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Extreme convergence in egg-laying strategy across insect orders
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Familie-indeling en diversiteit van wespen (Hymenoptera) in de Lage Landen
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De classificatie van de families van de orde Hymenoptera is de afgelopen vijf jaar aanzienlijk veranderd, onder meer door meer moleculair onderzoek. De evolutionaire geschiedenis van de orde wordt ook steeds duidelijker. Op basis van onderzoek uit recente literatuur en in lijn met nieuwe inzichten presenteren wij een nieuw familieoverzicht voor Nederland en België. In Nederland en België zijn vertegenwoordigers gevonden van 88 families. Om een idee te krijgen van de diversiteit van de verschillende families wordt een overzicht gegeven van het aantal genera en het (geschatte) aantal soorten voor elke familie. Deze cijfers zijn gebaseerd op literatuuronderzoek, websites of deskundig oordeel van specialisten. Een groot aantal foto’s toont de enorme soortendiversiteit van de wespen. Er valt echter ook in beide landen nog veel te ontdekken, vooral in de Parasitica-groep.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2024
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Faunistic survey of myrmecophilous and other ant-associated beetles and spiders in the Belgian province of Limburg (Araneae, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
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Many researchers have been fascinated by the social organisation within an ant colony. They have noticed that several other invertebrates are found in or near the ants’ nests, notably a variety of Coleoptera and to a lesser extent, some spiders. Many of these observations have been written down, some just as a brief statement but sometimes a detailed report of these interactions as a result of accurate and prolonged monitoring was published. All this information allowed us to make a comparison with the ant species associated with beetles and spiders in the Belgian province of Limburg. We will discuss a large number of species within their respective families and mention in particular a certain connection between the guest and its host, a relationship which cannot necessarily be called myrmecophilous
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RBINS Staff Publications 2023
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Field guide to the brittle and basket stars (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) of South Africa
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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).
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RBINS Staff Publications 2019
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Field Method for testing Repellency of an Icaridin-Containing Skin Lotion against Vespid Wasps
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RBINS Staff Publications 2016
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First detailed study of the Belgian Eocene sea turtle ‘Oligochelone rupeliensis’
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In 1909, the famous palaeontologist Louis Dollo announced, in a paper about the Belgian fossil vertebrates, a new Oligocene (Rupelian) genus and species of sea turtle, ‘Oligochelone rupeliensis’. He indicated that it was established for a specimen that preserved the complete carapace and several appendicular bones, being characterized as “a typical marine turtle”. No further information, but neither photographs or drawings, were provided by him. He planned to publish the study of this species in the future, but this did not happen. Only a schematic drawing of the plastron of that specimen, as well as a photograph of a tibia attributed to this taxon without justification, were presented, by another author, seventy years later. The first-hand study of the specimen considered by Dollo allows us to observe that it does not preserve any tibia, so that attribution cannot be supported. Therefore, except for that imprecise drawing of the plastron published more than four decades ago, no additional information was available so far. In fact, ‘Oligochelone rupeliensis’ was recognized as a nomen nudum. After a preliminary analysis of the specimen considered by Dollo, one of us (APG) and other collaborators recently indicated, without justification, that, although ‘Oligochelone rupeliensis’ could be closely related to the Eochelone representatives, it differs from all defined members of Cheloniidae. Therefore, we point out that a detailed anatomical study of this form, as well as its comparison with other species, would be necessary to propose, for the first time, a diagnosis, if its specific validity can be confirmed. Taking this into account, that partial skeleton has been analyzed in detail by us. To improve the comparative framework, both the type material and additional individuals from all Eocene and Oligocene cheloniid taxa recognized for the Belgian record have also been analyzed first-hand. The preliminary results are presented here.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2025
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First Early Hominin from Central Africa (Ishango, Democratic Republic of Congo)
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Despite uncontested evidence for fossils belonging to the early hominin genus Australopithecus in East Africa from at least 4.2 million years ago (Ma), and from Chad by 3.5 Ma, thus far there has been no convincing evidence of Australopithecus, Paranthropus or early Homo from the western (Albertine) branch of the Rift Valley. Here we report the discovery of an isolated upper molar (\#Ish25) from the Western Rift Valley site of Ishango in Central Africa in a derived context, overlying beds dated to between ca. 2.6 to 2.0 Ma. We used µCT imaging to compare its external and internal macro-morphology to upper molars of australopiths, and fossil and recent Homo. We show that the size and shape of the enamel-dentine junction (EDJ) surface discriminate between Plio-Pleistocene and post-Lower Pleistocene hominins, and that the Ishango molar clusters with australopiths and early Homo from East and southern Africa. A reassessment of the archaeological context of the specimen is consistent with the morphological evidence and suggest that early hominins were occupying this region by at least 2 Ma.
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RBINS Staff Publications
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First European pontoporiid dolphins (Mammalia: Cetacea, Odontoceti), from the Miocene of Belgium and The Netherlands
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RBINS Staff Publications
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First findings of Recent thecideide brachiopods (Order: Thecideida, Family: Thecideidae) in Sulawesi, Indonesian Archipelago, with implications on reproduction and shell size in the genus Ospreyella.
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RBINS Staff Publications
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First interception of the anthicid beetle Anthelephila caeruleipennis (La Ferté-Sénectère, 1847) in Belgium (Coleoptera: Anthicidae: Anthicinae)
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RBINS Staff Publications 2018
