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Article Reference New or noteable records of brittle stars (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) from South Africa.
Ophiuroid research in South Africa has not kept pace with global taxonomic research with the last major taxonomic review of the group being published in 1976. This paper documents all new records of Ophiuroidea from South Africa since (and including) 1977. These records originate from specimens housed in five zoological collections, from photographic records and from reports published in the non-taxonomic literature. A short review of the history of ophiuroid taxonomy in South Africa is also given and for each new record, key references, distribution, ecology, additional notes and, where possible, photographs, are presented. This has resulted in an additional 24 species being recorded within the mainland Exclusive Economic Zone of South Africa, elevating the total known number of ophiuroid species reported in the region to 137.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference New pipimorph from the Late Cretaceous of Niger
tIn Becetèn, in southeast Niger, is one of the few mid-Upper Cretaceous (Coniacian-Santonian) fossil-iferous localities in Africa where multiple anuran taxa are known. Two of them, Pachycentrata taquetiand Inbecetenanura ragei, have been described from In Becetèn. Both are pipids, a clade composed ofexclusively aquatic anurans. Beside these two pipids, numerous isolated bones have also been referredto anurans within the site, but never referred to any known less inclusive taxa. Here we describe severalidentified cranial and postcranial bones referable to Pipidae or its stem-group, which together constitutePipimorpha. Among these elements, three cranial elements are referred to two unnamed pipimorphs.One of these has gondwanomorph affinities (pipids + South American and African extinct pipimorphs).These conclusions are supported by our phylogenetic analyses. Numerous postcranial elements are notreferable to any of the four pipimorph taxa identified at In Becetèn, although some ilia might be tenta-tively referred to ?Pachycentrata sp. The presence of at least four distinct anuran taxa makes In Becetènthe most diverse anuran site in Mesozoic Africa. It is also the first site in the Mesozoic where four pipi-morph taxa are identified. The dominance of pipimorphs in the anuran diversity of the site suggests thatIn Becetèn was likely more lacustrine than previously thought.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2025 OA
Article Reference New postcranial elements of mesonychid mammals from the Ypresian of France: New hypotheses for the radiation and evolution of the mesonychids in Europe
New postcranial elements of two mesonychids that lived during the Ypresian (early Eocene) in Europe are here described. The postcranial bones found at La Borie (France; ≈MP8 + 9) can be confidently ascribed to Hyaenodictis raslanloubatieri, while the astragalus found at Palette (France; ≈MP7) probably represents H. rougierae. Our study demonstrates that H. raslanloubatieri and H. rougierae were digitigrade in posture and relatively cursorial in locomotion. A single lumbar vertebra was recovered at La Borie and referred to H. raslanloubatieri; this element suggests this species was a moderately dorsostable predator. In addition, we illustrate the first maxillary fragment referable to H. raslanloubatieri, also discovered at La Borie. In comparison, we describe the postcranial elements of Pachyaena gigantea partially published in the early twentieth century, probably a plantigrade predator species. Morphological data derived from the La Borie specimens were included in phylogenetic analyses and support the reinstatement and monophyly of Hyaenodictis. Hyaenodictis was considered to be a junior synonym of Dissacus, but here we find that the Hyaenodictis clade includes almost all European mesonychids formerly referred to Dissacus along with the North American Wasatchian species H. willwoodensis.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
Article Reference New records of Palaearctic Dynastinae (3) : occurence of Eophileurus pectoralis Arrow, 1908 in China, and complement to its distribution in India
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
Article Reference New records of Penthicodes lanternfly species from Thailand and Malaysia and nomenclatural notes on the genus (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Fulgoridae)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022
Article Reference New records of two longhorn beetles species from the genus Aegosoma Audinet-Serville, 1832 in Vietnam, A. dorei Drumont et al., 2018 and A. fuliginosum Drumont et al., 2019 (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Prioninae)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022
Article Reference New species and genera of Muricidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from New Zealand
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022 OA
Article Reference New species and records of the genus Hercostomus Loew (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) from Thailand mangroves, with notes on the Hercostomus fauna of Singapore mangroves
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2024
Article Reference New species of Rissoidae Gray, 1847 (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Caenogastropoda) from Ascension Island
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
Inproceedings Reference New specimens and CT data of the longirostrine crocodylian Thoracosaurus isorhynchus from the Maastrichtian of Mont-Aimé (Paris Basin, France)
Thoracosaurs are a polyphyletic group of Cretaceous–Paleogene longisrostrine crocodylians from Europe and North America. Traditionally perceived as gavialoids, phylogenetically closer to Gavialinae than to Tomistominae, they play a key role in the gharial problem: their old age and seemingly close relationship to Gavialinae is inconsistent with molecular clock estimates indicating a far younger origin of Gavialoidea. Moreover, the phylogenetic position of thoracosaurs is debated, as recent studies suggested thoracosaurs are non-crocodylian eusuchians instead. Here we describe thoracosaur material from Mont-Aimé, France, rediscovered in the collections of the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle de Lille. The Mont-Aimé is famous for its richness in fossil vertebrates, among which the longirostrine species Thoracosaurus isorhynchus (formerly T. macrorhynchus). Confusion about the age of the vertebrate layers has recently been solved, indicating that they are Maastrichtian in age instead of Danian. The new material most likely belongs to T. isorhynchus based on a flexure in the ectopterygoid–pterygoid suture, a distinctive character found in adults of this taxon. Our study reveals new characters not visible on previously known material. An example is the short posterior non-dentigerous process of the maxilla, a character shared with early Paleogene longirostrines and tomistomines but not with gavialines. Furthermore, microCT data of the skull reveal for the first time endocranial characters of this taxon, such as the presence of an internal recess in the parietal. Together with redescribed T. isorhynchus material from the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, this leads to an updated phylogenetic position of this taxon.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023