An almost complete plastron, as well as several peripherals and a costal plate of a turtle from the middle Eocene of Saint-Gilles, is presented here. Although this turtle specimen was donated to the Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique (Brussels, Belgium) more than a century ago, it remained undescribed. Its study allows us to recognize the second pleurodiran in the Belgian fossil record, where, until now, the Eocene Neochelys was the only one known. The Belgian material of Neochelys is known in lower Eocene (early Ypresian) levels, but the new pleurodiran specimen comes from the middle Eocene (early Lutetian). It is the first partial articulate shell of a pleurodiran turtle recognized in Belgium, and the only member of this clade recognized in this country at specific level. The new specimen is a representative of the so-called Erymnochelys group, this lineage being known in Africa from the Upper Cretaceous to the present but in Europe only during the Eocene. It represents the first specimen of Eocenochelus eremberti identified outside its type locality, the French region of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (Yvelines, Île-de-France), where only one specimen was found. The plastron of the Belgian individual corresponds to the most complete for this species. Its analysis allows us not only to broaden the range of paleobiogeographical distribution of Eocenochelus eremberti but also to improve the knowledge about the anatomy and variability of this taxon.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2017
The karstic caves of the Meuse River Basin in Belgium preserve nearly 200 collective burials dating to the late Neolithic period. Among these, the cave burials of Hastière Caverne M, Sclaigneaux, Bois Madame and Maurenne Caverne de la Cave are represented by numerous individuals and radio-carbon dated to circa 4,635 to 3,830 years B.P. Dental casts from mandibular and maxillary deciduous molars are scored using multiple methods to provide a regional overview of the prevalence and expres-sion of deciduous molar crown traits, and to compare frequencies between cave burial sites with a focus on temporal differentiation. Carabelli’s trait varies from a small pit to a full cusp, the largest of which are found at Hastière Caverne M. The hypoconulid ranges from moderately large to very large. A meta-conulid is absent or small. Although the results are contingent on idiosyncratic preservation, differences in the frequencies of expression of Carabelli’s trait, a pronounced hypoconulid, and the presence of a metaconule and protostylid separate the earlier cave burial at Hastière Caverne M from the final/late Neolithic sites of Sclaigneaux and Bois Madame.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2018
