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HOME project and the creation of an ethical policy – two Belgian initiatives
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Summary Background Starting in December 2019, the “HOME: Human Remains Origin(s) Multidisciplinary Evaluation” project has been granted funding for a duration of 2 years, focusing on historical collections of human remains in a network of seven institutional partners. Through the BRAIN-be 2.0 Pillar 2 “Heritage science”, call, the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO) provided funding for Provenance research. The call “Heritage Science” concerns scientific research in support of the federal – scultural, scientific and historical – heritage and in particular that in Belgian Federal Scientific Institutions (FSIs). Objectives and expected results The HOME project will result in a multidisciplinary evaluation of the historical collections of human remains in Belgium, particularly in the FSIs. The deliverables of the project include reports on the collections in the different institutions detailing the inventories. The reports will also advise on how to best manage the diverse human remains collections in Belgium as well as propose management scenarios in response to existing and future requests of repatriation. There is also no best practice in Belgium on how to manage human remains collections. As a separate initiative but with parallel aims of the HOME project, an independent group from the Royal Museum of Art and History (RMAH) is establishing a Belgian policy about the study, preservation and exhibition of human remains in a museum context.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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Some comments on “Friend or Foe? Large canid remains from Pavlovian sites and their archaeozoological context”, a paper by Wilczyński et al. (2020)
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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A tardigrade in Dominican amber
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Tardigrades are a diverse group of charismatic microscopic invertebrates that are best known for their ability to survive extreme conditions. Despite their long evolutionary history and global distribution in both aquatic and terrestrial environments, the tardigrade fossil record is exceedingly sparse. Molecular clocks estimate that tardigrades diverged from other panarthropod lineages before the Cambrian, but only two definitive crown-group representatives have been described to date, both from Cretaceous fossil deposits in North America. Here, we report a third fossil tardigrade from Miocene age Dominican amber. Paradoryphoribius chronocaribbeus gen. et sp. nov. is the first unambiguous fossil representative of the diverse superfamily Isohypsibioidea, as well as the first tardigrade fossil described from the Cenozoic. We propose that the patchy tardigrade fossil record can be explained by the preferential preservation of these microinvertebrates as amber inclusions, coupled with the scarcity of fossiliferous amber deposits before the Cretaceous.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021 OA
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Are less detrimental parasites better integrated in an inquiline community? A test using red wood ant myrmecophiles
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Background: A host infected with multiple parasitic species provides a unique system to test evolutionary and ecological hypotheses. Different parasitic species associated with a single host are expected to occupy different niches. This niche specialization can evolve from intraguild competition among parasites. However, niche specialization can also be structured directly by the host when its defence strategy depends on the parasite’s potential impact. Then it can be expected that species with low or no tendency to prey on host brood will elicit less aggression than severe brood parasitic species and will be able to integrate better in the host system. We examined this hypothesis in a large community of symbionts associated with European red wood ants (Formica rufa group) by testing the association between 1) level of symbiont integration (i.e. presence in dense brood chambers vs. less populated chambers without brood) 2) level of ant aggression towards the symbiont 3) brood predation tendency of the symbiont. Results: Symbionts differed vastly in integration level and we demonstrated for the first time that relatively unspecialized ant symbionts or myrmecophiles occur preferentially in brood chambers. Based on their integration level, we categorize the tested myrmecophiles into three categories: 1) species attracted to the dense brood chambers 2) species rarely or never present in the brood chambers 3) species randomly distributed throughout the nest. The associates varied greatly in brood predation tendency and in aggression elicited. However, we did not find a correlation for the whole myrmecophile community between a) brood predation tendency and host’s aggression b) integration level and host’s aggression c) integration level and brood predation tendency. Conclusions: Our results indicate that red wood ants did not act more hostile towards species that have a high tendency to prey on brood compared to species that are less likely or do not prey on brood. We show that potentially harmful parasites can penetrate into the deepest parts of a social insect fortress. We discuss these seemingly paradoxical findings in relation to models on coevolution and evolutionary arms races and list factors which can make the presence of potentially harmful parasites within the brood chambers evolutionary stable.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2016
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NICHE PARTITIONING OF THE EUROPEAN CARNIVOROUS MAMMALS DURING THE PALEOGENE
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We here describe the first partial cranium of Hyaenodon leptorhynchus, the type species of the taxonomically diverse and widely distributed hypercarnivorous genus Hyaenodon (Hyaenodonta). The cranium is from the S´eon Saint-Andr´e deposits (Marseille, France; Chattian, MP26). It is preserved in a dense red marl matrix that obscures key morphological features. CT-scans were used to reconstruct the specimen. The morphology of the cranium reinforces the homogeneity previously observed in Hyaenodon despite its specific diversity. The fossil represents a juvenile: it preserves its deciduous canines and the P3 is almost fully erupted. This pattern of delayed canine eruption is a trait shared among North American and European Hyaenodon. This discovery is the third occurrence of this species in the early Chattian: indeed, over a period of 5 My (from MP24 to MP27), only two occurrences (Rigal-Jouet and Saint-Martin de Casselvi, MP25) have been reported. Based on body mass and the general Hyaenodon body plan, we confidently identify H. leptorhynchus as a cursorial hypercarnivorous predator, hunting prey such as small artiodactyls. In order to understand the evolution of the European carnivorous faunas, we compared taxonomic diversity and the evolution of body mass in Hyaenodon and amphicyonids: this reveals stasis in Hyaenodon through the late Eocene and Oligocene, while amphicyonids show an extensive ecological diversification, especially during the Chattian.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2018
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Les Ostracodes des schistes à aspect "Matagne" de la partie supérieure du Frasnien de l'affleurement protégé de Boussu-en-Fagne.
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La Zone à Svantovites lethiersi n. sp., zone nouvelle d'Ostracodes de la fin du Frasnien et du début du Famennien
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Les Entomozoacea (Ostracodes) du Frasnien de l'extrémité occidentale du bord sud du Bassin de Dinant, Belgique
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Les Ostracodes du Frasnien et de la base du Famennien de la coupe du Km 30 (Saoura, Sahara algérien)
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Olentangiella n. gen., nouveau genre d'Entomozoidae (Ostracode)
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RBINS Staff Publications
