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Article Reference Foreword for the thematic volume of the PalEurAfrica project international symposium Evolution and paleoenvironment of early modern vertebrates during the Paleogene
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Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference Original articleSystematics and diversity of the giant soft-shelled turtles (Cryptodira,Trionychidae) from the earliest Eocene of Belgium
In 1909, the famous paleontologist Louis Dollo identified two putative new species of giant soft-shelled turtles from the lowest Eocene record of Belgium, ‘Trionyx erquelinnensis’ and ‘Trionyx levalensis’, from Erquelinnes and Leval, respectively. However, these proposals did not meet the requirements of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, so they were considered as nomina nuda. The information on these specimens or about any other specimen of this lineage of giant turtles from the Belgian record is currently extremely limited. Relatively scarce material from giant trionychids has been described for the lower Eocene record of other European regions. Considering the available information, all the European material has recently been recognized as belonging to the genus Axestemys, which has a North American origin, and possibly attributable to a single species, Axestemys vittata, which currently lacks a diagnosis. Numerous and well-preserved Belgian specimens are deposited in the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. In addition to the cited individuals from Erquelinnes and Leval, additional specimens from both localities, as well as others from Orp-le-Grand, are part of this collection. These specimens, found between the decades of 1910 and 1930, have been recently restored, and their study is carried out here. The presence of Axestemys vittata in Belgium (in Leval and Orp-le-Grand) is confirmed. Knowledge about this species is significantly improved, and a diagnosis is proposed. However, the hypothesis proposed by Dollo is here confirmed, this species being not the only identified in the Belgian record. So, Axestemys erquelinnensis nov. sp. is defined based on the carapace from Erquelinnes known by Dollo, suggesting that the genus probably reached Europe during the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference Advancing the Catalogue of the World’s Natural History Collections
Information about natural history collections helps to map the complex landscape of research resources and assists researchers in locating and contacting the holders of specimens. Collection records contribute to the development of a fully interlinked biodiversity knowledge graph (Page 2016), showcasing the existence and importance of museums and herbaria and supplying context to available data on specimens. These records also potentially open new avenues for fresh use of these collections and for accelerating their full availability online.A number of international (e.g., Index Herbariorum, GRSciColl) regional (e.g. DiSSCo and CETAF) national (e.g., ALA and the Living Atlases, iDigBio US Collections Catalog) and institutional networks (e.g., The Field Museum) separately document subsets of the world's collections, and the Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) Collection Descriptions Interest Group is actively developing standards to support information sharing on collections. However, these efforts do not yet combine to deliver a comprehensive and connected view of all collections globally.The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) received funding as part of the European Commission-funded SYNTHESYS+ 7 project to explore development of a roadmap towards delivering such a view, in part as a contribution towards the establishment of DiSSCo services within a global ecosystem of collection catalogues. Between 17 and 29 April 2020, a coordination team comprising international representatives from multiple networks ran Advancing the Catalogue of the World’s Natural History Collections, a fully online consultation using the GBIF Discourse forum platform to guide discussion around 26 consultation topics identified in an initial Ideas Paper (Hobern et al. 2020). Discussions included support for contributions in Spanish, Chinese and French and were summarised daily throughout the consultation.The consultation confirmed broad agreement around the needs and goals for a comprehensive catalogue of the world’s natural history collections, along with possible strategies to overcome the challenges. This presentation will summarise the results and recommendations.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020
Article Reference A large meteoritic event over Antarctica ca. 430 ka ago inferred from chondritic spherules from the Sør Rondane Mountains
