-
Genetic and morphological divergences in the cosmopolitan deep-sea amphipod Eurythenes gryllus reveal a diverse abyss and a bipolar species
-
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
-
Nieuwe familie fossiele beenvissen ontdekt in Libanon
-
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
-
The CRETACAM project: a new look at Santonian to Maastrichtian deposits of the Belgian Campine basin
-
The Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences(RBINS) holds a collections of well over 7000 Cretaceous fossils that were collected by the RBINS staff in the early 1930ies during the construction of several coal mine shafts in the eastern part of the Belgian Campine Basin. These fossils include ammonites, nautilids, belemnites, bivalves (inoceramids and other), gastropods, crustaceans, brachiopods, echinoderms and other. The majority of the material is from mine shafts 1 and 2 of the Houthalen and Zolder mines, in-between 400 and 600 m below surface. Both mines are located in the eastern part of the Campine Basin. Since their discovery, the majority of this material has never been thoroughly studied and published. Detailed listings of the fauna and an overview in relation to the stratigraphy are absent. In the 1930ies, by the varying amounts of glauconite, chalk, sand, sandstone and the ‘Gyrolithes’ ichnofossils, the sediments between 400 and 600 m depth were interpreted as belonging to the ‘Smectite de Herve’ facies. Therefore, early students referred to fossils from this locality as Campanian in age, while more recent studies and ongoing work document Santonian to Maastrichtian ages with (from bottom to top) the Asdonk and Sonnisheide Members (Vaals Formation), the Zeven Wegen, Beutenaken Marl, Beutenaken Chalk, Vijlen and Lixhe Members (Gulpen Formation). The CRETACAM project aims for fully documenting the lithological, stratigraphical, paleontological and paleo- ecological changes in the Santonian to Maastrichtian sequence of the eastern part of the Campine Basin. In a first step, all locality information of all 7000 specimens was digitalized. In a second and ongoing step, the taxonomy of all specimens will be revised by an international team of paleontologists.
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
-
The Meer well in North Belgium
-
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
-
De boringen van Ursel en Maldegem (Kaartblad Knesselare 39W nrs. 212 en 213). Bijdrage tot de kennis van het Eoceen in Noordwest-België.
-
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
-
De steenkoolverkenningsboring Gruitrode-Ophoventer-heide (Boring 172 van het Kempens Bekken) Kaartblad Opoeteren, 63E224.
-
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
-
New bats (Chiroptera) from the Earliest Oligocene Boutersem-TGV locality in Belgium document the earliest occurence of Myotis
-
Early Oligocene mammals from Europe are not well known. In Belgium this interval (reference level MP 21) is represented by four coeval localities, Boutersem, Boutersem-TGV, Hoogbutsel and Hoeleden. Included in a vertebrate assemblage of 20+ mammalian genera, one bat, Quinetia misonnei, has been previously described from Hoogbutsel, based on four lower dentitions. Twenty new specimens of Quinetia were recently recovered from Boutersem-TGV including six upper molars, a humerus, and thirteen lower dentitions. These new specimens confirm that Quinetia is a plecotine vespertilionid and consequently represents the earliest known occurrence of this tribe. Additionally, twenty five other dental specimens document the presence of a larger vespertilionid from Boutersem-TGV. These specimens are assigned to Myotis based on the primitive 3.1.3.3 dental formula, the presence of a single-rooted p3, myotodont lower molars, a relatively high crowned lower canine with well-developed mesial and distolingual shelves, M1 and M2 lacking both paraconules and metalophs, protofossa of M1 and M2 open posteriorly, and M3 being relatively short. The Boutersem-TGV Myotis specimens represent the earliest known record of this extant genus. Only some isolated potential myotine teeth from Le Batut (MP 19) in France are older but these teeth differ from Myotis in having upper molars with a paraloph and a protofossa closed posteriorly, both features more typical of the enigmatic “Leuconoe”. Myotodont species, such as “L”. salodorensis from Oensingen (MP 25) in Switzerland and “L”. lavocati from Le Garouillas (MP 25-28) in France, both share features of upper teeth that distinguish them from Myotis. Younger still are three Myotis species from Herrlingen 8-9 (MP 29) in Germany. Compared to the Boutersem-TGV Myotis, M. minor is much smaller with a relatively smaller, shorter and more delicate p4, M. intermedius is somewhat smaller in molar dimensions but with a substantially smaller and shorter p4, while M. major has larger m1-2, similar sized m3, smaller p4, more robust M1 and a more constricted P4 lingual shelf. The origin of Myotis appears to be at least as old as the earliest Oligocene.
