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Binkhorstiidae, a new family of crabs (Decapoda, Brachyura, Retroplumoidea) from the upper Cretaceous of the Netherlands and Belgium.
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In addition to the type species, Binkhorstia ubaghsii, which is fairly common in the upper part of the Nekum Member (Maastricht Formation) in the wider vicinity of Maastricht (the Netherlands) and Binkhorstia euglypha, which appears to be restricted to the overlying Meerssen Member of the same formation (uppermost Maastrichtian), a third member, B. desaegheri nov. sp., is recorded from the upper middle Santonian of the Campine area in north-east Belgium. The history of Binkhorstia is convoluted, serving as a prime example of how attempts to unravel the higher-level taxonomic position of late Mesozoic crabs may prove difficult. Over time, the genus has been referred to various families or subfamilies, either podotreme or putative eubrachyuran; here the new family Binkhorstiidae is placed in the superfamily Retroplumoidea. Binkhorstiids appear to have been a relatively short-lived endemic group that fell victim to Cretaceous‒Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary perturbations.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2024
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To colour or not to colour: Colour patterns and pigments in Invertebrates from the Palaeozoic of Belgium.
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Almost nothing is known about the evolution of shell colour in invertebrates. This is largely due to the ultra-rarity of fossils in which colour patterns and pigments are preserved and immediately visible, and therefore easy to identify, especially when these are hundreds of millions of years old. This hampers our understanding of the role and function of colour in extinct animals, their ecology, mode of life, interactions, development, and evolution. A good example for this ultra-rarity is the Palaeozoic of Belgium, world-renowned for its exquisitely preserved fossils of the Devonian and Carboniferous, enabling to document major transitions in ecosystem dynamics and the evolution of life on Earth (e.g. nekton revolution, terrestrialisation, major climate changes, anoxic events, biodiversity crises) but from which only a few cephalopod, bivalve and gastropod mollusc and brachiopod shells were historically documented preserving coloured traces (mostly by L.-G. de Koninck and P. de Ryckholt, mid to late 19th century). However, recently, it was discovered that many more specimens preserve these traces, in particular those from Tournaisian–Viséan shallow marine reef environments, allowing to investigate its occurrence in different evolutionary lineages of marine invertebrates exactly during one of the main periods of revolution in geologic history. In Brain project B2/P233/P2 nicknamed COLOURINPALAEO financed by Belspo, after gathering all the specimens available in the main Belgian collections, we will use different techniques (multispectral photogrammetry and spectro-imaging) to better visualise the preserved colour patterns and pigments. Furthermore, advanced spectroscopic techniques, namely Raman micro-probe spectroscopy, synchrotron trace elemental mapping and absorption spectroscopy, will be used to identify the chemical signature of the pigments as well as their mode and pathways of preservation. Some of the first results on this multidisciplinary study on a unique set of Belgian fossils will be presented.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2024
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A survey of transposon landscapes in the putative ancient asexual ostracod Darwinula stevensoni
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How asexual reproduction shapes transposable element (TE) content and diversity in eukaryotic genomes remains debated. We performed an initial survey of TE load and diversity in the putative ancient asexual ostracod Darwinula stevensoni. We examined long contiguous stretches of DNA in clones from a genomic fosmid library, totaling about 2.5 Mb, and supplemented these data with results on TE abundance and diversity from an Illumina draft genome. In contrast to other TE studies in putatively ancient asexuals, which revealed relatively low TE content, we found that at least 19% of the fosmid dataset and 26% of the genome assembly corresponded to known transposons. We observed a high diversity of transposon families, including LINE, gypsy, PLE, mariner/Tc, hAT, CMC, Sola2, Ginger, Merlin, Harbinger, MITEs and helitrons, with the prevalence of DNA transposons. The predominantly low levels of sequence diversity indicate that many TEs are or have recently been active. In the fosmid data, no correlation was found between telomeric repeats and non-LTR retrotransposons, which are present near telomeres in other taxa. Most TEs in the fosmid data were located outside of introns and almost none were found in exons. We also report an N-terminal Myb/SANT-like DNA-binding domain in site-specific R4/Dong non-LTR retrotransposons. Although initial results on transposable loads need to be verified with high quality draft genomes, this study provides important first insights into TE dynamics in putative ancient asexual ostracods.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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The worked bone industry and intrusive fauna associated with the prehistoric cave burials of Abri des Autours (Belgium)
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ABSTRACT The excavation of the Abri des Autours, a rock-shelter located in southern Belgium, enabled the discovery of three human burials, two dated to the Early Mesolithic and a third dated to the Middle Neolithic. In addition to the human bones, more than 200 faunal remains were uncovered. A taphonomic analysis was undertaken to determine whether their presence resulted from anthropogenic activities and whether they are linked to the burials. Two assemblages were distinguished. The majority of the fauna corresponds to remains of animals found scattered throughout the cave, including in the Mesolithic levels. These are mainly portions of carcasses brought in to the rockshelter by scavengers or predators. Therefore, their deposition did not result from human activity. Thus far, no animal bone had been found in direct association with Mesolithic burials in Belgium, and this site conforms to that pattern. Moreover, this interpretation corroborates the archaeological study, which did not uncover any traces of domestic activity in the cave, during either the Mesolithic or the Neolithic. On the other hand, several bone artefacts, including various tools and a pendant, were also identified. With the exception of an isolated artefact, all of these were clearly associated with the Middle Neolithic burial (Michelsberg culture). This is only the fourth Neolithic cave burial to have yielded animal bone artefacts in Belgium. A preliminary micro-wear analysis has confirmed that these objects had been used before being deposited and has allowed us to propose several hypotheses concerning their original use.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2017
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Philippine mossy forest stick insects: first record of the genus Otraleus Günther, 1935 in the country, with four new species, and the new genus Capuyanus gen. nov. (Phasmida, Diapheromeridae, Necrosciinae)
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RBINS Staff Publications 2017
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Biodiversity Discovery and Taxonomic Data management in Uncertain Times of Big Data
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RBINS collections by external author(s)
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The benthic foraminiferal response to the mid-Maastrichtian event in the NW-European chalk sea of the Maastrichtian type area
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The mid-Maastrichtian carbon isotope event (MME), dated at ∼69 Ma, reflects a perturbation of the global carbon cycle that, in part, correlates with the enigmatic global extinction of ‘true’ (i.e., non-tegulated) inoceramid bivalves. The mechanisms of this extinction event are still debated. While both the inoceramid extirpation and MME have been recorded in a variety of deep-sea sites, little is known about their expression in epicontinental chalk seas. In order to study the shallow-marine signature of the MME in this epicontinental shelf sea, we have generated quantitative foraminiferal assemblage data for two quarries (Hallembaye, NE Belgium; ENCI, SE Netherlands) in the Maastrichtian type area, complemented by a species-specific benthic δ13C record. In contrast to deep-sea records, no significant changes in benthic foraminiferal assemblages and benthic foraminiferal accumulation rates are observed across the MME in the type-Maastrichtian area. At the Hallembaye quarry, the otherwise rare endobenthic species Cuneus trigona reaches a transient peak abundance of 33.3% at the onset of the MME, likely caused by a local transient change in organic matter flux to the seafloor. Nevertheless, high and near-constant species evenness shows that neither oxygen nor organic matter flux was limited across the extinction level or during the MME. Benthic foraminiferal data from the uppermost part of the studied section, above the MME, indicate a significant increase in food supply to the seafloor. Decreased amounts of terrigenous elements across this interval document a lesser riverine or aeolian influx, which means that the increased benthic productivity is linked to a different origin. Potentially, the continuous precipitation of chalk under nutrient-poor conditions in the Late Cretaceous chalk sea was enabled by efficient nutrient recycling in the water column. In shallower depositional settings, nutrient recycling took place closer to the seafloor, which allowed more organic matter to reach the bottom. These results provide insights in the importance of nutrient cycling for biological productivity in the NW-European chalk sea.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2022 OA
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Molecular Identification of an Invasive Sarotherodon Species from the Atchakpa Freshwater Reservoir (Ouémé River Basin, Benin) and Comparison within S. melanotheron Using COI Markers
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021 OA
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African lates perches (Teleostei, Latidae, Lates): Paraphyly of Nile perch and recent colonization of Lake Tanganyika
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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Human impacts on ecosystem health and resources of Lake Edward
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021 OA
