Skip to content. | Skip to navigation

Personal tools

You are here: Home

Search results

RSS Subscribe to an always-updated RSS feed.

4466 items matching your search terms.
Filter the results.
Item type



































New items since



Sort by relevance · date (newest first) · alphabetically
Article Reference Un premier cas de gynandromorphisme dans la famille des Trictinotomidae Blanchard, 1845 (Insecta Coleoptera)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2018
Article Reference Amplified seasonality in western Europe in a warmer world
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2024
Article Reference Binkhorstiidae, a new family of crabs (Decapoda, Brachyura, Retroplumoidea) from the upper Cretaceous of the Netherlands and Belgium.
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.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2024
Article Reference A survey of transposon landscapes in the putative ancient asexual ostracod Darwinula stevensoni
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.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference Scale-dependent patterns of metacommunity structuring in aquatic organisms across floodplain systems
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference Stratigraphy and depositional environments of the Late Famennian (Late Devonian) of Southern Belgium and characterization of the Strud locality
The Famennian (Upper Devonian, c. 372 to 359 Ma) strata of Belgium have recently received much attention after the discoveries of early tetrapod remains and outstandingly preserved continental arthropods. The Strud locality has yielded a diverse flora and fauna including seed-plants, tetrapods, various placoderm, actinopterygian, acanthodian and sarcopterygian fishes, crustaceans (anostracans, notostracans, conchostracans and decapods) and a putative complete insect. This fossil assemblage is one of the oldest continental – probably fresh-water – ecosystems with a considerable vertebrate and invertebrate diversity. The study of the palaeoenvironment of the Strud locality is crucial because it records one of the earliest and most important phases of tetrapod evolution that took place after their emergence but before their terrestrialization. It raises the question of environmental and ecological conditions for the Devonian aquatic ecosystem and the selection pressures occurring at the onset of tetrapod terrestrialization. The present study characterized the fluvial facies of the Upper Famennian sedimentary rocks of Strud and the surrounding areas. The exceptional preservation of arthropods and plants in the main fossiliferous layers is explained by rapid burial in the fine-grained sediment of the quiet and confined flood plain environment. Newly investigated fossiliferous sections in the Meuse–Samson area led to the description and correlation of key sections (Strud, Wierde and Jausse sections, complemented by the less continuous Haltinne, Huy and Coutisse sections). Moreover, the investigated sections allowed a review of the age of the fossiliferous horizon, which is now definitely considered to be Late Famennian in age.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Article Reference Brabantophyton, a new genus with stenokolealean affinities from a Middle to earliest Upper Devonian locality from Belgium
A new taxon with stenokolealean affinities, Brabantophyton runcariense gen. et sp. nov., is described from seven pyrite permineralized axes collected from the mid Givetian to earliest Frasnian (late Middle to earliest Upper Devonian) locality of Ronquières (Belgium). The specimens include stems and lateral organs. The stems are characterized by a protostele dissected into three primary ribs, each of them dividing into two secondary ribs. The protostele shows a central protoxylem strand and numerous strands distributed along the midplanes of the ribs. The vascular supply to lateral organ is composed of two pairs of traces, produced at the same time by the two ribs issued from a single primary rib of the protostele. Within each pair, the shape and the size of the traces are unequal: one is T-shaped and the other is oval to reniform. The T-shaped traces of each pair face each other. The inner cortex of the lateral organs is parenchymatous and the outer cortex is sparganum-like. The specimens of Brabantophyton runcariense show many similarities with the stenokolealean genus Crossia virginiana Beck and Stein, but the vascular supply of lateral organs of the latter consists of a more symmetrical and distinctively simpler pair of traces. Brabantophyton represents the first report of the Stenokoleales in southeastern Laurussia. The characteristics of the Brabantophyton protostele compare better with the anatomy of the radiatopses, and, within the latter, particularly with basal seed plants.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Article Reference New information, including anatomy of the secondary xylem, on the genus Brabantophyton (Stenokoleales) from Ronquières (Middle Devonian, Belgium)
Two pyrite permineralized stems and one root are reported from the upper Middle to lowermost Late Devonian (middle Givetian to lowermost Frasnian) locality of Ronquières (Belgium) and identified as Brabantophyton runcariense Momont et al. (Stenokoleales). The stems include a three-ribbed protostele with a central protoxylem strand and other strands disposed along the midplanes of the ribs; each specimen shows secondary xylem. Tracheids of both primary and secondary xylem show circular to elliptical, multiseriate bordered pits. Rays are 1–seriate to 4–seriate; their height is highly variable, ranging from 3 to more than 100 cells. The root includes a four-ribbed protostele. Each rib shows two exarch protoxylem strands. The root also comprises a ring of secondary xylem identical to that of the stems. The characteristics of the secondary vascular anatomy of Brabantophyton appear closer to the seed plants than to any other Devonian plant lineage. However, the presence of a bifacial vascular cambium is not demonstrated, which precludes a definitive assignment of the genus to the lignophytes. A hypothesis about the ontogenetic development of Brabantophyton is proposed on the basis of the different characteristics observed in the different stem specimens of the plant.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Article Reference Disrupted continental environments around the Devonian-Carboniferous Boundary: introduction of the tener event
Recent refinements of the palynological stratigraphic scheme around the Devonian-Carboniferous Boundary in southern Belgium result in new questions on the effect of the Hangenberg Biocrisis on spores and on the validity of some ‘biozones’. Verrucosisporites nitidus, the guide taxa of the last Devonian palynozone (LN zone) is lacking in many sections and its presence is only acknowledged in proximal settings. Hence the LN zone is considered as an ecozone rather than a biozone. Moreover, investigation of the uppermost part of the uppermost Famennian shows that the palynological assemblages is dominated by abnormal forms of Retispora lepidophyta, notably by R. lepidophyta var. tener which seems to be characteristic of this interval in Western Europe. It is thus proposed to introduce the global tener event as a potential marker of the Hangenberg Biocrisis on land and in proximal marine settings. This profusion of abnormal spores is thought to be related to climatic variation possibly in link with global cooling below the Devonian-Carboniferous Boundary.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Article Reference 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)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2017