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Article Reference First Clarkforkian Equivalent Land Mammal Age in the Latest Paleocene Basal Sparnacian Facies of Europe: Fauna, Flora, Paleoenvironment and (Bio)stratigraphy
The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) is correlated with the first occurrences of earliest modern mammals in the Northern Hemisphere. The latest Paleocene Clarkforkian North American Land Mammal Age, that has yielded rodents and carnivorans, is the only exception to this rule. However, until now no pre-PETM localities have yielded modern mammals in Europe or Asia. We report the first Clarkforkian equivalent Land Mammal Age in the latest Paleocene deposits of the basal Sparnacian facies at Rivecourt, in the north-central part of the Paris Basin. The new terrestrial vertebrate and macroflora assemblages are analyzed through a multidisciplinary study including sedimentologic, stratigraphic, isotopic, and palynological aspects in order to reconstruct the paleoenvironment and to evaluate biochronologic and paleogeographic implications. The mammals are moderately diverse and not abundant, contrary to turtles and champsosaurs. The macroflora is exceptional in preservation and diversity with numerous angiosperms represented by flowers, fruits, seeds and wood preserved as lignite material, revealing an abundance of Arecaceae, Betulaceae, Icacinaceae, Menispermaceae, Vitaceae and probably Cornaceae. Results indicate a Late Paleocene age based on carbon isotope data, palynology and vertebrate occurrences such as the choristoderan Champsosaurus, the arctocyonid Arctocyon, and the plesiadapid Plesiadapis tricuspidens. However, several mammal species compare better with the earliest Eocene. Among these, the particular louisinid Teilhardimys musculus, also recorded from the latest Paleocene of the Spanish Pyrenees, suggests a younger age than the typical MP6 reference level. Nevertheless, the most important aspect of the Rivecourt fauna is the presence of dental remains of a rodent and a ‘‘miacid’’ carnivoran, attesting to the presence of two modern mammalian orders in the latest Paleocene of Europe. Interestingly, these two groups are also the only modern groups recorded from the latest Paleocene of North America, making Rivecourt the first direct equivalent to the Clarkforkian Land Mammal Age outside of North America.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference First comprehensive catalogue of hibernating Darwin wasps in the Western Palaearctic (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae)
Background In the Western Palaearctic, many species of Darwin wasps exhibit a form of diapause known as free-living adult diapause, similar to hibernation in certain beetle, bumblebee and butterfly species. This study provides a first comprehensive overview of all known hibernating species and aims to improve the current ecological knowledge. New information We reviewed 439 species, confirming free-living adult diapause in 340; 81 remain unverified and 18 are excluded, which have been incorrectly reported as hibernators in the past. The validated dataset includes 7443 records from 27567 specimens, spanning over 235 years of both published and unpublished observations. We report 29 species as hibernators for the first time. Amongst the records, 388 provide the first evidence of hibernation for a species in a given country, with 67 also representing the species' first national record. We highlight the value of field-based data and caution against relying solely on collection dates to study diapause. The observed variability in diapause strategies and hibernacula underscores the importance of nature management for biodiversity conservation, especially preservation of microhabitats.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2025
Article Reference First Detections of Culiseta longiareolata (Diptera: Culicidae) in Belgium and the Netherlands
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference First early Eocene tapiroid from India and its implication for the paleobiogeographic origin of perissodactyls
The presence of cambaytheres, the sister group of perissodactyls, in western India near or before the time of collision with Asia suggests that Perissodactyla may have originated on the Indian Plate during its final drift towards Asia. Herein we reinforce this hypothesis by reporting two teeth of the first early Eocene tapiromorph Perissodactyla from the Cambay Shale Formation of Vastan Lignite Mine (c. 54.5 Ma), Gujarat, western India, which we allocate to a new genus and species, Vastanolophus holbrooki. It presents plesiomorphic characters typical of the paraphyletic “Isectolophidae,” such as small size and weak lophodonty. However, the weaker hypoconulid and low paralophid, higher cusps, lower cristid obliqua, and the lingual opening of the talonid are found in Helaletidae, the most primitive tapiroid family. V. holbrooki, gen. et sp. nov., may be the oldest and the most primitive tapiroid, suggesting that at least tapiroid perissodactyls originated on India.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference First Early Hominin from Central Africa (Ishango, Democratic Republic of Congo)
Despite uncontested evidence for fossils belonging to the early hominin genus Australopithecus in East Africa from at least 4.2 million years ago (Ma), and from Chad by 3.5 Ma, thus far there has been no convincing evidence of Australopithecus, Paranthropus or early Homo from the western (Albertine) branch of the Rift Valley. Here we report the discovery of an isolated upper molar (\#Ish25) from the Western Rift Valley site of Ishango in Central Africa in a derived context, overlying beds dated to between ca. 2.6 to 2.0 Ma. We used µCT imaging to compare its external and internal macro-morphology to upper molars of australopiths, and fossil and recent Homo. We show that the size and shape of the enamel-dentine junction (EDJ) surface discriminate between Plio-Pleistocene and post-Lower Pleistocene hominins, and that the Ishango molar clusters with australopiths and early Homo from East and southern Africa. A reassessment of the archaeological context of the specimen is consistent with the morphological evidence and suggest that early hominins were occupying this region by at least 2 Ma.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Book Reference First ever detections of bats made by an acoustic recorder installed on the nacelle of offshore wind turbines in the North Sea, In: Environmental Impacts of Offshore Wind Farms in the Belgian Part of the North Sea: Assessing and Managing Effect Spheres
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2018
Article Reference First evidence of reproductive adaptation to “Island effect” of a dwarf Cretaceous Romanian titanosaur, with embryonic integument in ovo
Background: The Cretaceous vertebrate assemblages of Romania are famous for geographically endemic dwarfed dinosaur taxa. We report the first complete egg clutches of a dwarf lithostrotian titanosaur, from Totes¸ti, Romania, and its reproductive adaptation to the ‘‘island effect’’. Methodology/Findings: The egg clutches were discovered in sequential sedimentary layers of the Maastrichtian Saˆnpetru Formation, Totes¸ti. The occurrence of 11 homogenous clutches in successive strata suggests philopatry by the same dinosaur species, which laid clutches averaging four ,12 cm diameters eggs. The eggs and eggshells display numerous characters shared with the positively identified material from egg-bearing level 4 of the Auca Mahuevo (Patagonia,Argentina) nemegtosaurid lithostrotian nesting site. Microscopic embryonic integument with bacterial evidences was recovered in one egg. The millimeter-size embryonic integument displays micron size dermal papillae implying an early embryological stage at the time of death, likely corresponding to early organogenesis before the skeleton formation. Conclusions/Significance: The shared oological characters between the Hat¸eg specimens and their mainland relatives suggest a highly conservative reproductive template, while the nest decrease in egg numbers per clutch may reflect an adaptive trait to a smaller body size due to the ‘‘island effect’’. The combined presence of the lithostrotian egg and its embryo in the Early Cretaceous Gobi coupled with the oological similarities between the Hat¸eg and Auca Mahuevo oological material evidence that several titanosaur species migrated from Gondwana through the Hat¸eg Island before or during the Aptian/Albian. It also suggests that this island might have had episodic land bridges with the rest of the European archipelago and Asia deep into the Cretaceous.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference First findings of Recent thecideide brachiopods (Order: Thecideida, Family: Thecideidae) in Sulawesi, Indonesian Archipelago, with implications on reproduction and shell size in the genus Ospreyella.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference First insights into the diversity of gill monogeneans of ‘Gnathochromis’ and Limnochromis (Teleostei, Cichlidae) in Burundi: do the parasites mirror host ecology and phylogenetic history?
Monogenea is one of the most species-rich groups of parasitic flatworms worldwide, with many species described only recently, which is particularly true for African monogeneans. For example, Cichlidogyrus, a genus mostly occurring on African cichlids, comprises more than 100 nominal species. Twenty-two of these have been described from Lake Tanganyika, a famous biodiversity hotspot in which many vertebrate and invertebrate taxa, including monogeneans, underwent unique and spectacular radiations. Given their often high degrees of host specificity, parasitic monogeneans were also used as a potential tool to uncover host species relationships. This study presents the first investigation of the monogenean fauna occurring on the gills of endemic ‘Gnathochromis’ species along the Burundese coastline of Lake Tanganyika. We test whether their monogenean fauna reflects the different phylogenetic position and ecological niche of ‘Gnathochromis’ pfefferi and Gnathochromis permaxillaris. Worms collected from specimens of Limnochromis auritus, a cichlid belonging to the same cichlid tribe as G. permaxillaris, were used for comparison. Morphological as well as genetic characterisation was used for parasite identification. In total, all 73 Cichlidogyrus individuals collected from ‘G.’ pfefferi were identified as C. irenae. This is the only representative of Cichlidogyrus previously described from ‘G.’ pfefferi, its type host. Gnathochromis permaxillaris is infected by a species of Cichlidogyrus morphologically very similar to C. gillardinae. The monogenean species collected from L. auritus is considered as new for science, but sample size was insufficient for a formal description. Our results confirm previous suggestions that ‘G.’ pfefferi as a good disperser is infected by a single monogenean species across the entire Lake Tanganyika. Although G. permaxillaris and L. auritus are placed in the same tribe, Cichlidogyrus sp. occurring on G. permaxillaris is morphologically more similar to C. irenae from ‘G.’ pfefferi, than to the Cichlidogyrus species found on L. auritus. Various evolutionary processes, such as host-switching or duplication events, might underlie the pattern observed in this particular parasite-host system. Additional samples for the Cichlidogyrus species occuring on G. permaxillaris and L. auritus are needed to unravel their evolutionary history by means of (co-)phylogenetic analyses.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Article Reference First interception of the anthicid beetle Anthelephila caeruleipennis (La Ferté-Sénectère, 1847) in Belgium (Coleoptera: Anthicidae: Anthicinae)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2018