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
-
The Earliest Bats from Europe
-
Chiroptera is one of the few modern mammal orders for which no fossil record has been associated with the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum that happened 55.8 million years ago. With the exception of complete skeletons from the early Middle Eocene of the Messel Formation in Germany and the late Early Eocene Green River Formation in Wyoming, all early bats are only represented by isolated elements, mainly teeth and fragmentary jaws, making the diversity and taxonomic affinities more difficult to establish. Here we revise all of the Early Eocene bats from Europe based on dental features, including digitally reconstructed teeth using micro-CT scanning technology of some complete skeletons. The diversity of European early bats is composed of the families Onychonycteridae, Icaronycteridae, Archaeonycteridae, Palaeochiropterygidae, and some of undetermined affinities. Dental features and synapomorphies of each family are characterized for the first time. The earliest bats are dated from the early Early Eocene and are all of small size with lower molars less than 1.3 mm in length. They are represented by: Eppsinycteris anglica from Abbey Wood, east London, England, an onychonycterid with reduced lower p4 and long molars; Archaeonycteris? praecursor from Silveirinha, Portugal, an archaeonycterid with long postcristid on wide lower molars; a new archaeonycterid genus and species from Meudon, North France with long trigonid and shorter postcristid on wide lower molars. These results indicate that the diversity of European Early Eocene bats is higher than previously recognized and that diversification began early in the Early Eocene.
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
-
Virtual biomechanical analysis of the lower limbs of a Neandertal
-
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
-
The First Upper Paleolithic Human Remains from Belgium: Aurignacian, Gravettian, and Magdalenian Fossils at the “Troisième caverne” of Goyet
-
There is ample evidence of human occupation across Northern Europe throughout various periods of the Upper Paleolithic. However, the biological characteristics of the Northern European Upper Paleolithic humans and their mortuary practices remain largely unknown because of a dearth of human fossils. In Belgium, although the presence of humans has been verified at multiple archeological sites, no Upper Paleolithic fossil has yet been identified. In this context, the recent discovery of Upper Paleolithic human remains at Goyet (Belgium) fills in an important chronological gap. The “Troisième caverne” of Goyet, excavated at the end of the 19th and early 20th century, yielded a rich archeological sequence ranging from the Middle and Upper Paleolithic to historical times. In 2008, we began documenting the Paleolithic occupations of the “Troisième caverne” by reassessing the collections from the site which heretofore had only been partially studied. The updated inventory of human remains was accomplished by conducting a detailed sorting of the paleontological collections in order to identify human remains that may have been overlooked thus far. As a result, the collections from the “Troisième caverne” now include nearly 200 human bones/bone fragments and isolated teeth that correspond to various materials from different periods. The morphometric study of the human specimens from Goyet, completed by direct radiocarbon dating and stable isotope analysis, shows that they represent two main samples—a series of Late Neandertal remains (Rougier et al. 2012) and a set of modern human specimens from three periods of the Upper Paleolithic, namely the Aurignacian, Gravettian, and Magdalenian. The latter include fragmentary elements from the cranial and infracranial skeleton. Interestingly, those from the Gravettian and Magdalenian present anthropogenic traces and ochre traces. We will discuss the importance of these new fossils in the context of the human population of Northern Europe during the Upper Paleolithic.
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
