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Inproceedings Reference New specimens of Indohyaenodon raoi from the Early Eocene of Vastan Mine, India and their implication for phylogeny and biogeography of Hyaenodontid mammals
Cambaytherium, Nakusia, and Kalitherium are closely related early Eocene mammals from the Indo-Pakistan region that have been assigned to Perissodactyla (Laurasiatheria) or Anthracobunidae. The latter have been variously considered artiodactyls or perissodactyls, but more recently are usually placed at the base of the order Proboscidea or of the more inclusive Tethytheria (Afrotheria). We present new evidence from the dentition, skull, and postcranial skeleton of Cambaytherium, from Gujarat, India (ca. 54.5 Ma), that cambaytheres occupy a pivotal position as the sister taxon of Perissodactyla. Cambaytherium was more robust than basal perissodactyls such as ″Hyracotherium″ and Homogalax, and had a body mass of ~25-27 kg based on humeral, radial, and dental regressions. Perissodactyl synapomorphies include a transverse nasal-frontal suture, twinned molar metaconids, and an astragalus with deeply grooved trochlea and a saddleshaped navicular facet. Like perissodactyls, cambaytheres are mesaxonic and have hooflike unguals and a cursorially-adapted skeleton. Plesiomorphic traits compared to basal perissodactyls include bunodont molars with large conules and almost no hint of bilophodonty, unmolarized premolars, sacrum with four vertebrae, humerus with distally extensive pectoral crest and distal articulation lacking a capitular tail, distal radius without discrete scaphoid and lunate fossae, femur with low greater trochanter, calcaneus robust and wide with rounded ectal facet, astragalus wide with moderately long neck and vestigial astragalar foramen, navicular and cuboid short and wide, metapodials short and robust, and Mc I and Mt V present. In most or all of these traits cambaytheres are intermediate between phenacodontid condylarths and perissodactyls but closer to the latter. Our phylogenetic analyses place cambaytheres just outside perissodactyls, and place anthracobunids among primitive perissodactyls. However, similarities between cambaytheres and anthracobunids suggest that they are closely related, and future discovery of skeletal material of anthracobunids will provide a test of this hypothesis. Our results indicate that Anthracobunidae are not Proboscidea or tethytheres, and suggest that the origin of Perissodactyla may have taken place on the drifting Indian plate. How the progenitors of perissodactyls reached India is more problematic but might have involved land connections with Afro-Arabia during the Paleocene. Field work and research supported by the National Geographic Society.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference New specimens of the early Eocene bird Vastanavis and the interrelationships of stemgroup Psittaciformes
We describe new skeletal elements of Vastanavis from the early Eocene Cambay Shale Formation of western India, including a small coracoid that represents an unnamed new species, and comment on the relationships between this avian taxon and the recently described Avolatavis from the early Eocene Green River Formation in North America. Like the previously described ones, the new Vastanavis bones resemble those of the late Eocene Quercypsittidae, thus strengthening psittaciform affinities of the Indian taxon. Vastanavis differs from Avolatavis in the presence of a crista medianoplantaris on the tarsometatarsus and in claw morphology, but a fossil from the early Eocene London Clay, which was previously assigned to Vastanavidae, closely resembles Avolatavis in these features and all other osteological aspects. We show that most branches in a recent phylogeny of stem group Psittaciformes collapse after modification of a single erroneous character scoring for Vastanavis. We further describe a morphologically distinctive distal humerus of a small bird resembling the stem group nyctibiid Paraprefica, which was discovered in the most recent excavation in Vastan Lignite Mine.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference New specimens of the mesonychid Dissacus praenuntius from the early Eocene of Wyoming and evaluation of body size through the PETM in North America
The Mesonychia is a group of archaic carnivorous mammals of uncertain phylogenetic affinities with a Holarctic distribution during the Paleogene. Intensive fossil collecting efforts in the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, have resulted in recovery of the largest sample and most complete specimens yet known of the mesonychid Dissacus praenuntius from the second biozone of the Wasatchian North American Land Mammal Age (Wa-0). The Wa-0 biozone corresponds to the body of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a brief but intense global warming event that occurred ~56 myr ago that significantly impacted terrestrial mammal faunas, including dwarfing in many mammal lineages. To evaluate the potential response of this lineage to climate change, we compared the PETM sample of D. praenuntius with those recovered from just before the PETM in the last biozone of the Clarkforkian North American Land Mammal Age (Cf-3) and just after the PETM in the Wa-1 biozone. While the sample size is still too small to say with certainty, tooth size (as a proxy for body weight) of D. praenuntius appears to be smaller during the late PETM than during either the pre-PETM Cf-3, or post-PETM Wa-1 biozones, suggesting the possibility of a muted dwarfing response to the PETM. However, the pattern observed for D. praenuntius differs from that of many other PETM mammals, as the shift to smaller body size is less pronounced and may have only occurred in late Wa-0.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference New spider species (Araneae) from the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference New Tachydromiinae (Diptera: Empidoidea, Hybotidae) from different types of forests near Yangambi.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference New taxa and new synonymy in Muricidae (Neogastropoda: Pagodulinae, Trophoninae, Ocenebrinae) from the Northeast Pacific
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Inproceedings Reference New Trends in Soil Biology
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Newly discovered crocodile mummies of variable quality from an undisturbed tomb at Qubbat al-Hawā (Aswan, Egypt)
A description is provided of the crocodile remains that were found during an excavation carried out in 2019 at Qubbat al-Hawā (Aswan, Egypt). The material consists of five more or less complete bodies and five heads that were in varying states of preservation and completeness. The absence of resin, which was apparently not used during the preparation of the mummies, and the almost complete loss of linen bandages, due to insect damage, allowed a detailed morphological and osteometric description of the remains. Attention was focused on the general state of preservation of the crocodiles, the completeness of their skeletons and skulls, the presence of cut or other marks that could indicate the cause of death, and the processing of the carcasses. Moreover, the possible provenance of the crocodiles, the methods of capture and killing of the animals and their possible chronological attribution are discussed. It is concluded that the manner in which these specimens were prepared, as well as the variation observed in the type of ‘final product’, are unlike any other crocodile material described so far. The preparation method suggests a pre-Ptolemaic date for the deposit. The morphological and metrical features indicate that both Crocodylus niloticus and the recently resurrected species Crocodylus suchus are present among these individuals that range from 1.8 to 3.5 m in length.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023
Article Reference Newly discovered populations of the Ethiopian endemic and endangered Afrixalus clarkei Largen, implications for conservation
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Article Reference News about the Red-breasted Geese (Branta ruficollis) and other anseriforms in the basins of the Zakharova Rassokha and Novaya Rivers (Southeastern Taimyr).
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications