Skip to content. | Skip to navigation

Personal tools

You are here: Home

Search results

RSS Subscribe to an always-updated RSS feed.

4338 items matching your search terms.
Filter the results.
Item type



































New items since



Sort by relevance · date (newest first) · alphabetically
Article Reference A new leaf-toed gecko (Gekkonidae: Dixonius ) from the city of Ranong, southwestern Thailand
We describe Dixonius dulayaphitakorum sp. nov. from Ranong city, Ranong Province, southern peninsular Thailand. The new, ground-dwelling species differs from all currently recognized Dixonius by a combination of morphological characters and pattern: maximal known SVL of 47.8 mm, 22 longitudinal rows of dorsal tubercles; 33 to 35 paravertebral scales; 22 longitudinal rows of ventrals across the abdomen; six or seven precloacal pores in males, no pores in females; no distinct canthal stripe; and a spotted dorsal pattern. Based on dorsal pattern, the new species seems related to Dixonius siamensis. This description brings to 11 the number of Dixonius species, and to five the ones endemic to Thailand.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020
Article Reference A new limestone-dwelling leaf-toed gecko (Gekkonidae: Dixonius) from coastal hills in Cha-am, peninsular Thailand
We describe Dixonius pawangkhananti sp. nov. from coastal limestone hills in Cha-am District, Phetchaburi Province, peninsular Thailand. The new species differs from all currently recognized Dixonius by the following combination of morphological characters and pattern: maximal known snout-vent length of 42.6 mm; 16 longitudinal rows of dorsal tubercles; 30 to 32 paravertebral scales; 16 longitudinal rows of ventral scales across the abdomen; six precloacal pores in males, no pores in females; a marked canthal stripe; and a sexually dimorphic dorsal pattern consisting of bands (males) or blotches (females). This description brings the number of Dixonius species to ten, with four species endemic to Thailand.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020
Article Reference A new lithostratigraphy for the Quaternary sandy aeolian deposits in Belgium: revising the Gent formation
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2017
Article Reference A New Mammal Skull from the Late Cretaceous of Romania and Phylogenetic Affinities of Kogaionid Multituberculates
Among the Late Cretaceous fossil sites of Europe, only those from the so-called “Haţeg Island” in Transylvania, western Romania, are remarkable by their abundance in mammal remains. Curiously, all of them belong to a single family of multituberculates, the Kogaionidae, one of the rare families that survived the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction in Europe. Kogaionids are mostly represented by isolated teeth except for three partial large skulls from the Maastrichtian Sânpetru Formation of the Haţeg Basin that have been described from the Sânpetru locality as Kogaionon ungureanui and from the Pui locality as Barbatodon transylvanicus and Litovoi tholocephalos. Here we report for the first time the discovery of a partial skull associated with p4 of a small-sized kogaionid from the Nălaţ-Vad locality in the Sânpetru Formation that we refer to Kogaionon radulescui, sp. nov. An updated phylogenetic analysis, including seven Maastrichtian and Paleocene kogaionids is performed and confirms that Kogaionidae is a monophyletic clade at the base of Cimolodonta. Kogaionon differs from Barbatodon in its narrower snout, proportionally smaller P1, narrower anterior part of P4 with four similar-sized cusps in the middle row, more squared or rounded M1 with an anteroposteriorly longer lingual row, and shorter p4 (at least for K. radulescui). Litovoi tholocephalos is here considered to be a junior synonym of B. transylvanicus. Despite their Maastrichtian age, the very simple and conservative dental morphology of these Romanian kogaionids suggests that they originated from an eobaatarid-like ancestor dispersing from Asia or possibly already existing in Europe between the Barremian and Albian, 40 to 55 Ma earlier.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference A new Oligocene site with terrestrial mammals and a selachian fauna from Minqar Tibaghbagh, the Western Desert of Egypt
A new fossil site at Minqar Tibaghbagh, east of Siwa, in the Egyptian Western Desert is described. This represents the first place in Egypt outside the Fayum Depression yielding Paleogene, terrestrial mammals. Initial studies indicate the presence of palaeomastodonts, hyracoids, and anthracotheres, presumably early Oligocene in age. As only surface prospecting has been performed, more taxa will almost certainly be discovered in future investigations here and probably also elsewhere in the surroundings. A comparison is made with the most important contemporaneous sites in Libya and Egypt that yield terrestrial mammal remains. The selachian fauna from a higher level in the section confirms the Paleogene age of the subjacent strata. It is compared with selachians faunas from the early Oligocene Eastern Tethys Ocean at other places (the Fayum Depression in Egypt, and sites in Oman and Pakistan), and differs from these sites in being fully marine. Contrary to earlier studies, the open marine mudstones of the Daba’a Formation at Minqar Tibaghbagh are overlain by Paleogene marine sediments of most probably early Oligocene age and not early Miocene marine sediments as previously reported. These strata represent not only a new site with great potential for future finds, but also allows for biostratigraphic correlation.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2017
Article Reference A new Palaearctic Amblypsilipus Species (Insecta, Diptera, Dolichopodidae) from Turkey
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
Article Reference A new partial skeleton of Kryptobaatar from the Upper Cretaceous of Bayan Mandahu (Inner Mongolia, China) relaunch the question about variability in djadochtatherioid multituberculate mammals
A new well-preserved partial skeleton of the djadochtatheriid multituberculate Kryptobaatar is here described from the Campanian Bayan Mandahu Formation of the southern Gobi Basin in Inner Mongolia, China. We refer to it as Kryptobaatar sp. because it presents characters that are specific to Kryptobaatar dashzevegi and others specific to Kryptobaatar mandahuensis, as well as characters of its own. When those taxa are incorporated into a phylogenetic analysis of the Djadochtatherioidea, the Kryptobaatar species appear to be paraphyletic. This raises again questions about the high intraspecific variability in some multituberculates. Based on a comparison with the published specimens, we conclude that K. mandahuensis is a valid species, close to but distinct from K. dashzevegi. Our results also suggest that endemism alone in the Gobi Basin is not the cause of the high variability observed in the genus Kryptobaatar. But the impact of a possible difference in age or paleoenvironment between the different Kryptobaatar-bearing sites of the Gobi Desert is, for the moment, not possible to test in the current state of knowledge.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022
Article Reference A new phylogeny of cerapodan dinosaurs
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020
Article Reference A new pipid from the Cretaceous of Africa (In Becetèn, Niger) and early evolution of the Pipidae
Pipimorpha and its crown-group Pipidae possess one of the most extensive fossil records among anurans, known since the Early Cretaceous in both Laurasia and Gondwana. Pipimorph diversification may have been driven by the breakup of West Gondwana during the Cretaceous. Numerous fossils from South America have been unearthed in the last decade, documenting this event. Unfortunately, Cretaceous pipimorphs from Africa have been limited to a few wellpreserved taxa from sub-Saharan Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, which hinders our comprehension of pipimorph diversification during this key period. The site of In Becetèn, in south-east Niger, is one of the few mid-Late Cretaceous (Coniacian–Santonian) sites from which a pipid, Pachycentrata taqueti, is known. Here, we describe and name a second pipid from the same locality. This taxon is known by a relatively complete braincase. Phylogenetic analyses confirm its position as a pipid, with pipinomorph affinities. This makes In Becetèn the oldest site with at least two pipids. Phylogenetic results are congruent with recent pipimorph relationships, with the presence of an endemic extinct clade in South America, Shelaniinae. The phylogenetic results also allow us to review the proposed definition for Pipimorpha and its subclades and propose new systematic definitions for them. Temporal calibration of the phylogenetic tree based on the fossil record suggests that pipimorphs diversified in a western Gondwana block and confirms that South America separated from Africa around the mid-Cretaceous. Between these two events, pipids diverged in Africa, giving rise to major extant clades. This study highlights the importance of Africa for early pipid diversification during the Cretaceous and of the opening of the Southern Atlantic Ocean for anuran dispersion and diversification.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA