Skip to content. | Skip to navigation

Personal tools

You are here: Home

Search results

RSS Subscribe to an always-updated RSS feed.

1731 items matching your search terms.
Filter the results.
Item type



































New items since



Sort by relevance · date (newest first) · alphabetically
Article Reference Taphonomy of marine vertebrates of the Pisco Formation (Miocene, Peru): Insights into the origin of an outstanding Fossil-Lagerstätte
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Inproceedings Reference Taphonomy of the Pisco Konzentrat- and Konservat-Lagerstätte (Miocene, Peru).
Among the most outstanding Cenozoic marine Fossil-Lagerstätten worldwide, the Peruvian Pisco Formation is renowned for its exceptional preservation and abundance of fossil vertebrates, especially cetaceans. We present an updated overview and interpretation of taphonomic data gathered during fifteen field campaigns (2006-2019) on 890 fossil marine vertebrates from the Miocene strata of the Pisco Formation exposed in the Ica Desert. In order to assess the factors that led to the formation of such an exceptional Konzentrat- and Konservat-Lagerstätte, we made observations that range from the taxonomic distribution, articulation, completeness, disposition and orientation of skeletons, to the presence of bite marks, associations with shark teeth and macro-invertebrates, bone and soft tissue (i.e., baleen) preservation, and the formation of attendant carbonate concretions and sedimentary structures. We propose that the exceptional preservation and abundance of the Pisco Formation specimens cannot be ascribed to a single cause, but rather to the interplay of favorable palaeoenvironmental factors and suitable timing of mineralizing processes, such as: i) low concentration of dissolved oxygen at the seafloor; ii) the early onset of mineralization processes; iii) rapid burial of the carcasses; and iv) original biological richness in the southeastern Pacific. Our observations provide a comprehensive overview of the taphonomic characteristics of one of the most significant fossiliferous deposits of South America and lead to the elaboration of a complex scenario for the preservation of its marine vertebrates that might serve as a reference for explaining the formation of other marine vertebrate Fossil-Lagerstätten worldwide.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference Tarsal diversity in the earliest Eocene mammal fauna of Dormaal, Belgium
Mammal teeth bring important information regarding phylogeny and diet. However, postcranial elements, although poorly studied for small Paleogene mammals, can provide other significant data. The purpose of this study is to associate tarsal bones with dental specimens for a systematic identification. We thus chose the Belgian locality of Dormaal (Tienen Formation, Belgium) that has yielded the earliest Eocene mammals of Europe. This particularly rich fauna, dated between 55.5 and 55.8 Ma, occurred during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, a key period in the mammal evolution. It is composed by archaic mammals (“condylarths”, arctocyonids, plesiadapiforms, “insectivorans”…) and also by earliest modern taxa (primates, rodents, carnivoraforms, artiodactyls …), representing about 14,000 dental specimens. 488 tarsal bones are studied according to three methods: morphology, relative abundance and relative size. 12 morphotypes of astragali and 18 of calcanei are discriminated and most of them are identified at the level of species (e.g. the marsupial Peratherium constans), genus or family (e.g. ischyromyid rodents). New perspectives in phylogeny and paleoecology are proposed for further studies implying tarsal bones.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Inproceedings Reference Tarsiers, omomyids, and new postcranial elements of Teilhardina belgica
The phyletic link of living tarsiers to fossil primates has been a difficult bridge to cross. Although Tarsiidae has been linked to fossil tarsiiforms such as omomyids and microchoerids, as well as to anthropoids, no consensus of opinion has been reached. Here we add several new postcranial elements for one of the most primitive of all tarsiiforms, Teilhardina belgica from Dormaal, Belgium. We compare this new material to that of living and fossil tarsiers as well as to other Eocene fossil primates. Besides the previously known tarsals for Teilhardina, we have been able to add a distal humerus, a proximal ulna, a second metacarpal, a proximal and a distal femur, tibiae, additional tarsals, first metatarsals, and several proximal and middle phalanges. Although most of these postcranial elements compare best with other omomyids, and therefore do not resolve the phyletic relationship of omomyids relative to tarsiers, the fingers and toes of Teilhardina are quite elongated, a similarity to living tarsiers. Middle phalangeal lengths of the diminuitive Teilhardina are comparable in length to much larger species of Tarsius suggesting relatively even longer digits. The digit features of Teilhardina and Tarsius are unusual for primates in general and may in fact represent an ancestral state although hands and feet of other fossil tarsiiforms are needed to test this hypothesis.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Taxocoenoses of amphipod crustaceans
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Taxonomic revision of Strandesia s.s. (Crustacea, Ostracoda) from four Brazilian floodplains, with the description of three new species
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020
Article Reference Taxonomic revision of the family Squalodontidae (Cetacea, Odontoceti): emptying the wastebasket of fragmentary holotypes
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2025
Article Reference Taxonomic revision of the jumping Goblin Spiders of the genus Orchestina Simon, 1882, in the Americias (Araeneae: Oonopidae)
Located in Library / RBINS collections by external author(s)
Article Reference Taxonomy of the heavily exploited Indo-Pacific sandfish complex (Echinodermata: Holothuriidae)
Two commercially valuable holothurians, the sandfish and golden sandfish, vary in colour and have a confused taxonomy, lending uncertainty to species identifications. A recent molecular study showed that the putative variety Holothuria (Metriatyla) scabra var. versicolor Conand, 1986 (‘golden sandfish’) is a distinct species from, but could hybridize with, H. (Metriatyla) scabra Jaeger, 1833 (’sandfish’). Examination of the skeletal elements and external morphology of these species corroborates these findings. The identity of H. (M.) scabra is unambiguously defined through the erection and description of a neotype, and several synonyms have been critically re-examined. The nomenclaturally rejected taxon H. (Metriatyla) timama Lesson, 1830 and H. (M.) scabra var. versicolor (a nomen nudum) are herein recognized as conspecific and are allocated to a new species, Holothuria lessoni sp. nov., for which type specimens are described. The holotype and only known specimen of H. aculeata Semper, 1867, has been found and is redescribed. It is considered to be a valid species. Taxonomic clarification of this heavily exploited species complex should aid its conservation and permit species-specific management of their fisheries.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Taxonomy of the monotypic genus Koehleria Cherbonnier, 1988 (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea: Cucumariidae)
Voucher material recently collected from the 2-Mile Reef at Sodwana Bay (Republic of South Africa), allows the evaluation of the monotypic genus Koehleria Cherbonnier, 1988 and its species K. unica Cherbonnier, 1988 collected from Tuléar (Madagascar). Cherbonnier’s (1988) conclusion, that Koehleria is most related to the also monotypic genus Pseudocolochirus Pearson, 1910 is correct, but the differences between Koehleria and Pseudocolochirus are too small to justify the retention of Koehleria. Koehleria is relegated herein to the synonymy of Pseudocolochirus. Such a step decreases the velocity with which monotypic genera are currently described within the Dendrochirotida.
Located in Library / No RBINS Staff publications