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Amphibians and Squamates from the Late Pleistocene of Caverne Marie-Jeanne (Belgium)
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Archaeological sites usually provide important information about the past distribution of the small vertebrate fauna, and by extension about past terrestrial environments and climate in which human activities took place. In this context, Belgium has an interesting location in North-western Europe between the well-studied zooarchaeological record of Germany and England. The Late Pleistocene (Marine Isotope Stages 3 and 2) locality of Caverne Marie-Jeanne (southeast of Belgium, Ardennes region) yielded a large collection of disarticulated bone fragments and numerous plant, mollusk, and archaeological remains. They have been collected during the first field campaign in 1943 and stored in the Quaternary collections of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. A recent revision of the rich micromammal fauna (31 taxa of insectivores, bats, and rodents among 9897 identified specimens, corresponding to a minimum of 4980 individuals) revealed the presence of the steppe lemming and the European pine vole. We present here the revision of the herpetofauna based on the 1970 Jean-Claude Rage’s study and the revision of the “indeterminate” small vertebrate specimens. It is now by far the largest Late Pleistocene collection of the Belgian institute with more than 20,500 recognized bones of amphibians and reptiles and covering the last 60,000 years. The herpetofaunal list now comprises two urodeles (Lissotriton gr. L. vulgaris and Salamandra salamandra), four anurans (Bufo gr. B. bufo-spinosus, Epidalea calamita, Rana temporaria and Rana cf. R. arvalis), three lizards (Lacerta cf. L. agilis, Zootoca vivipara and Anguis gr. A. fragilis) and three snakes (Natrix gr. N. natrix-astreptophora, Coronella austriaca and Vipera berus). This study highlights the first fossil record in Belgium for L. gr. L. vulgaris, R. arvalis, Z. vivipara, N. gr. N. natrix-astretophora and C. austriaca. This assemblage suggests a patchy humid landscape under colder and dryer climatic conditions in comparison with present ones. The study also underlines the importance to carefully reexamine old collections. Grant Information: Grant 2017-SGR-859 (Gov. of Catalonia, AGAUR), CGL2016-80000-P (Spanish Min. of Econ. & Comp.), RYC-2016-19386 (Ramón y Cajal), Synthesys BE-TAF-4385, -5469, -5468, -5708.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2019
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ICES VIEWPOINT: Scrubber discharge water from ships – risks to the marine environment and recom-mendations to reduce impacts
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New global standards on sulphur content in marine fuels have led to an increasing number of ships installing exhaust gas cleaning systems, also known as scrubbers, to reduce air emissions of sulphur oxides. Ships equipped with a scrubber can continue to use heavy fuel oil, resulting in significant discharge of acidified water containing several contaminants, such as heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants (POPs; mainly polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), and nitrogen compounds.The simplest and most common type of scrubber system, the open-loop scrubber, directly discharges the contaminated water in to the sea. The use of scrubber systems by ships is an emerging global problem and an additional pressure on the marine environment. The substances found in scrubber discharge water can cause acute effects on marine biota and may have further impacts, through bioaccumulation, acidification, and eutrophication, on the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems.The number of ships with installed scrubber systems is increasing, but legislation on scrubber discharge is lagging, inconsistent between countries, and often insufficient to protect the environment. ICES recommends the use of cleaner low-sulphur fuels, such as marine gas oil, to eliminate scrubber use and associated impacts on the marine environment.Until this is possible, ICES proposes a set of measures to mitigate scrubber impacts
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RBINS Staff Publications 2020
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Revision of the lanternfly genus Limois Stål, 1863 (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Fulgoridae) with description of a new species from China
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RBINS Staff Publications 2020
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Shallow-water holothuroid (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) biodiversity and biogeography of the subtropical coast of South Africa
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Taxonomy of the monotypic genus Koehleria Cherbonnier, 1988 (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea: Cucumariidae)
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Voucher material recently collected from the 2-Mile Reef at Sodwana Bay (Republic of South Africa), allows the evaluation of the monotypic genus Koehleria Cherbonnier, 1988 and its species K. unica Cherbonnier, 1988 collected from Tuléar (Madagascar). Cherbonnier’s (1988) conclusion, that Koehleria is most related to the also monotypic genus Pseudocolochirus Pearson, 1910 is correct, but the differences between Koehleria and Pseudocolochirus are too small to justify the retention of Koehleria. Koehleria is relegated herein to the synonymy of Pseudocolochirus. Such a step decreases the velocity with which monotypic genera are currently described within the Dendrochirotida.
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Sea Cucumbers of the Comoros Archipelago
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Sea cucumbers have been harvested for centuries in the Far East. Overexploitation, coupled with increasing demand has led to local depletion of certain standing stocks. De novo investigation at Grande Comore (one of the four main islands of the Comoros Archipelago) allows reappraisal of local holothuroid biodi- versity. Comparison with neighbouring areas allows extrapolation of holothuroid species richness to the rest of the archipelago. The current exploitation of holothuroids has been documented and there are definite signs of overexploitation. Conservation measures are urgently needed if exploitation of sea cucumbers in this area is to become sustainable in the near future.
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A new species of Actinopyga (Holothuroidea: Aspidochirotida: Holothuriidae)
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Actinopyga is one of the five genera commonly recognised in the family Holothuriidae. This small genus has sixteen species currently considered valid. The present paper describes a new Indo-West Pacific species, Actinopyga caerulea, of which the most striking character is its bluish coloration. The ossicle assemblage of the new species resembles mostly that of A. bannwarthi Panning, 1944 and A. flammea Cherbonnier, 1979.
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Ondina perezi (Dautzenberg & Fischer, 1925) (Gastropoda: Pyramidellidae) et Phascoliophila phascolionis (Dautzenberg & Fischer, 1925) (Bivalvia: Montacutidae) associés avec Phascolion strombus (Montagu, 1804) (Sipuncula: Phascolionidae) à Nazaré - Portuga
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RBINS Staff Publications 2017
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Description of three new muricids (Gastropoda: Muricidae: Muricinae) from the Philippines and Fiji
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RBINS Staff Publications 2017
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Insects of Mount Wilhelm, Papua New Guinea - volume 2
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RBINS Staff Publications 2020