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Article Reference The World Amphipoda Database: History and Progress
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
Article Reference Stygobitic Candonidae (Crustacea, Ostracoda) Are Potential Environmental Indicators of Groundwater Quality in Tropical West Africa
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2025
Article Reference Checklist of the beetles of Belgium (Coleoptera)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2025
Article Reference Issid planthoppers from Bach Ma and Phong Dien in Central Vietnam: (II) Tribe Hemisphaeriini (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Issidae)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2025
Article Reference Adulis and the transshipment of baboons during classical antiquity
Adulis, located on the Red Sea coast in present-day Eritrea, was a bustling trading centre between the first and seventh centuries CE. Several classical geographers—Agatharchides of Cnidus, Pliny the Elder, Strabo—noted the value of Adulis to Greco-Roman Egypt, particularly as an emporium for living animals, including baboons (Papio spp.). Though fragmentary, these accounts predict the Adulite origins of mummified baboons in Ptolemaic catacombs, while inviting questions on the geoprovenance of older (Late Period) baboons recovered from Gabbanat el-Qurud (‘Valley of the Monkeys’), Egypt. Dated to ca. 800–540 BCE, these animals could extend the antiquity of Egyptian–Adulite trade by as much as five centuries. Previously, Dominy et al. (2020) used stable isotope analysis to show that two New Kingdom specimens of Papio hamadryas originate from the Horn of Africa. Here, we report the complete mitochondrial genomes from a mummified baboon from Gabbanat el-Qurud and 14 museum specimens with known provenance together with published georeferenced mitochondrial sequence data. Phylogenetic assignment connects the mummified baboon to modern populations of P. hamadryas in Eritrea, Ethiopia, and eastern Sudan. This result, assuming geographical stability of phylogenetic clades, corroborates Greco-Roman historiographies by pointing toward present-day Eritrea, and by extension Adulis, as a source of baboons for Late Period Egyptians. It also establishes geographic continuity with baboons from the fabled Land of Punt (Dominy et al., 2020), giving weight to speculation that Punt and Adulis were essentially the same trading centres separated by a thousand years of history.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023
Article Reference Deciphering the influence of evolutionary legacy and functional constraints on the patella: an example in modern rhinoceroses amongst perissodactyls
In mammals, the patella is the biggest sesamoid bone of the skeleton and is of crucial importance in posture and locomotion, ensuring the role of a pulley for leg extensors while protecting and stabilizing the knee joint. Despite its central biomechanical role, the relation between the shape of the patella and functional factors, such as body mass or locomotor habit, in the light of evolutionary legacy are poorly known. Here, we propose a morphofunctional investigation of the shape variation of the patella among modern rhinoceroses and more generally among perissodactyls, this order of ungulates displaying a broad range of body plan, body mass and locomotor habits, to understand how the shape of this sesamoid bone varies between species and relatively to these functional factors. Our investigation, relying on three dimensional geometric morphometrics and comparative analyses, reveals that, within Rhinocerotidae and between the three perissodactyl families, the shape of the patella strongly follows the phylogenetic affinities rather than variations in body mass. The patellar shape is more conservative than initially expected both within and between rhinoceroses, equids and tapirs. The development of a medial angle, engendering a strong mediolateral asymmetry of the patella, appears convergent in rhinoceroses and equids, while tapirs retain a symmetric bone close to the plesiomorphic condition of the order. This asymmetric patella is likely associated with the presence of a “knee locking” mechanism in both equids and rhinos. The emergence of this condition may be related to a shared locomotor habit (transverse gallop) in both groups. Our investigation underlines unexcepted evolutionary constraints on the shape of a sesamoid bone usually considered as mostly driven by functional factors.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2024 OA
Article Reference Reduced contribution of sulfur to the mass extinction associated with the Chicxulub impact event
The Chicxulub asteroid impact event at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary ˊ66 Myr ago is widely considered responsible for the mass extinction event leading to the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs. Short-term cooling due to massive release of climate-active agents is hypothesized to have been crucial, with S-bearing gases originating from the target rock vaporization considered an important driving force. Yet, the magnitude of the S release remains poorly constrained. Here we empirically estimate the amount of impact-released S relying on the concentration of S and its isotopic composition within the impact structure and a set of terrestrial K-Pg boundary ejecta sites. The average value of 67 ± 39 Gt obtained is ˊ5-fold lower than previous numerical estimates. The lower mass of S-released may indicate a less prominent role for S emission leading to a milder impact winter with key implications for species survival during the first years following the impact.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2025 OA
