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Multiple genetic species in a halophilic non-marine ostracod (Crustacea)
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The discovery of animal genetic (mostly also cryptic) species has known an exponential increase since molecular techniques became available. Also in non-marine ostracods (small, bivalved crustaceans with an excellent fossil record), several morphospecies have been shown to comprise several genetic species. Here, we screen 13 populations from Central Europe and the circum-Mediterranean region of the halophilic continental ostracod species Heterocypris salina with DNA sequences from a mitochondrial (COI) and a nuclear (28S) marker. We apply four species delimitation methods to show that this nominal species consists of four genetic species in both DNA datasets, and that these two sets of genetic species show mitonuclear discordance. Most investigated specimens belonged to one of these four genetic species. There was no clear correlation between geographic and genetic distances, but we found that, apart from historical processes, environmental factors such as ecoregion, seasonality and salinity might have been important drivers shaping discrete genetic diversity. Following the palaeontological literature, the H. salina species cluster is at least 11–9 Myr old.
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The cranium and dentition of Khirtharia (Artiodactyla, Raoellidae): new data on a stem taxon to Cetacea
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Raoellid mammals are small artiodactyls from the Eocene of Asia, hypothesized to be closely related to stem Cetacea. Knowledge of the cranial and dental morphology of Raoellidae comes mostly from one species, Indohyus indirae. Here we describe new material of another raoellid genus, Khirtharia, based on material retrieved from the Kalakot area, Jammu and Kashmir. This new material, comprising an almost complete, lightly deformed cranium and a partial snout with associated partial mandible, greatly adds to our knowledge of raoellid morphology. It highlights the similarity of cranial characters with Indohyus, such as a long snout with raptorial incisors, a thick and narrow supraorbital region, a strong postorbital constriction, a triangular shaped braincase, and a thickened medial wall to the auditory bulla (involucrum). The new specimen is similar to Indohyus cranially but differs dentally in being more bunodont. The presence of these traits in two different raoellid genera suggests they may be present more broadly across Raoellidae. These characters are also observed in early cetaceans, highlighting the need to investigate their phylogenetic impact. Some cranial features support aquatic habits of members of this family.
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Endocranial anatomy and phylogenetic position of the crocodylian Eosuchus lerichei from the late Paleocene of northwestern Europe and potential adaptations for transoceanic dispersal in gavialoids
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Eosuchus lerichei is a gavialoid crocodylian from late Paleocene marine deposits of northwestern Europe, known from a skull and lower jaws, as well as postcrania. Its sister taxon relationship with the approximately contemporaneous species Eosuchus minor from the east coast of the USA has been explained through transoceanic dispersal, indicating a capability for salt excretion that is absent in extant gavialoids. However, there is currently no anatomical evidence to support marine adaptation in extinct gavialoids. Furthermore, the placement of Eosuchus within Gavialoidea is labile, with some analyses supporting affinities with the Late Cretaceous to early Paleogene “thoracosaurs.” Here we present novel data on the internal and external anatomy of the skull of E. lerichei that enables a revised diagnosis, with 6 autapormorphies identified for the genus and 10 features that enable differentiation of the species from Eosuchus minor. Our phylogenetic analyses recover Eosuchus as an early diverging gavialid gavialoid that is not part of the “thoracosaur” group. In addition to thickened semi-circular canal walls of the endosseous labyrinth and paratympanic sinus reduction, we identify potential osteological correlates for salt glands in the internal surface of the prefrontal and lacrimal bones of E. lerichei. These salt glands potentially provide anatomical evidence for the capability of transoceanic dispersal within Eosuchus, and we also identify them in the Late Cretaceous “thoracosaur” Portugalosuchus. Given that the earliest diverging and stratigraphically oldest gavialoids either have evidence for a nasal salt gland and/or have been recovered from marine deposits, this suggests the capacity for salt excretion might be ancestral for Gavialoidea. Mapping osteological and geological evidence for marine adaptation onto a phylogeny indicates that there was probably more than one independent loss/reduction in the capacity for salt excretion in gavialoids.
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Timing of intercontinental faunal migrations: Anguimorph lizards from the earliest Eocene (MP 7) of Dormaal, Belgium
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Here we report on anguimorph lizards from the earliest Eocene (MP 7) of the Dormaal locality in Belgium, from the time of the warmest global climate of the past 66 million years. Several clades can be identified in this site: Glyptosauridae, Varanidae, and Palaeovaranidae. Our study focuses on glyptosaurid specimens previously reported from the site, some of which had been provisionally described as a new species,?Placosaurus ragei, and some assigned to an unnamed Placosauriops-like ‘melanosaurine’. Our study presents data on new material, including an almost complete glyptosaurine frontal that has enabled us to assign much of the previously described material to a single genus and species. The specimens that had been assigned to both ?P ragei and the ‘melanosaurine’ share apomorphies (flat osteoderms and chevron-shaped osteoderms) with Gaultia, a glyptosaurid previously known from the earliest Eocene of Wyoming, USA. The Dormaal material represents the first record of this genus outside North America. In fact, the only potential evidence of the occurrence of ‘Melanosaurinae’ in Dormaal might be a single isolated vertebra described here. Here we also describe previously unfigured material of Saniwa and palaeovaranids from Dormaal. The presence of previously reported helodermatids cannot be supported in this Belgian site.
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Revision of the Eurybrachidae XVIII. The Australian genus Olonia Stål, 1862: Four new species, new records and biological data (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha)
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Agropastoral and dietary practices of the northern Levant facing Late Holocene climate and environmental change: Isotopic analysis of plants, animals and humans from Bronze to Iron Age Tell Tweini
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One of the largest isotopic datasets of the ancient Eastern Mediterranean region is evaluated, based on plants (n = 410), animals (n = 210) and humans (n = 16) from Tell Tweini (Syria). Diachronic analysis of plant and faunal specimens from four main periods of occupation: Early Bronze Age (2600–2000 BC), Middle Bronze Age (2000–1600 BC), Late Bronze Age (1600–1200 BC) and Iron Age (1200–333 BC) were investigated. Mean Δ13C results from seven plant species reveal emmer and free threshing wheat, olives, bitter vetch, rye grass and barley were adequately or well-watered during all periods of occupation. The grape Δ13C results suggest excellent growing conditions and particular care for its cultivation. The δ15N results indicate that especially the emmer and free threshing wheats received some manure inputs throughout the occupation sequence, while these were likely further increased during the Iron Age, encompassing also the olive groves and grape vineyards. Generally, domestic animals (cattle, sheep, goats) had C3 terrestrial diets and were kept together in similar environments. However, some animals consumed significant amounts of marine or C4 plants, possibly from disturbed habitats due to land use pressure or salt tolerant grasses and shrubs from wetland environments, which were recorded in the direct vicinity of the site. Middle Bronze Age humans consumed a C3 terrestrial diet with no measurable input from C4, freshwater or marine protein sources. Interestingly, the human diet was relatively low in animal protein and appears comparable to what is considered today a typical Mediterranean diet consisting of bread (wheat/barley), olives, grapes, pulses, dairy products and small amounts of meat. The combined isotopic analysis of plants, animals and humans from Tell Tweini represents unbroken links in the food chain which create unparalleled opportunities to enhance our current understanding of environmental conditions, climate change and lifeways in past populations from the Eastern Mediterranean.
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Host lifestyle and parasite interspecific facilitation mediate co- infection in a species-poor host–parasite system
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Polydictya lanternflies of Java: New species, taxonomy and identification key (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Fulgoridae)
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A new Late Miocene beaked whale (Cetacea, Odontoceti) from the Pisco Formation, and a revised age for the fossil Ziphiidae of Peru
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Avian foraging on an intertidal mudflat succession in the Eocene Tanjung Formation, Asem Asem Basin, South Kalimantan, Indonesia Borneo
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Moderately diverse trace fossil assemblages occur in the Eocene Tambak Member of the Tanjung Formation, in the Asem Asem Basin on the southern coast of South Kalimantan. These assemblages are fundamental for establishing depositional models and paleoecological reconstructions for southern Kalimantan during the Eocene and contribute substantially to the otherwise poorly documented fossil record of birds in Island Southeast Asia. Extensive forest cover has precluded previous ichnological analyses in the study area. The traces discussed herein were discovered in newly exposed outcrops in the basal part of the Wahana Baratama coal mine, on the Kalimantan coast of the Java Sea. The Tambak assemblage includes both vertebrate and invertebrate trace fossils. Invertebrate traces observed in this study include Arenicolites, Cylindrichnus, Diplocraterion, Palaeophycus, Planolites, Psilonichnus, Siphonichnus, Skolithos, Thalassinoides, Taenidium, and Trichichnus. Vertebrate-derived trace fossils include nine avian footprint ichnogenera (Aquatilavipes, Archaeornithipus, Ardeipeda, Aviadactyla, cf. Avipeda, cf. Fuscinapeda, cf. Ludicharadripodiscus, and two unnamed forms). A variety of shallow, circular to cylindrical pits and horizontal, singular to paired horizontal grooves preserved in concave epirelief are interpreted as avian feeding and foraging traces. These traces likely represent the activities of small to medium-sized shorebirds and waterbirds like those of living sandpipers, plovers, cranes, egrets, and herons. The pits and grooves are interpreted as foraging traces and occur interspersed with both avian trackways and invertebrate traces. The trace fossils occur preferentially in heterolithic successions with lenticular to flaser bedding, herringbone ripple stratification, and common reactivation surfaces, indicating that the study interval was deposited in a tidally influenced setting. Avian trackways, desiccation cracks, and common rooting indicate that the succession was prone to both subaqueous inundation and periodic subaerial exposure. We infer that the Tambak mixed vertebrate-invertebrate trace fossil association occurred on channel-margin intertidal flats in a tide-influenced estuarine setting. The occurrence of a moderately diverse avian footprint and foraging trace assemblage in the Tambak Member of the Tanjung Formation illustrates that shorebirds and waterbirds have been using wetlands in what is now Kalimantan for their food resources since at least the late Eocene.
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