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Article Reference Evidence for a pre-PETM dispersal of the earliest European crocodyloids
Crocodyloid remains from the late Paleocene of Mont de Berru (France) hosted in the collections of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris, France) and in the Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique (Brussels, Belgium) are described for the first time. This material, although fragmentary, can be clearly referred on a morphological basis to Asiatosuchus depressifrons (Blainville, 1855), a species previously reported from several Eocene Belgian localities thanks to abundant material including a nearly complete skeleton. The Paleocene material shares with A. depressifrons the number of alveoli involved in the dentary symphysis, the exclusion of the splenials from the symphysis, and the presence of a distinct depression on the jugal. The fossil remains from Berru represent the oldest European crocodyloid. Along with the alligatoroid Diplocynodon remensis Martin, Smith, de Lapparent de Broin, Escuillié and Delfino, 2014, previously reported from the same locality, the crocodyloid A. depressifrons indicates that these genera reached Europe before the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum. Although more complete remains from outside Europe are needed to refine phylogenetic hypotheses, according to the currently established fossil record the forerunners of diplocynodontids likely dispersed from North America, whereas those related to Asiatosuchus likely dispersed from Asia.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2017
Article Reference Evidence for banana cultivation and animal husbandry during the first millennium BC in the forest of southern Cameroon
The faunal and botanical data from the first millennium  site of Nkang, Southern Cameroon, are presented in this paper. The analysed material, retrieved from refuse pits, comprises charcoal, phytoliths, molluscs and animal bones, which allow a reconstruction of the former environment. In addition, the site provides new insights into the emergence of food-producing communities in the African rainforest. Food procurement strategies at the site involved gathering, hunting, fishing, as well as small livestock keeping and banana cultivation. This is the earliest evidence for such practices in Central Africa.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Evidence for Conductivity- and Macroinvertebrate-Driven Segregation of Ostracod Assemblages in Endorheic Depression Wetlands in North West Province of South Africa
Our knowledge of the ecology of non-marine Ostracoda inhabiting endorheic wetlands (pans) of the semi-arid regions of South Africa is very scarce. The present study investigates the distribution of ostracod species in grass, open, and salt pans in the central part of the North West province and tests ostracod response to abiotic and biotic predictor variables operating at a local scale. Distance-based linear models revealed three variables (pan type, water electrical conductivity and abundance of macroinvertebrate predators, and collector-gatherers) that best explained variation in the ostracod dataset. Ostracod assemblages from the three studied pan types differed by the dominance structure rather than by the species composition. Salt pans with high conductivity and high ratio of predaceous macroinvertebrates were dominated by Heterocypris giesbrechti, with accessory presence of Plesiocypridopsis newtoni. In open pans with low conductivities and the lowest ratio of predators (but highest ratio of collector-gatherers) Potamocypris mastigophora was typically a dominant species, while in grass pans, all the three mentioned species had similar relative abundances. Although our findings lend provisional support to some models of ostracod assemblage diversity across different pan types, more studies replicating endorheic depression wetlands in other regions are required before generalizations can be made.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023
Article Reference Evidence for early cat taming in Egypt
The remains are described of a young small felid found in a Predynastic burial at Hierakonpolis, Upper Egypt. Osteometric and zoogeographical arguments indicate that the specimen, dated to around 3700 B.C. on the basis of the associated pottery, belongs to Felis silvestris. In the same cemetery several other animal species, both wild and domestic, have been found. The left humerus and right femur of the cat show healed fractures indicating that the animal had been held in captivity for at least 4e6 weeks prior to its burial. We believe that this pathology suggests early cat taming more convincingly than a buried cat recently reported from Neolithic Cyprus (7500 B.C.). Such taming events were probably part of the processes that eventually led to the domestication of Felis silvestris. However, the absence of the cat in Predynastic and Early Dynastic depictions and its rare attestation in the archaeozoological record indicates that domestic status had not yet been attained during those early periods. Other species that were also held in captivity by Ancient Egyptians probably never became domesticated because they had one or more characteristics that prevented it.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Evidence for Faster X Chromosome Evolution in Spiders
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Article Reference Evidence for herbivorous cave bears (Ursus spelaeus) in Goyet Cave, Belgium: implications for palaeodietary reconstruction of fossil bears using amino acid δ15N approaches
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Article Reference Evidence for solar influence in a Holocene speleothem record (Père Noël cave, SE Belgium).
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2018
Incollection Reference Evidence from otoliths for establishing relationships between Gadiforms and other groups.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Incollection Reference Evidence from otoliths for establishing relationships within Gadiforms.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Evidence of a Cooler Continental Climate in East China during the Warm Early Cenozoic
The early Cenozoic was characterized by a very warm climate especially during the Early Eocene. To understand climatic changes in eastern Asia, we reconstructed the Early Eocene vegetation and climate based on palynological data of a borehole from Wutu coal mine, East China and evaluated the climatic differences between eastern Asia and Central Europe. The Wutu palynological assemblages indicated a warm temperate vegetation succession comprising mixed needle- and broad-leaved forests. Three periods of vegetation succession over time were recognized. The changes of palynomorph relative abundance indicated that period 1 was warm and humid, period 2 was relatively warmer and wetter, and period 3 was cooler and drier again. The climatic parameters estimated by the coexistence approach (CA) suggested that the Early Eocene climate in Wutu was warmer and wetter. Mean annual temperature (MAT) was approximately 16°C and mean annual precipitation (MAP) was 800–1400 mm. Comparison of the Early Eocene climatic parameters of Wutu with those of 39 other fossil floras of different age in East China, reveals that 1) the climate became gradually cooler during the last 65 million years, with MAT dropping by 9.3°C. This cooling trend coincided with the ocean temperature changes but with weaker amplitude; 2) the Early Eocene climate was cooler in East China than in Central Europe; 3) the cooling trend in East China (MAT dropped by 6.9°C) was gentler than in Central Europe (MAT dropped by 13°C) during the last 45 million years.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016