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Article Reference Landscape evolution and changes in soil hydraulic properties at the decadal, centennial and millennial scale: a case study from the Campine area, northern Belgium
Located in Library / No RBINS Staff publications
Article Reference A land micro-mammal fauna from the Early Eocene marine Egem deposits (NP12, Belgium) and the first occurrence of the peradectid marsupial Armintodelphys outside North America
Dental remains of land mammals are sometimes discovered in shallow marine Paleogene deposits of the North Sea Basin. Such is the case for eleven specimens we describe here from the Early Eocene Egemkapel Clay Member in the middle part of the Tielt Formation, found in Ampe quarry at Egem in Northwestern Belgium. The small fauna consists of 6 taxa, including the neoplagiaulacid multituberculate Ectypodus, the erinaceomorph insectivore Macrocranion, the nyctitheriid Leptacodon, an eochiropteran bat possibly belonging to a palaeochiropterygid, an unidentified perissodactyl possibly belonging to an equoid, and a new species of the peradectid marsupial Armintodelphys. The latter represents the first European occurrence of the genus, which was previously only known from the North American late Early and early Middle Eocene of the Wind River and Green River basins in Wyoming and the Uinta Basin in Utah. Biogeographic and biostratigraphic analyses of peradectid marsupials suggest that Armintodelphys dispersed between North America and Europe around the time of the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum. The Egemkapel Clay Member has been dated as middle NP12, early late Ypresian, whereas the Egem mammal fauna can be correlated to the fauna of Avenay from the Paris Basin, which is the international reference-level MP8+9 of the mammalian biochronological scale for the European Paleogene.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Dispersal of continental vertebrates during the Paleogene: Preface
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Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference New Hypsodont Tillodont (Mammalia, Tillodontia) from the Early Eocene of India
A new tillodont, Anthraconyx hypsomylus, n. gen. n. sp., is described from the early Eocene Cambay Shale Formation at Vastan Lignite Mine, Gujarat, India. Anthraconyx hypsomylus is the smallest Eocene tillodont and is distinguished by having the most buccally hypsodont cheek teeth of any known esthonychine. The closest dental resemblances are to North American Esthonyx and Azygonyx and European Plesiesthonyx, providing further evidence of affinities between the Vastan local fauna and Euroamerican vertebrate faunas.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Dental and tarsal anatomy of 'Miacis' latouri and a phylogenetic analysis of the earliest carnivoraforms (Mammalia, Carnivoramorpha)
One of the earliest basal carnivoraforms, Miacis latouri, previously known by only two teeth from the earliest Eocene of Dormaal, Belgium, is here described based on about 280 new specimens from Dormaal, allowing illustration of almost the entire deciduous and permanent dentition and thus giving information on the dentition of an early basal carnivoraform species and its variability. Based on the dental features, we refer the species to a new genus, Dormaalocyon. We identify possible sexual dimorphism in D. latouri that is less pronounced than in Uintacyon rudis. We also describe for the first time the tarsal bones (calcaneum and astragalus) of D. latouri; these indicate arboreal capabilities for this species. In order to ascertain the position of Dormaalocyon among basal carnivoraforms, we performed a phylogenetic analysis of the carnivoramorphans. Among basal carnivoraforms, three groups are recovered: the Uintacyon group, Oodectes group, and the Vulpavus group. Dormalocyon is one of the most primitive carnivoraforms and is closely related to North American Vulpavus and Miacis species. We propose that the two latter genera are North American with an ancestry that involves the European Dormaalocyon; this implies a dispersal of carnivoraforms from Europe to North America near the Paleocene-Eocene boundary. Finally, the topology of the phylogenetic tree supports a Paleocene radiation of the carnivoraforms, which is presently unknown.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Dispersals of placental carnivorous mammals (Carnivoramorpha, Oxyaenodonta & Hyaenodontida) near the Paleocene-Eocene boundary: a climatic and almost worldwide story
