crushing structures are lost.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2017
Article Reference New fossils of Hyaenodonta (Mammalia) from the Eocene localities of Chambi (Tunisia) and Bir el Ater (Algeria), and the evolution of the earliest African hyaenodonts
We present and describe new fossils from the Eocene North African localities of Chambi (Tunisia; late Ypresian or early Lutetian) and Bir el Ater (Algeria; latest Bartonian or earliest Priabonian). The specimens from Chambi allow recognizing two recently described hyainailourines: Furodon crocheti and Parvavorodon gheerbranti; these taxa were previously known from the Gour Lazib area (Algeria; late Ypresian or early Lutetian). The new material from Tunisia includes a fragmentary dentary of Parvavorodon that substantially supports the hyainailourine status of this genus and represents the oldest dentary fragment presently known for a juvenile of Hyaenodonta in Africa. The presence of Furodon and Parvavorodon in Chambi strengthens support for the hypothesis of contemporaneity of the Eocene Gour Lazib and Chambi mammalbearing localities. In addition, the find of a typical teratodontine fourth premolar in Chambi testifies to the presence of a small representative of this group. The fossil record in Bir el Ater is scarcer than in Chambi. However, we recognize specimens attributable to a hyainailourine and a teratodontine. The latter is referred as Masrasector cf. ligabuei, and is the oldest record for this genus. We tentatively identify a modification of the hyaenodont fauna in the Maghreb after the “Early Eocene Climatic Optimum” (EECO). This faunal change might be related to the decrease of the global temperature after the EECO event. It appears contemporaneous of a drastic replacement in the composition of the mammal faunas in Africa. Finally, the end of the Eocene (Priabonian) shows an increase in the subfamilial richness amongst hyaenodonts.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Article Reference A new genus of Pseudospirobolellidae (Diplopoda, Spirobolida) from limestone karst areas in Thailand, with descriptions of three new species
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022
Article Reference Morphological and Genetic Divergence in a Gill Monogenean Parasitizing Distant Cichlid Lineages of Lake Tanganyika: Cichlidogyrus nshomboi (Monogenea: Dactylogyridae) from Representatives of Boulengerochromini and Perissodini
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022