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New beaked whales from the late Miocene of Peru and evidence for convergent evolution in stem and crown Ziphiidae (Cetacea, Odontoceti)
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RBINS Staff Publications 2016
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Notes on Latest Cretaceous Cirripedes (Crustacea, Thoracica) from Tunisia - Part 1. A new species of Pachyscalpellum Buckeridge, 1991
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RBINS Staff Publications 2016
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The 'Demange drawings': known and unknown malacological contributions of Victor Demange (1870-1940)
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RBINS Staff Publications 2016
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Mitochondrial DNA hyperdiversity and its potential causes in the marine periwinkle Melarhaphe neritoides (Mollusca: Gastropoda)
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RBINS Staff Publications 2016
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A new Miocene baleen whale from the Peruvian desert
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RBINS Staff Publications 2016
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A new species of Metopocetus (Cetacea, Mysticeti, Cetotheriidae) from the Late Miocene of the Netherlands
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RBINS Staff Publications 2016
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Neandertal cannibalism and Neandertal bones used as tools in Northern Europe
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Almost 150 years after the first identification of Neandertal skeletal material, the cognitive and symbolic abilities of these populations remain a subject of intense debate. We present 99 new Neandertal remains from the Troisième caverne of Goyet (Belgium) dated to 40,500–45,500 calBP. The remains were identified through a multidisciplinary study that combines morphometrics, taphonomy, stable isotopes, radiocarbon dating and genetic analyses. The Goyet Neandertal bones show distinctive anthropogenic modifications, which provides clear evidence for butchery activities as well as four bones having been used for retouching stone tools. In addition to being the first site to have yielded multiple Neandertal bones used as retouchers, Goyet not only provides the first unambiguous evidence of Neandertal cannibalism in Northern Europe, but also highlights considerable diversity in mortuary behaviour among the region’s late Neandertal population in the period immediately preceding their disappearance.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2016
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Revealing Invisible Beauty, Ultra Detailed: The Influence of Low Cost UV Exposure on Natural History Specimens in 2D+ Digitization
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Digitization of the natural history specimens usually occurs by taking detailed pictures from different sides or producing 3D models. Additionally this is normally limited to imaging the specimen while exposed by light of the visual spectrum. However many specimens can see in or react to other spectra as well. Fluorescence is a well known reaction to the ultraviolet (UV) spectrum by animals, plants, minerals etc. but rarely taken into account while examining natural history specimens. Our tests show that museum specimens still fluoresce when exposed to UV light of 395 nm and 365 nm, even after many years of preservation. When the UV exposure is used in the digitization of specimens using our low cost focus stacking (2D+) setup, the resulting pictures reveal more detail than the conventional 2D+ images. Differences in fluorescence using 395 nm or 365 nm UV lights were noticed, however there isn’t a preferred wavelength as some specimens react more to the first, while others have better results with the latter exposure. Given the increased detail and the low cost of the system, UV exposure should be considered while digitizing natural history museum collections.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2016
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Evidence of a Cooler Continental Climate in East China during the Warm Early Cenozoic
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The early Cenozoic was characterized by a very warm climate especially during the Early Eocene. To understand climatic changes in eastern Asia, we reconstructed the Early Eocene vegetation and climate based on palynological data of a borehole from Wutu coal mine, East China and evaluated the climatic differences between eastern Asia and Central Europe. The Wutu palynological assemblages indicated a warm temperate vegetation succession comprising mixed needle- and broad-leaved forests. Three periods of vegetation succession over time were recognized. The changes of palynomorph relative abundance indicated that period 1 was warm and humid, period 2 was relatively warmer and wetter, and period 3 was cooler and drier again. The climatic parameters estimated by the coexistence approach (CA) suggested that the Early Eocene climate in Wutu was warmer and wetter. Mean annual temperature (MAT) was approximately 16°C and mean annual precipitation (MAP) was 800–1400 mm. Comparison of the Early Eocene climatic parameters of Wutu with those of 39 other fossil floras of different age in East China, reveals that 1) the climate became gradually cooler during the last 65 million years, with MAT dropping by 9.3°C. This cooling trend coincided with the ocean temperature changes but with weaker amplitude; 2) the Early Eocene climate was cooler in East China than in Central Europe; 3) the cooling trend in East China (MAT dropped by 6.9°C) was gentler than in Central Europe (MAT dropped by 13°C) during the last 45 million years.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2016
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A new Paleocene nyctitheriid insectivore from Inner Mongolia (China) and the origin of Asian nyctitheriids
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Nyctitheriids are primitive insectivores that were relatively abundant and diverse in North America and Europe during the middle Paleocene through to the middle Oligocene. The nyctitheriids from Asia are poorly known and show several distinctive characters. Here we describe the late Paleocene Asionyctia guoi gen. et sp. nov., the first fairly well known Asian nyctitheriid, from the Subeng locality near the city of Erlianhot (Erenhot) in Inner Mongolia, China. Among its most conspicuous features are the paraconid positioned high on p4, the rather primitive morphology and size of p3, the premolariform P4/p4 and the transverse upper molars with a small, straight postcingulum. Except for the paraconid positioned high on p4, these combined features are also present in other Asian nyctitheriids, but absent in North American or European forms. We performed a cladistic analysis, based on a set of 20 dental characters, to solve higher-level phylogenetic relations within Nyctitheriidae. The strict consensus tree groups all Asian forms in a single clade, for which we propose the rank of a subfamily and the name Asionyctiinae subfam. nov. Within Nyctitheriidae, a semimolariform P4/p4, as in Leptacodon tener, is considered primitive, and we consider the morphologically simplified P4/p4 of Asionyctiinae derived within Nyctitheriidae. Asionyctiinae can be derived from an American, primitive Leptacodon-like ancestor migrating into Asia, with the reduction of P4/p4 occurring on the Asian continent. Considering the derived morphology and the relatively high diversity of Asionyctiinae during the Asian late Paleocene, and the inferred conservative nature of the family Nyctitheriidae, we suggest an early Tiffanian time for the migration of nyctitheriids into Asia.
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