During the Late Paleocene and around the Paleocene-Eocene boundary, there were important mammalian dispersals in Laurasia involving earliest modern mammals such as rodents, primates, perissodactyls, and artiodactyls. The placental carnivorous mammals (Viverravidae, “Miacidae”, Hyaenodontida, Oxyaenodonta) importantly took part in these dispersals. The present article shows that these latter mammals allow reconstructing faunal dispersal scenarios during the early Paleogene. Indeed, they evidenced several dispersal ways among Laurasia, but also with Africa and possibly India. The dispersal phases discussed in the present paper concern the Early Paleocene, Late Paleocene, latest Paleocene (Clarkforkian NALMA), and Paleocene-Eocene transition.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
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
Article Reference New lissamphibians and squamates from the Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) of the Haţeg Basin (Romania)
Numerous remains of amphibians and squamates were discovered in the continental sediments of theMaastrichtian Sânpetru Formation, south of Pui Village (Haţeg Basin, western Romania). The lissamphibians are represented by a salamander−like allocaudatan (Albanerpeton sp.) and at least two discoglossid frogs (cf. Eodiscoglossus sp. and cf. Paradiscoglossus sp.). The numerous lizards are represented by, e.g., the teiid Bicuspidon hatzegiensis sp. nov., and for the first time in a Late Cretaceous site, by two species of the paramacellodid Becklesius (Becklesius nopcsai sp. nov. and Becklesius cf. B. hoffstetteri). Snakes are also present in this site by an indeterminante madtsoiid, which represents the first occurrence of this family in eastern Europe. The presence of Albanerpeton in this site confirms that this genus appeared in Europe by at least the Late Cretaceous instead of Miocene as previously thought. The presence of both Albanerpeton and Bicuspidon in Haţeg Basin suggests a North American influence on eastern European amphibian and lacertilian faunas by Maastrichtian times.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Dinosaur egg nests, mammals and other vertebrates from a new Maastrichtian site of the Hateg Basin (Romania)
About ten dinosaur nests of large megaloolithid-type eggs have been discovered in the new Maastrichtian locality of Tote¸sti-baraj (Ha¸teg Basin, Romania). This is the largest dinosaur egg nest site discovered in Romania. Teeth and other micro-remains of vertebrates such as hadrosaurs, ankylosaurs, theropods, lizards and amphibians are associated with the eggs in the sediments, reflecting the great biodiversity of the Ha¸teg Basin during the Maastrichtian. But the most remarkable collected micro-remains are teeth of mammals representing at present the richest multituberculate collection from the Upper Cretaceous of Europe.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Sex determination using the Probabilistic Sex Diagnosis (DSP: Diagnose Sexuelle Probabiliste) tool in a virtual environment.
The hip bone is one of the most reliable indicators of sex in the human body due to the fact it is the most dimorphic bone. Probabilistic Sex Diagnosis (DSP: Diagnose Sexuelle Probabiliste) developed by Murail et al., in 2005, is a sex determination method based on a worldwide hip bone metrical database. Sex is determined by comparing specific measurements taken from each specimen using sliding callipers and computing the probability of specimens being female or male. In forensic science it is sometimes not possible to sex a body due to corpse decay or injury. Skeletalization and dissection of a body is a laborious process and desecrates the body. There were two aims to this study. The first aim was to examine the accuracy of the DSP method in comparison with a current visual sexing method on sex determination. A further aim was to see if it was possible to virtually utilise the DSP method on both the hip bone and the pelvic girdle in order to utilise this method for forensic sciences. For the first part of the study, forty-nine dry hip bones of unknown sex were obtained from the Body Donation Programme of the Universite´ Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). A comparison was made between DSP analysis and visual sexing on dry bone by two researchers. CT scans of bones were then analysed to obtain three-dimensional (3D) virtual models and the method of DSP was analysed virtually by importing the models into a customised software programme called lhpFusionBox which was developed at ULB. The software enables DSP distances to be measured via virtually-palpated bony landmarks. There was found to be 100% agreement of sex between the manual and virtual DSP method. The second part of the study aimed to further validate the method by analysing thirty-nine supplementary pelvic girdles of known sex blind. There was found to be a 100% accuracy rate further demonstrating that the virtual DSP method is robust. Statistically significant differences were found in the identification of sex between researchers in the visual sexing method although both researchers identified the same sex in all cases in the manual and virtual DSP methods for both the hip bones and pelvic girdles.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications