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Article Reference Ichtyosaurs from the French Rhaetian indicate a severe turnover across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Huaridelphis raimondii, a new early Miocene Squalodelphinidae (Cetacea, Odontoceti) from the Chilcatay Formation, Peru
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Inproceedings Reference A new palaeobatrachidé frog from the Early Paleocene of Belgium
Palaeobatrachids are an extinct group of aquatic frogs. They occurred from the Late Cretaceous to the Pleistocene, only in Europe with the exception of one questionable species recorded in the late Maastrichtian Lance Formation of Wyoming and a second possible occurrence in the early Paleocene of Montana.Here, we describe about ninety isolated palaeobatrachid bones well-preserved in three-dimensions (maxillae, surangulars, vertebrae, urostyles, ilia and humeri) from the early Paleocene locality of Hainin (Belgium), which is the reference-level MP1-5 of the mammalian biochronological scale for the European Paleogene. These remains are clearly attributable to a single species of palaeobatrachid that presents the following typical characters: a surangular with a coronoid process bearing muscle scars on dorsal surface; a bicondylar sacro-urostylar articulation; an urostyle with a low neural crest and lacking transversal processes; a humerus with the humeral condyle in the alignment of the bone, epicondyles similar in size; an ilium presenting a large acetabular area, a short and posteriorly oriented pars ascendens, an elongate tuber superius, an horizontal depression on the inner surface of the iliac shaft and lacking the dorsal crest and the pars descendens; and procoelous vertebrae with typical crescent-like cotyle and condyle. The four known palaeobatrachid genera have all been recently synonymized with Palaeobatrachus for which at least seven species are now recognized. The taxon from Hainin differs from most Palaeobatrachus species in the absence of cubital fossa on the humerus, the presence of diapophyses on the first vertebra, and the maxilla that presents a higher number of tooth positions. It is thus referred to a new Palaeobatrachus species or a new genus depending of the definition of the genus Palaeobatrachus. Prior to this study, fragmentary remains of palaeobatrachids had been identified in the Campanian of France and Spain and in the Late Paleocene of France. The early Paleocene species from Hainin is therefore the earliest formally described species from Europe. This abstract is a contribution to the project BR/121/A3/PALEURAFRICA funded by the Belgian Science Policy Office.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Proceedings Reference Intercontinental dispersal of mammals during the Paleocene new data from Europe
The Paleocene in general and in Europe in particular, is generally considered as an epoch with high endemism and few intercontinental dispersals of mammals, although some faunal interchange is known between Asia and North America, mainly from the Tiffanian-Clarkforkian boundary. Up to now, however, faunal interchange between Europe and North America during the Paleocene has almost never been demonstrated. The study of the early Paleocene fauna of Hainin (Belgium) reveals high endemism in European mammals at the end of the Danian (early Paleocene). The age of the fauna of Walbeck (Germany) is reevaluated and is likely to be Selandian (middle Paleocene), significantly older than previously suggested. Therefore, Walbeck is closer in age to Hainin than to the typical late Paleocene fauna of Cernay (France). However, the faunas from Walbeck and Cernay share many common genera that are not present in Hainin, showing a faunal turnover around the Danian-Selandian boundary in Europe, marked by the first occurrence of Plesiadapis, Arctocyon and Adunator in Walbeck, and of neoplagiaulacid multituberculates and Dissacus in Cernay. The three genera present in Walbeck are abundant and diversified in North America from the beginning of the Tiffanian, i.e., older than the expected age of Walbeck. Therefore, it is inferred that these genera dispersed from North America to Europe around the Danian–Selandian boundary, corresponding roughly to the Torrejonian–Tiffanian boundary. The absence of multituberculates in the fauna of Walbeck does not allow the drawing of definite conclusions about the moment of their dispersal, but it is likely that it happened at the same time as Plesiadapis and Arctocyon, because neoplagiaulacids are abundant and diversified during the whole Paleocene in North America. Similarly, Dissacus is very rare in Cernay, and could also have dispersed at the same time as others, but remained unnoticed because of its rarity. The Clarkforkian in North America is marked by massive arrival of taxa from Asia, among which are rodents, carnivorans, and tillodonts. The recent discovery of the latest Paleocene fauna of Rivecourt (France), where typical Paleocene taxa cohabit with rodents and a carnivoran, indicates that the large-scale dispersal event marking the Paleocene–Eocene boundary began in Europe about at the same time as in North America, with the arrival of rodents and carnivorans. The morphology of the new carnivoran species suggests that this group dispersed separately from Asia to Europe and from Asia to North America.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Long-standing enigmas of a giant ornithomimosaur Deinocheirus mirificus resolved
The holotype of Deinocheirus mirificus was collected by the 1965 Polish-Mongolian Palaeontological Expedition at Altan Uul III in the southern Gobi of Mongolia1. Because the holotype consists mostly of giant forelimbs (2.4m in length) with scapulocoracoids2, Deinocheirus has remained one of the most mysterious dinosaurs for almost 50 years. The mosaic of ornithomimosaur and non-ornithomimosaur characters in the holotype has made it difficult to resolve the phylogenetic status of Deinocheirus3,4. Here we describe two new specimens of Deinocheirus that were discovered in the Nemegt Formation of Altan Uul IV in 2006 and Bugiin Tsav in 2009. The Bugiin Tsav specimen (MPC-D 100/127) includes a left forelimb clearly identifiable as Deinocheirus and is 6% longer than the holotype. The Altan Uul IV specimen (MPC-D 100/128) is approximately 74% the size of MPC-D 100/127. Cladistic analysis indicates that Deinocheirus is the largest member of the Ornithomimosauria; however, it has many unique skeletal features unknown in other ornithomimosaurs, indicating that Deinocheirus was a heavily built, non-cursorial animal with an elongate snout, tall neural spines, an expanded pelvis for strong muscle attachments, and a relatively short hind limb. Ecomorphological features in the skull, more than a thousand gastroliths, and stomach contents (fish remains) suggest Deinocheirus was a megaomnivore that lived in mesic environments.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Osteology and relationships of Olorotitan arharensis, a hollow-crested hadrosaurid dinosaur from the latest Cretaceous of Far Eastern Russia
the most complete dinosaur discovered in Russia and one of the best preserved lambeosaurines outside western North America. This taxon is diagnosed by following autapomorphies: large helmet−like hollow crest higher than the rest of the skull and extending caudally well beyond the level of the occiput; very high postorbital process of jugal (ratio height of postorbital process/length of jugal = 1); rostral portion of the jugal shorter than in other lambeosaurines, with a perfectly straight rostral margin; very asymmetrical maxilla in lateral view, with ventral margin distinctly downturned; very elon− gated neck composed of 18 cervical vertebrae; tibia as high as the femur; shorter cnemial crest, about one fifth of tibia length. A phylogenetic analysis, based on 118 cranial, dental, and postcranial characters, indicates that Olorotitan is a member of the Corythosaurini clade, and is the sister taxon of Corythosaurus casuarius, Hypacrosaurus stebingeri, and Hypacrosaurus altispinus. The high diversity and mosaic distribution of Maastrichtian hadrosaurid faunas in the Amur−Heilongjiang region are the result of a complex palaeogeographical history and imply that many independent hadrosaurid lineages dispersed readily between western America and eastern Asia at the end of the Cretaceous.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Mary Anning’s legacy to French vertebrate palaeontology
The real nature of marine reptile fossils found in England between the 1700s and the beginning of the 1900s remained enigmatic until Mary Anning’s incredible fossil discoveries and their subsequent study by eminent English and French scientists. In 1820, Georges Cuvier acquired several ichthyosaur specimens found by Mary Anning, now kept or displayed in the Palaeontology Gallery of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN) in Paris. Four years later, Cuvier obtained a plesiosaur specimen from Mary Anning, only the second ever discovered. Cuvier was fascinated by these fossils and their study allowed him to apply his comparative anatomical method and to support his catastrophist theory. We have re-examined these important specimens from a historical point of view, and describe them here taxonomically for the first time since Cuvier’s works. The Paris specimens belong to two different ichthyosaur genera (Ichthyosaurus and Leptonectes) and one plesiosaur genus (Plesiosaurus).
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference A new long-tailed basal bird from the Early Cretaceous of north-eastern China
A new basal Avialae, Jeholornis curvipes sp. nov., from the Yixian Formation (Early Cretaceous) of Liaoning Province (north-eastern China) is described. A revision of long-tailed birds from China and a phylogenetic analysis of basal Avialae suggest that Jeholornithiformes were paraphyletic, with Jixiangornis orientalis being the sister-taxon of pygostylia. The phylogenetic analysis also recovered that the tail reduction is a unique event in the evolution of birds. Jeholornis species were cursorial, nonperching, and seed-eating birds.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference High Diversity in Cretaceous Ichthyosaurs from Europe Prior to Their Extinction
Background: Ichthyosaurs are reptiles that inhabited the marine realm during most of the Mesozoic. Their Cretaceous representatives have traditionally been considered as the last survivors of a group declining since the Jurassic. Recently, however, an unexpected diversity has been described in Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous deposits, but is widely spread across time and space, giving small clues on the adaptive potential and ecosystem control of the last ichthyosaurs. The famous but little studied English Gault Formation and ‘greensands’ deposits (the Upper Greensand Formation and the Cambridge Greensand Member of the Lower Chalk Formation) offer an unprecedented opportunity to investigate this topic, containing thousands of ichthyosaur remains spanning the Early–Late Cretaceous boundary. Methodology/Principal Findings: To assess the diversity of the ichthyosaur assemblage from these sedimentary bodies, we recognized morphotypes within each type of bones. We grouped these morphotypes together, when possible, by using articulated specimens from the same formations and from new localities in the Vocontian Basin (France); a revised taxonomic scheme is proposed. We recognize the following taxa in the ‘greensands’: the platypterygiines ‘Platypterygius’ sp. and Sisteronia seeleyi gen. et sp. nov., indeterminate ophthalmosaurines and the rare incertae sedis Cetarthrosaurus walkeri. The taxonomic diversity of late Albian ichthyosaurs now matches that of older, well-known intervals such as the Toarcian or the Tithonian. Contrasting tooth shapes and wear patterns suggest that these ichthyosaurs colonized three distinct feeding guilds, despite the presence of numerous plesiosaur taxa. Conclusion/Significance: Western Europe was a diversity hot-spot for ichthyosaurs a few million years prior to their final extinction. By contrast, the low diversity in Australia and U.S.A. suggests strong geographical disparities in the diversity pattern of Albian–early Cenomanian ichthyosaurs. This provides a whole new context to investigate the extinction of these successful marine reptiles, at the end of the Cenomanian.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference A Jurassic ornithischian dinosaur from Siberia with both feathers and scales
Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous deposits from northeastern China have yielded varied theropod dinosaurs bearing feathers. Filamentous integumentary structures have also been described in ornithischian dinosaurs, but whether these filaments can be regarded as part of the evolutionary lineage toward feathers remains controversial. Here we describe a new basal neornithischian dinosaur from the Jurassic of Siberia with small scales around the distal hindlimb, larger imbricated scales around the tail, monofilaments around the head and the thorax, and more complex featherlike structures around the humerus, the femur, and the tibia.The discovery of these branched integumentary structures outside theropods suggests that featherlike structures coexisted with scales and were potentially widespread among the entire dinosaur clade; feathers may thus have been present in the earliest dinosaurs.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications