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Article Reference The genetic history of Ice Age Europe
Modern humans arrived in Europe ˊ45,000 years ago, but little is known about their genetic composition before the start of farming ˊ8,500 years ago. Here we analyse genome-wide data from 51 Eurasians from ˊ45,000–7,000 years ago. Over this time, the proportion of Neanderthal DNA decreased from 3–6\% to around 2\%, consistent with natural selection against Neanderthal variants in modern humans. Whereas there is no evidence of the earliest modern humans in Europe contributing to the genetic composition of present-day Europeans, all individuals between ˊ37,000 and ˊ14,000 years ago descended from a single founder population which forms part of the ancestry of present-day Europeans. An ˊ35,000-year-old individual from northwest Europe represents an early branch of this founder population which was then displaced across a broad region, before reappearing in southwest Europe at the height of the last Ice Age ˊ19,000 years ago. During the major warming period after ˊ14,000 years ago, a genetic component related to present-day Near Easterners became widespread in Europe. These results document how population turnover and migration have been recurring themes of European prehistory.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Article Reference Range shift of Oxythyrea funesta Poda, 14761 in Belgium (Coleoptera, Cetoniidae)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Inproceedings Reference Pleistocene gravels on the Belgian offshore investigated for composition and provenance, towards a reassessment of the transport models
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Article Reference Ecological niche of Neanderthals from Spy Cave revealed by nitrogen isotopes of individual amino acids in collagen
This study provides a refined view on the diet and ecological niche of Neanderthals. The traditional view is that Neanderthals obtained most of their dietary protein from terrestrial animals, especially from large herbivores that roamed the open landscapes. Evidence based on the conventional carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition of bulk collagen has supported this view, although recent findings based on plant remains in the tooth calculus, microwear analyses, and small game and marine animal remains from archaeological sites have raised some questions regarding this assumption. However, the lack of a protein source other than meat in the Neanderthal diet may be due to methodological difficulties in defining the isotopic composition of plants. Based on the nitrogen isotopic composition of glutamic acid and phenylalanine in collagen for Neanderthals from Spy Cave (Belgium), we show that i) there was an inter-individual dietary heterogeneity even within one archaeological site that has not been evident in bulk collagen isotopic compositions, ii) they occupied an ecological niche different from those of hyenas, and iii) they could rely on plants for up to ∼20\% of their protein source. These results are consistent with the evidence found of plant consumption by the Spy Neanderthals, suggesting a broader subsistence strategy than previously considered.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Article Reference Neandertal cannibalism and Neandertal bones used as tools in Northern Europe
Almost 150 years after the first identification of Neandertal skeletal material, the cognitive and symbolic abilities of these populations remain a subject of intense debate. We present 99 new Neandertal remains from the Troisième caverne of Goyet (Belgium) dated to 40,500–45,500 calBP. The remains were identified through a multidisciplinary study that combines morphometrics, taphonomy, stable isotopes, radiocarbon dating and genetic analyses. The Goyet Neandertal bones show distinctive anthropogenic modifications, which provides clear evidence for butchery activities as well as four bones having been used for retouching stone tools. In addition to being the first site to have yielded multiple Neandertal bones used as retouchers, Goyet not only provides the first unambiguous evidence of Neandertal cannibalism in Northern Europe, but also highlights considerable diversity in mortuary behaviour among the region’s late Neandertal population in the period immediately preceding their disappearance.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Article Reference Pleistocene Mitochondrial Genomes Suggest a Single Major Dispersal of Non-Africans and a Late Glacial Population Turnover in Europe
How modern humans dispersed into Eurasia and Australasia, including the number of separate expansions and their timings, is highly debated [ 1, 2 ]. Two categories of models are proposed for the dispersal of non-Africans: (1) single dispersal, i.e., a single major diffusion of modern humans across Eurasia and Australasia [ 3–5 ]; and (2) multiple dispersal, i.e., additional earlier population expansions that may have contributed to the genetic diversity of some present-day humans outside of Africa [ 6–9 ]. Many variants of these models focus largely on Asia and Australasia, neglecting human dispersal into Europe, thus explaining only a subset of the entire colonization process outside of Africa [ 3–5, 8, 9 ]. The genetic diversity of the first modern humans who spread into Europe during the Late Pleistocene and the impact of subsequent climatic events on their demography are largely unknown. Here we analyze 55 complete human mitochondrial genomes (mtDNAs) of hunter-gatherers spanning ∼35,000 years of European prehistory. We unexpectedly find mtDNA lineage M in individuals prior to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). This lineage is absent in contemporary Europeans, although it is found at high frequency in modern Asians, Australasians, and Native Americans. Dating the most recent common ancestor of each of the modern non-African mtDNA clades reveals their single, late, and rapid dispersal less than 55,000 years ago. Demographic modeling not only indicates an LGM genetic bottleneck, but also provides surprising evidence of a major population turnover in Europe around 14,500 years ago during the Late Glacial, a period of climatic instability at the end of the Pleistocene.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Article Reference Contrubution to the knowledge of Afrotropical Rutelinae IV (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea: Melolonthidae)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Article Reference A 365-Million-Year-Old Freshwater Community Reveals Morphological and Ecological Stasis in Branchiopod Crustaceans
Branchiopod crustaceans are represented by fairy, tadpole, and clam shrimps (Anostraca, Notostraca, Laevicaudata, Spinicaudata), which typically inhabit temporary freshwater bodies, and water fleas (Cladoceromorpha), which live in all kinds of freshwater and occasionally marine environments. The earliest branchiopods occur in the Cambrian, where they are represented by complete body fossils from Sweden such as Rehbachiella kinnekullensis and isolated mandibles preserved as small carbonaceous fossils from Canada. The earliest known continental branchiopods are associated with hot spring environments represented by the Early Devonian Rhynie Chert of Scotland (410 million years ago) and include possible stem-group or crown-group Anostraca, Notostraca, and clam shrimps or Cladoceromorpha, which differ morphologically from their modern counterparts. Here we report the discovery of an ephemeral pool branchiopod community from the 365-million-year-old Strud locality of Belgium. It is characterized by new anostracans and spinicaudatans, closely resembling extant species, and the earliest notostracan, Strudops goldenbergi. These branchiopods released resting eggs into the sediment in a manner similar to their modern representatives. We infer that this reproductive strategy was critical to overcoming environmental constraints such as seasonal desiccation imposed by living on land. The pioneer colonization of ephemeral freshwater pools by branchiopods in the Devonian was followed by remarkable ecological and morphological stasis that persists to the present day.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Article Reference Nouvelle contribution à l'étude du genre Autocrates Thomson, 1860 avec la description d'une nouvelle espèce du Vietnam: A. ivanovi n.sp. (Coleoptera: Trictenotomidae).
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Article Reference Description de Patellapis (Chaetalictus- mpalaensis sp.nov. et redescription de P. (C.) virungae Timmerman, 2009 de l'Afrique orientale et centrale (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Halictidae)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016