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Inproceedings Reference The mysteries of Egyptian Nile perch (Lates niloticus). The case of Tell Tweini (Syria, Middle Bronze Age-Iron Age)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference A peculiar case of intraspecific variability in the Chinese Notholca dongtingensis (Rotifera: Monogononta: Brachionidae)
We review the rare Chinese rotifer Notholca dongtingensis Zhuge, Kutikova & Sudzuki, 1998, including abundant material collected during the winter months of 2009–2011 in and around the man-made Dishui Lake Southeast of Shanghai, PR China. Both an SEM study of its trophi and an account of its intraspecific variability are provided. The latter consists in particular of a unique and previously unknown type of spine formation involving the anterolateral spines, a character previously considered morphologically constant and even diagnostic in Notholca and related genera. The observations indicate that phenotypic plasticity invoked by a plesiomorphic triggering mechanism is not per se connected to the type or position of structures developed, but may activate responses resulting in the formation of quite different, autapomorphic structures throughout monogonont Rotifera.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference A reconstruction of middle Holocene alluvial hardwood forests (Lower Scheldt River, northern Belgium) and their exploitation during the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition period (Swifterbant Culture, ca. 4500 – 4000 BC).
The analysis of a large number of charcoal fragments from fire places from a wetland camp site of the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition period (Swifterbant culture) now permits a detailed reconstruction of a middle Holocene riverine forest along the Lower Scheldt River (northern Belgium) and its exploitation between ca. 4,500 and 4,000 BC. The identified taxa point towards an alluvial hardwood forest (Querco-Ulmetum minoris Issler 1924) on the sand dune on which the camp site was situated, surrounded by alder carr. The results are compared with palynological and macrobotanical analyses from the same site and from contemporary sites within the area; the complementarity of these different types of data is discussed. The combination of all these datasets results in a detailed reconstruction of the environment and of its exploitation by the Swifterbant culture. The results also show that the Swifterbant people not only depended on these sand ridges for dry settlement locations, but also for firewood collection, gathering of edible plants and most probably for the collection of leaf fodder to feed livestock during winter time.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Inproceedings Reference What is inside this pit? Micro- and macrofaunal investigations at Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age Ovçular Tepesi (Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan )
The site of Ovçular Tepesi is located in the southern Caucasus (Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic). Two main archaeological phases were recognised at the settlement, namely Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age. More than 1160 litres of soil samples from pits and circular stone structures belonging to the different occupation layers were processed by flotation and analysed. This paper focuses on the zoological finds from these samples, in particular the remains of fish, large mammals and micromammals, in order to determine the function of the pits and structures. Moreover, the material gives an insight into the animal economy, hunting and fishing practices of the inhabitants, as well as the local environment. Thus far, it could not be established whether the differences detected in the species composition between the phases are related to chronology alone or if other factors, such as sample sizes and type of deposits, also played a role. Fish bones were very frequent at the site with cyprinids dominating. Among the large mammals, domestic animals were the most frequent while hunted species were rare. Sheep and goat herding seems to have been the principal subsistence strategy at this site. The small mammal community is composed of synanthropic taxa and, as a consequence, the species diversity was very low (six taxa). House mouse was the most abundant in each feature on the site.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Mesocyclops thermocyclopoides species-group: redefinition and content
Within the genus Mesocyclops the thermocyclopoides species-group is defined on the basis of the presence of spiniform armature on the maxillar coxa. Examination of nineteen, mainly Palaeotropical species of Mesocyclops and nine representatives of the closely related genus Thermocyclops revealed, that the coxal part of the maxillar syncoxa of the species recently unified in the thermocyclopoides group is adorned with distinct rows of big spinules on its frontal surface. This character, with only one known exception in South Indian M. cf. papuensis, is absent in other species of Mesocyclops and all the Thermocyclops studied here. These species have no spinules on the maxillar coxa at all or very tiny scattered ones. © 1994 Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Collagen Extraction from Recent and Fossil Bones: Quantitative and Qualitative Aspects
Type I collagen is the major protein in bones. The mineral matrix protects collagen from denaturation, thus permitting the recovery of large collagen peptides from fossil bones thousands or millions of years old. Collagen peptides are more or less denatured in fossil bones, with diagenetic alteration being the major cause of such denaturation. Classical extraction methods alter the remaining large collagen peptides by extensive solubilization. A method is described here that used shorter collagen solubilization times. Resulting collagen yields are favourably compared with classical methods. The size of the large peptide (10 kDa) fraction improves considerably. Combined with a particular concentration step, the use of this shorter solubilization technique should be useful for collagen analyses that necessitate large peptides, as in the case of palaeoimmunology. © 1995 Academic Press. All rights reserved.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference New hypogean cyclopoid copepods (Crustacea) from the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico
Four previously unknown hypogean species of cyclopoid copepods were collected in cenotes and wells of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Diacyclops chakan sp. n. and D. puuc sp. n. differ from their congeners in combining 3-segmented swimming legs, 11-segmented antennules, and legs 1-4 endopodite segment 2 all with 2 setae. Species of Diacyclops rarely occur in tropical regions, and the Diacyclops described here are only the second and third species recorded from Mexico. The benthic D. puuc was found in the large underground reservoir of a cenote. Diacyclops chakan was encountered in such large open subterranean water basins, but more frequently and abundantly in wells. The two Mesocyclops species, M. chaci sp. n. and M. yutsil sp. n., most closely resemble their epigean benthic congener M. reidae Petkovski, but are modified by loss of some body ornament and attenuation of swimming legs and mouthparts. Mesocyclops chaci sp. n. occupies crevicular spaces (wells and small caverns). The second species, M. yutsil sp. n., with more pronounced attenuation of legs, has a planktonic life in large subterranean water volumes. The extremely attenuated appendages of both species distinguish them from all other Mesocyclops, and resemble those of the hypogean Kieferiella delamarei Lescher-Moutoué. These three species are considered as a species-flock which have radiated as specialists within a highly dynamic geomorphological environment.
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Article Reference Two new living species of Loxotaphrus (Gastropoda: Cancellariidae: Plesiotritoninae) from Queensland, Australia and Mozambique, East Africa
Until now, the only living species assigned. to the cancellariid genus Loxotaphrus Harris, 1897 was the West African species L. deshayesii (Duval, 1841). Two new living species are described here, L. limpusi n. sp., from the Swain Reefs, Queensland, and L. rosadoi n. sp., from off southern Mozambique. L. limpusi most closely resembles the type species of the genus, L. variciferus (Tate, 1888) (Miocene, southern Australia). Although L. rosadoi resembles L. variciferus and L. limpusi more closely than it does L. deshayesii, it differs from all other species, assigned to Loxotaphrus in having weak sculpture, apart from the prominent, sharp nodules around the peripheral keel.
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Article Reference Zonation and structuring factors of meiofauna communities in a tropical seagrass bed (Gazi Bay, Kenya)
This study deals with the relation between tropical meiofauna and environmental variables by comparing the 'benthic' (i.e. in the bare sediment adjacent to seagrass plants) and the 'epiphytic' (i.e. in samples including seagrass plants) meiofauna associated with five seagrass species from the high intertidal to the high subtidal zone in Gazi Bay (Kenya), Ordination and variance analysis revealed three distinct 'benthic' and two 'epiphytic' meiofauna assemblages. These assemblages corresponded entirely with those identified for the seagrass species: a high intertidal pioneer association (Halophila ovalis/Halodule wrightii), an intertidal climax assemblage (Thalassia hemprichii) and a high subtidal pioneer association (Halophila stipulacea/ Syringodium isoetifolium). These data support the hypothesis that meiofaunal communities correspond to the characteristic zonation of the seagrass vegetation in Gazi Bay. In beds of the pioneer seagrass species, the close relationship between sediment characteristics and both 'benthic' and 'epiphytic' meiofauna communities suggests that these pioneer communities were mainly driven by physical factors. The 'benthic' communities adjacent to the climax seagrass species T. hemprichii were more structured by biogenic factors, e.g. \% TOM, chlorophyll a and c, fucoxanthin, habitat complexity and growth form of the seagrass species. For its associated 'epiphytic' meiofauna the latter conclusion was even more striking. These data corroborate the importance of physical factors in disturbed environments (intertidal zone, near pioneer seagrasses) and of biotic factors in more stable conditions (subtidal zone, near climax seagrasses). © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Echiuropus bekmanae n.sp. (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Carinogammaridae) from Lake Baikal, retrieved by a new deep-water sampling device
Lake Baikal is well known for its exceptional diversity of gammarid amphipods, with 95\% of endemics from its 270 described species representing about 20\% of the world freshwater fauna. Echiuropus (Asprogammarus) bekmanae n.sp. was collected by an 'autonomous trap system', a sampling device thoroughly described here. Although not necrophagous itself, this new species was found in two baited trap samples (at 750 and more than 1600 m) from 1995 and 1996. This rather small (13 mm) deep water species is the eighth species of the subgenus Asprogammarus, of the Baikal endemic genus Echiuropus. Diagnoses of the subgenus and the closer species are given.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications