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Additional postcranial elements of Teilhardina belgica: the oldest European Primate
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Teilhardina belgica is one of the earliest fossil primates ever recovered and the oldest fossil primate from Europe. As such, this taxon has often been hypothesized as a basal tarsiiform on the basis of its primitive dental formula with four premolars and a simplified molar cusp pattern. Until recently [see Rose et al.: Am J Phys Anthropol 146 (2011) 281–305; Gebo et al.: J Hum Evol 63 (2012) 205–218], little was known concerning its postcranial anatomy with the exception of its well-known tarsals. In this article, we describe additional postcranial elements for T. belgica and compare these with other tarsiiforms and with primitive adapiforms. The forelimb of T. belgica indicates an arboreal primate with prominent forearm musculature, good elbow rotational mobility, and a horizontal, rather than a vertical body posture. The lateral hand positions imply grasps adaptive for relatively large diameter supports given its small body size. The hand is long with very long fingers, especially the middle phalanges. The hindlimb indicates foot inversion capabilities, frequent leaping, arboreal quadrupedalism, climbing, and grasping. The long and well-muscled hallux can be coupled with long lateral phalanges to reconstruct a foot with long grasping digits. Our phyletic analysis indicates that we can identify several postcranial characteristics shared in common for stem primates as well as note several derived postcranial characters for Tarsiiformes.
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Late Palaeocene eusuchian remains from Mont de Berru, France, and the origin of the alligatoroid Diplocynodon
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Crocodilian remains from the late Palaeocene continental locality of Mont de Berru (Marne, France) offer the opportunity to reassess the taxonomic identity of the oldest diplocynodontid from Europe. Owing to significant morphological differences from previously described species of Diplocynodon, which include the presence of a splenial symphysis, a new species, Diplocynodon remensis sp. nov., is erected here. Its inclusion in a phylogenetic framework for Eusuchia leads to its positioning as a derived member of diplocynodontids. Diplocynodontidae are viewed as a basal alligatoroid taxon, and, because morphological affinities with the Late Cretaceous−early Eocene North American genus Borealosuchus were mentioned in earlier studies, a comparison amongst D. remensis sp. nov., Leidyosuchus, and Borealosuchus spp. is presented. Although D. remensis sp. nov. is the geologically oldest diplocynodontid, according to our results, it is not the phylogenetically most primitive. Other morphological discrepancies are highlighted, indicating that the topology recovered here is only tentative. From a biogeographical point of view, the appearance of Diplocynodon in Europe prior to the Palaeocene/Eocene boundary indicates that it did not disperse with North American taxa that reached Europe around the time of the Palaeocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM). Therefore, a pre-PETM dispersal from North America at the same times as other vertebrates with clear North American affinities also occurring in the Palaeocene of Europe cannot be excluded. The description of D. remensis sp. nov. adds substantial new, albeit conflicting, information, highlighting the need for a better phylogenetic framework with a revision of other critical taxa (Menatalligator, Borealosuchus) from the Palaeocene of Europe and North America.
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The oldest blind snake is in the Early Paleocene of Europe
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Scolecophidians or blind snakes are among the most primitive and smaller snakes in the world with an average of size of 10 cm. They are worm-like, fossorial, lucifugous and often colourless, eating ants, termites, and their larvae. Based on the revision of Vidal et al (2010) they are represented by 5 families mainly living in tropical areas and have had a long history on Gondwana. The only European representative of this group is Typhlops vermicularis that lives around the Mediterranean Basin. Here we describe two isolated procoelous trunk vertebrae from the early Paleocene of Hainin (MP1-5, Belgium), a locality already known for the oldest amphisbaenian lizards (Folie et al 2013) and the earliest European scincoid lizards (Folie et al 2005). These vertebrae are clearly attributed to a scolecophian by the following characters (List, 1966): they are 1.5 mm long and 1 mm high and wide; the centrum is narrow and the hemal keel is absent; the orientation of the prezygapophyses processes that serve for muscle attachment strongly differs from the one of the prezygapophyseal facets; the neural arch is depressed and does not present a posterior medial notch nor a neural spine. Fossil scolecophidians are identified based on their vertebrae but they are generally considered as not diagnostic at a familial, generic or specific level. However, some characters have recently been proposed to differentiate the family level on the basis of the shape and placement of the synapophyses, shape of the cotyle, size of the zygosphene, and shape of the prezygopophyseal facets (Gelnaw & Mead, 2010). Based on these features, the Hainin vertebrae differ from those of Anomalepidae and Leptotyphlopidae, and resemble those of Typhlopidae by similar neural arch morphology and height, development and orientation of the paradiapophysis, and morphology of the neural canal, cotyle and condyle. Record of fossil scolecophidians indicates their presence in North America, Europe, Africa and Australia. Before this study, the oldest representatives of this group were known from the late Paleocene of Adrar Mgorn (Ouarzazate Basin) in Morrocco and from the earliest Eocene of Dormaal (Tienen Formation, MP7) in Belgium. The scolecophidian from Hainin resembles more the one from Dormaal than that from Adrar Mgorn by narrower centrum and neural arch. The width of the neural arch in Typhlops is similar to both Belgian scolecophidians, however, the centrum is even narrower. By these characters, the scolecophidian from Hainin could represent a basal Typhlopidae.
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Reconstruction of the skeleton of Teilhardina belgica, the oldest European Primate
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Teilhardina belgica is one of the earliest fossil primates ever recovered and the oldest fossil primate from Europe (~ 56 Million years). It was originally described by Teilhard de Chardin (1927) from the MP7 reference level of Dormaal (Belgium), which is situated at the Paleocene-Eocene boundary at the base of the Tienen Formation (Smith & Smith, 1996). Teilhardina is known on all three northern continents in association with the carbon isotope excursion marking the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum. Relative position within the carbon isotope excursion indicates that Asian Teilhardina asiatica is oldest, European T. belgica is younger, and North American T. brandti and T. americana are, successively, youngest. Analysis of morphological dental characteristics of all four species supports an Asian origin and a westward Asia-to-Europe-to-North America dispersal for Teilhardina. High-resolution isotope stratigraphy indicates that this dispersal happened in an interval of 25,000 years (Smith et al, 2006). Moreover, Teilhardina is one of the most primitive fossil primates known to date and the earliest haplorhine with associated three dimensional postcranials making it relevant to a reconstruction of the ancestral primate morphotype. As such, Teilhardina has often been hypothesized as a basal tarsiiform on the basis of its primitive dental formula with four premolars and a simplified molar cusp pattern. Until recently, little was known concerning its postcranial anatomy with the exception of its well-known tarsals. Here we describe additional postcranial elements for Teilhardina belgica and compare these to other tarsiiforms and to primitive adapiforms. Teilhardina is a small primate with an estimated body mass between 30-60 g, similar to the size of a mouse lemur. Its hindlimb anatomy suggests frequent and forceful leaping with excellent foot mobility and grasping capabilities. It can now be established that it exhibits critical primate postcranial synapomorphies such as a grasping hallux and a tall knee (Gebo et al, 2012), and nailed digits (Rose et al, 2011). This anatomical pattern and behavioral profile is similar to what has been inferred before for other omomyids and adapiforms. The most unusual feature of Teilhardina belgica is its elongated middle phalanges suggesting that this early primate had very long fingers similar to those of living tarsiers. Our phyletic analysis indicates that we can identify several postcranial characteristics shared in common for stem primates as well as note several derived postcranial characters for Tarsiiformes.
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Focus stacking: Comparing commercial top-end set-ups with a semi-automatic low budget approach. A possible solution for mass digitization of type specimens
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Eocene stratigraphy of the Wadi Al-Hitan World Heritage Site and adjacent areas (Fayum, Egypt).
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Early Eocene environmental development in the northern Peri-Tethys (Aktulagay, Kazakhstan) based on benthic foraminiferal assemblages and stable isotopes (O, C).
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The Aktulagay section in Kazakhstan provides an expanded northern Tethyan record of the middle Ypresian (calcareous nannoplankton zones NP11-13, ~ 54-50 Ma), including the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO). The marl sequence features a series of sapropel beds, observed throughout the Peri-Tethys, indicative of the basin-wide occurrence of episodic hypoxic events. In order to unravel the paleoenvironmental evolution at Aktulagay during this period of global warming, we investigated the benthic foraminiferal record by means of a detailed multivariate analysis of the > 63 μm fraction, as well as through stable isotopic (C, O) investigations on excellently preserved benthic foraminiferal specimens. The Alashen Formation (NP11 to lower NP12; ~ 54 to 52.5 Ma), in the lower part of the sequence, contains a diverse assemblage of deep outer neritic (~ 200-250 m) benthic foraminifera, with common Pulsiphonina prima and Paralabamina lunata. The sea-floor conditions are interpreted as initially (54 Ma) well-ventilated and oligo- to mesotrophic, gradually changing to more eutrophic and oxygen-limited, culminating in more permanent low-oxygen conditions and eutrophy in the sapropel-bearing Aktulagay B1 unit (middle NP12; ~ 52.5-52 Ma). The latter conclusion is corroborated by the dominance of Anomalinoides acutus and Bulimina aksuatica and the lower diversity. Also the upward migration of endobenthic species to the sediment-water interface, as suggested by rising δ13Cendobenthic values, supports this interpretation. A transgression, which flooded lowlands, might have caused this development. In the Aktulagay B2 unit (top NP12-NP13; ~ 52-50 Ma), benthic foraminiferal assemblages dominated by Epistominella minuta suggest an oligotrophic environment, with transient pulses of phytodetritus and moderate ventilation. The Aktulagay B2 unit coincides with the peak temperature interval of the EECO, as indicated by its position close to the base of NP13 and rising δ13Cepibenthic values. Large river plumes, episodically reaching the area, in a monsoonal climatic context, might explain this basin development. Although it is not unlikely that some of the observed patterns are related to long-term climate change, it can currently not be excluded that changing paleogeography and variable connections to the Tethys, Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean were responsible for the long-term period with dysoxia and anoxia during deposition of the sapropel beds at the Peri-Tethyan seafloor. The evolution of the basin as observed in Aktulagay shows similarities to the evolution of the North Sea Basin as observed in Denmark, suggesting that these basins were connected during the Early Eocene.
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Supplement to the genus Megobaraliption (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Prioninae)
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The multiple faces of Nannopus palustris auct. reconsidered: a morphological approach (Copepoda: Harpacticoida: Nannopodidae)
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Invasive process and repeated cross-sectional surveys of the mosquito Aedes japonicus japonicus establishment in Belgium
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When accidentally introduced in a new location, a species does not necessarily readily become invasive, but it usually needs several years to adapt to its new environment. In 2009, a national mosquito survey (MODIRISK) reported the introduction and possible establishment of an invasive mosquito species, Aedes j. japonicus, in Belgium. First collected in 2002 in the village of Natoye from a second-hand tire company, then sampled in 2003 and 2004, the presence of adults and larvae was confirmed in 2007 and 2008. A repeated cross-sectional survey of Ae. j. japonicus was then conducted in 2009 in Natoye to study the phenology of the species on two different sites using three kinds of traps: Mosquito Magnet Liberty Plus traps, BG sentinel traps and CDC Gravid traps. An analysis of the blood meals was done on females to assess the epidemiological risks. Five species of mosquitos were caught using the different kind of traps: Culex pipiens, Cx. torrentium, Anopheles claviger, Aedes geniculatus and Ae. j. japonicus, Cx. pipiens being the most abundant. The CDC gravid traps gave the best results. Surprisingly Ae. j. japonicus was only found on one site although both sites seem similar and are only distant of 2.5 km. Its population peak was reached in July. Most of the engorged mosquitoes tested acquired blood meals from humans (60\%). No avian blood meals were unambiguously identified. Larvae were also collected, mostly from tires but also from buckets and from one tree hole. Only one larva was found in a puddle at 100 m of the tire storage. A first local treatment of Ae. j. japonicus larvae population was done in May 2012 using Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis (Bti) and was followed by preventive actions and public information. A monitoring is also presently implemented.
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