Article Reference A European monsoon-like climate in a warmhouse world
The middle Eocene warmhouse period (45 million years ago) featured atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations equivalent to those projected under high future emission scenarios. Seasonal- to weather timescale climate reconstructions from this period can provide critical insight into the impact of Anthropogenic warming on intra-annual variability in temperature and precipitation. Here, we combine daily-scale reconstructions of the evolution of temperature and the water cycle in western Europe based on stable oxygen and clumped isotope analyses on the fastest-growing gastropod known in the fossil record: Campanile giganteum. Our dataset shows that the middle Eocene of western Europe featured monsoon-like conditions, with seawater temperatures of ˊ24 °C during mild and wet winters, 30 °C during hot and dry spring and autumn seasons, and ˊ28 °C during warm and comparatively wet summers. Coupled climate model simulations using the Community Earth System Model indicate these seasonal variations in temperature and precipitation were driven by shifting atmospheric and oceanic circulation regimes over Western Europe, with winds from different directions bringing distinct waters to the region and minimal wind during spring reducing cooling through diminished latent heat flux. Our results highlight that Europe may experience wetter summers with more frequent extreme rainfall events under future high emissions scenarios.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2025 OA
Article Reference Clumped isotope thermometry (Δ47) measurements in marine gastropods suggest equilibrium precipitation
The clumped isotope paleothermometer (Δ47) has been used to reconstruct temperatures from various biogenic carbonate archives. Calibration studies demonstrate that some biogenic carbonates precipitate in Δ47 equilibrium and record growth temperatures accurately (e.g., many bivalve mollusks), while others appear to exhibit disequilibrium, or ‘vital’, effects and yield isotopically reconstructed temperatures that are biased (e.g., shallow-water corals). These studies have largely excluded marine gastropods, so it is not known whether they tend to precipitate their shells in or out of isotopic equilibrium. In this study, we present seasonal-scale δ18O and seasonally targeted Δ47 and Δ48 measurements from modern marine gastropods representing 8 genera and 10 species, reconstructing apparent growth temperatures and screening for equilibrium precipitation. We find that most marine gastropods appear to precipitate in Δ47 and Δ48 equilibrium and faithfully record environmental temperatures, making them suitable for Δ47-paleothermometry. A few gastropods (Caviturritella/Turritella sp., Campanile symbolicum, Megastraea undosa) appear to precipitate out of Δ47 equilibrium, though these disequilibrium signatures may partially be explained by differences between actual growth temperatures and instrumental calibration temperatures (Caviturritella/Turritella sp., M. undosa) or differences between inner and outer layer precipitation (C. symbolicum). We present new Δ47-temperature data for 2 Middle Eocene Campanile giganteum fossils collected from the Paris Basin and discuss how to interpret the results in the context of our modern samples. Finally, in conducting this calibration we demonstrate paired Δ47/Δ48 as an effective tool to screen for disequilibrium precipitation in marine gastropods.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2025 OA
Article Reference Endocranial anatomy and phylogenetic position of the crocodylian Eosuchus lerichei from the late Paleocene of northwestern Europe and potential adaptations for transoceanic dispersal in gavialoids
Eosuchus lerichei is a gavialoid crocodylian from late Paleocene marine deposits of northwestern Europe, known from a skull and lower jaws, as well as postcrania. Its sister taxon relationship with the approximately contemporaneous species Eosuchus minor from the east coast of the USA has been explained through transoceanic dispersal, indicating a capability for salt excretion that is absent in extant gavialoids. However, there is currently no anatomical evidence to support marine adaptation in extinct gavialoids. Furthermore, the placement of Eosuchus within Gavialoidea is labile, with some analyses supporting affinities with the Late Cretaceous to early Paleogene “thoracosaurs.” Here we present novel data on the internal and external anatomy of the skull of E. lerichei that enables a revised diagnosis, with 6 autapormorphies identified for the genus and 10 features that enable differentiation of the species from Eosuchus minor. Our phylogenetic analyses recover Eosuchus as an early diverging gavialid gavialoid that is not part of the “thoracosaur” group. In addition to thickened semi-circular canal walls of the endosseous labyrinth and paratympanic sinus reduction, we identify potential osteological correlates for salt glands in the internal surface of the prefrontal and lacrimal bones of E. lerichei. These salt glands potentially provide anatomical evidence for the capability of transoceanic dispersal within Eosuchus, and we also identify them in the Late Cretaceous “thoracosaur” Portugalosuchus. Given that the earliest diverging and stratigraphically oldest gavialoids either have evidence for a nasal salt gland and/or have been recovered from marine deposits, this suggests the capacity for salt excretion might be ancestral for Gavialoidea. Mapping osteological and geological evidence for marine adaptation onto a phylogeny indicates that there was probably more than one independent loss/reduction in the capacity for salt excretion in gavialoids.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2025