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An annotated revision of the West Atlantic taxa of Terebridae, with the description of a new species of Neoterebra
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RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
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An ichthyological borderland: The fishfauna of Nyungwe National Park and surroundings (Rwanda, East Africa)
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Nyungwe National Park (NP) is a mountainous region situated in the southwestern part of Rwanda on Congo-Nile watershed. In spite of the high biodiversity in pri- mates, birds and plants, no fish were reported to occur in the park, probably because of the cold temperatures of the rivers. An expedition in 2022 examined the fish diver- sity within the Nyungwe NP and its buffer zones. Additional sampling was performed in the main river draining the park into Lake Kivu: the Kamiranzovu. Three hundred and twenty specimens belonging to 13 species were collected. Specimens were col- lected only in the western part of the park, draining towards the Congo basin. The diversity within the park proper was limited to two putative species within the com- plex of Amphilius cf. kivuensis, which were caught on either side of the Kivu–Rusizi watershed. In contrast, a higher fish diversity, including one clariid species and two species of Enteromius, was observed in the rivers at a lower altitude of the buffer zone. However, the highest species diversity was found near the mouth of Kamiran- zovu River, including 11 species, of which 4 were non-native: the guppy Poecilia reti- culata, Astatotilapia burtoni, the blue-spotted tilapia Oreochromis leucosticus and the Egyptian mouth-brooder Pseudocrenilabrus multicolor.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2025
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An introduction to the survey of the diversity of the flies (Diptera) in the centennial Botanic Garden Jean Massart (Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium)
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RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
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An Overlooked Group of Citizen Scientists in Non-Indigenous Species (NIS) Information: Shell Collectors and Their Contribution to Molluscan NIS Xenodiversity
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RBINS Staff Publications 2024
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Analysis of Iguanodon bernissartensis teeth and bones using in-situ trace element, oxygen and strontium isotope composition: Implication for paleoecology, paleoenvironment and diagenesis
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RBINS Staff Publications 2025 OA
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Analysis of oceanographic profiles taken during RV Belgica campaign ST2019/09
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RBINS Staff Publications 2020
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Analysis of water column data taken during RV Belgica campaign ST2020/29
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RBINS Staff Publications 2022 OA
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Anatomical description and digital reconstruction of the skull of Jeholosaurus shangyuanensis (Dinosauria, Ornithopoda) from China
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RBINS Staff Publications 2025 OA
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Anatomy, Relationships, and Paleobiology of Cambaytherium (Mammalia, Perissodactylamorpha, Anthracobunia) from the lower Eocene of western India
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The anatomy of Cambaytherium, a primitive, perissodactyl-like mammal from the lower Eocene Cambay Shale Formation of Gujarat, India, is described in detail on the basis of more than 350 specimens that represent almost the entire dentition and the skeleton. Cambaytherium combines plesiomorphic traits typical of archaic ungulates such as phenacodontids with derived traits characteristic of early perissodactyls. Cambaytherium was a subcursorial animal better adapted for running than phenacodontids but less specialized than early perissodactyls. The cheek teeth are bunodont with large upper molar conules, not lophodont as in early perissodactyls; like perissodactyls, however, the lower molars have twinned metaconids and m3 has an extended hypoconulid lobe. A steep wear gradient with heavy wear in the middle of the tooth row suggests an abrasive herbivorous diet. Three species of Cambaytherium are recognized: C. thewissi (∼23 kg), C. gracilis (∼10 kg), and C. marinus (∼99 kg). Body masses were estimated from tooth size and long bone dimensions. Biostratigraphic and isotopic evidence indicates an age of ca. 54.5 Ma for the Cambay Shale vertebrate fauna, the oldest Cenozoic continental vertebrate assemblage from India, near or prior to the initial collision with Asia. Cambaytheriidae (also including Nakusia and Perissobune) and Anthracobunidae are sister taxa, constituting the clade Anthracobunia, which is sister to Perissodactyla. We unite them in a new higher taxon, Perissodactylamorpha. The antiquity and occurrence of Cambaytherium—the most primitive known perissodactylamorph—in India near or before its collision with Asia suggest that Perissodactyla evolved during the Paleocene on the Indian Plate or in peripheral areas of southern or southwestern Asia.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2020
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Ancestors of domestic cats in Neolithic Central Europe: Isotopic evidence of a synanthropic diet
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Most of today’s domesticates began as farm animals, but cat domestication took a different path. Cats became commensal of humans somewhere in the Fertile Crescent, attracted to early farmers’ settlements by rodent pests. Cat remains from Poland dated to 4,200 to 2,300 y BCE are currently the earliest evidence for the migration of the Near Eastern wildcat to Central Europe. Tracking the possible synanthropic origin of that migration, we used stable isotopes to investigate the paleodiet. We found that the ecological balance was already changed due to the expansion of Neolithic farmlands. We conclude that among the Late Neolithic Near Eastern wildcats from Poland were free-living individuals, who preyed on rodent pests and shared ecological niches with native European wildcats.Cat remains from Poland dated to 4,200 to 2,300 y BCE are currently the earliest evidence for the migration of the Near Eastern cat (NE cat), the ancestor of domestic cats, into Central Europe. This early immigration preceded the known establishment of housecat populations in the region by around 3,000 y. One hypothesis assumed that NE cats followed the migration of early farmers as synanthropes. In this study, we analyze the stable isotopes in six samples of Late Neolithic NE cat bones and further 34 of the associated fauna, including the European wildcat. We approximate the diet and trophic ecology of Late Neolithic felids in a broad context of contemporary wild and domestic animals and humans. In addition, we compared the ecology of Late Neolithic NE cats with the earliest domestic cats known from the territory of Poland, dating to the Roman Period. Our results reveal that human agricultural activity during the Late Neolithic had already impacted the isotopic signature of rodents in the ecosystem. These synanthropic pests constituted a significant proportion of the NE cat’s diet. Our interpretation is that Late Neolithic NE cats were opportunistic synanthropes, most probably free-living individuals (i.e., not directly relying on a human food supply). We explore niche partitioning between studied NE cats and the contemporary native European wildcats. We find only minor differences between the isotopic ecology of both these taxa. We conclude that, after the appearance of the NE cat, both felid taxa shared the ecological niches.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2020