Large airbursts, the most frequent hazardous impact events, are estimated to occur orders of magnitude more frequently than crater-forming impacts. However, finding traces of these events is impeded by the difficulty of identifying them in the recent geological record. Here, we describe condensation spherules found on top of Walnumfjellet in the Sør Rondane Mountains, Antarctica. Affinities with similar spherules found in EPICA Dome C and Dome Fuji ice cores suggest that these particles were produced during a single-asteroid impact ca. 430 thousand years (ka) ago. The lack of a confirmed crater on the Antarctic ice sheet and geochemical and 18O-poor oxygen isotope signatures allow us to hypothesize that the impact particles result from a touchdown event, in which a projectile vapor jet interacts with the Antarctic ice sheet. Numerical models support a touchdown scenario. This study has implications for the identification and inventory of large cosmic events on Earth.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference Pyrops auratus, a new lanternfly from the Philippines and taxonomic note on Bornean P. gunjii (Satô & Nagai, 1994) (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Fulgoridae)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference First record of a Lessepsian migrant: the sea cucumber Holothuria (Theelothuria) hamata Pearson, 1913
First record of a Lessepsian migrant: the sea cucumber Holothuria (Theelothuria) hamata Pearson, 1913. A single specimen of the Indo-West Pacific sea cucumber Holothuria (Theelothuria) hamata Pearson, 1913 has been captured in 2017 in the Mediterranean Sea, Turkey, Iskenderun Bay, at 30 m depth. This specimen is here described, and the taxonomy of the species is briefly discussed. Despite the lack of timed biogeographic evidence, we here argue that H. hamata is a Lessepsian migrant; the first in its genus and only the second holothuroid.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Book Reference Field guide to the brittle and basket stars (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) of South Africa
Brittle and basket stars (ophiuroids) are one of five extant classes of the phylum Echinodermata and have a fossil record dating back almost 500 million years to the Early Ordovician. Today, they remain diverse and widespread, with over 260 described genera and 2,077 extant species globally (Stöhr et al. 2018), more than any other class of echinoderm. Ophiuroid species are found across all marine habitats from the intertidal shore to the abyss. In southern Africa, the ophiuroid fauna has been studied extensively by a number of authors and is relatively wellknown. The last published review of the southern African Ophiuroidea however was by Clark & Courtman-Stock in 1976. It included 101 species reported from within the boundaries of South Africa. In the 40 years since that publication the number of species has risen to 136. This identification guide includes a taxonomic key to all 136 species, and gives key references, istribution maps, diagnoses, scaled photographs (where possible), and a synthesis of known ecological and depth information for each. The guide is designed to be comprehensive, well illustrated and easy to use for both naturalists and professional biologists. Taxonomic terms, morphological characteristics and technical expressions are defined and described in detail, with illustrations to clarify some aspects of the terminology. A checklist of all species in the region is also included, and indicates which species are endemic (33), for which we report significant range extensions (23), which have been recorded as new to the South African fauna (28) since the previous monograph of Clark & Courtman-Stock (1976) and which have undergone taxonomic revisions since that time (28).
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Article Reference The sea cucumber Holothuria lineata Ludwig, 1875 (Holothuroidea, Aspidochirotida, Holothuriidae) re-described from the newly found type
A re-description of the little-known holothurian species Holothuria (Lessonothuria) lineata Ludwig, 1875 is given. It is based on the single recovered type specimen and an individual recently collected on Glorioso Islands, near Madagascar. A key to separate three closely related and commonly confused species, i.e., Holothuria (Lessonothuria) pardalis Selenka, 1867, Holothuria (Lessenothuria) verrucosa Selenka, 1867 and Holothuria (Lessonothuria) insignis Ludwig, 1875, is presented.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Article Reference Conservation of aspidochirotid holothurians in the littoral waters of Kenya
Aspidochirotid sea cucumbers (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) are heavily fished in the littoral waters of Kenya, and stocks have plummeted. In order to conserve and manage these natural resources, appropriate conservation and management plans must to be developed. This can only occur if high quality research on different levels is done. This paper discusses five layers of understanding that should be achieved before holothurian conservation in East Africa can be effective
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Description of a new Chersodromia Walker (Diptera: Hybotidae, Tachydromiinae) from salt marshland at the Reserva natural de s’Albufereta, Mallorca, Spain)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA