Search publications of the members of the Royal Belgian institute of natural Sciences
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(Sub-) fossiele faunavondsten en een inventarisatie van mollusken van het strand bij Dishoek afkomstig van één suppletie
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A behavioural framework for the evolution of feeding in predatory aquatic mammals
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Een midden-Romeinse rurale site in de Sigma zone ‘Wijmeers 2’ (gemeente Wichelen, Oost-Vlaanderen)
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Somewhere I belong: phylogeny and morphological evolution in a species-rich lineage of ectoparasitic flatworms infecting cichlid fishes
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A tardigrade in Dominican amber
- Tardigrades are a diverse group of charismatic microscopic invertebrates that are best known for their ability to survive extreme conditions. Despite their long evolutionary history and global distribution in both aquatic and terrestrial environments, the tardigrade fossil record is exceedingly sparse. Molecular clocks estimate that tardigrades diverged from other panarthropod lineages before the Cambrian, but only two definitive crown-group representatives have been described to date, both from Cretaceous fossil deposits in North America. Here, we report a third fossil tardigrade from Miocene age Dominican amber. Paradoryphoribius chronocaribbeus gen. et sp. nov. is the first unambiguous fossil representative of the diverse superfamily Isohypsibioidea, as well as the first tardigrade fossil described from the Cenozoic. We propose that the patchy tardigrade fossil record can be explained by the preferential preservation of these microinvertebrates as amber inclusions, coupled with the scarcity of fossiliferous amber deposits before the Cretaceous.
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Skull ecomorphological variation of narwhals (Monodon monoceros, Linnaeus 1758) and belugas (Delphinapterus leucas, Pallas 1776) reveals phenotype of their hybrids
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Further notes on the genera Punctoterebra and Myurellopsis (Gastropoda: Terebridae) with the description of 15 new species
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A diverse Miocene toothed whale (Odontoceti) fauna from Calvert Cliffs, Atlantic Coastal Plain, U.S.A.
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Late Miocene baleen whales from the Peruvian desert
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Early dispersal for quadrupedal cetaceans: an amphibious whale from the middle Eocene of the southeastern Pacific
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Extension of the lanternfly genus Neoalcathous Wang & Huang, 1989 to Vietnam with a new species and new subfamily placement (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Fulgoridae)
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Descrption of two new species of the genus Stilpon Loew (Diptera: Hybotidae) from Cambodia
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DIVERSE ARCHIVAL HIV-1 GENOMES FROM THE 1980’S IN DR CONGO
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Ecological signal in the size and shape of marine amniote teeth
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Multiple detections of Aedes albopictus in Belgium though Citizen Science
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SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) from Antwerp sewer system, Belgium
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Predicting the evolution of the Lassa virus endemic area and population at risk over the next decades
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Evolution and Diversity of Bat and Rodent Paramyxoviruses from North America
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The first species of Hapalodectes (Mesonychia, Mammalia) from the Middle Paleocene of China (Qianshan Basin, Anhui Province) sheds light on the initial radiation of hapalodectids
- A lower jaw of the mesonychian Hapalodectes is reported from Nongshanian sediments (Upper Doumu Formation; middle Paleocene) of the Qianshan Basin (Anhui Province, China). The fragmentary mandible is only the third specimen of Hapalodectidae discovered in Paleocene deposits, and the first in south east China; it is moreover the oldest, the two other specimens having been found in Gashatan (late Paleocene) localities. The premolars and molars of the new fossil are morphologically similar to Hapalodectes dux (late Paleocene of Mongolia), which has been considered to be the most primitive hapalodectid, but their relative proportions recall H. paleocenus and the Eocene Hapalodectes species. As a result, the fossil described herein appears to be different from the other previously described species of Hapalodectes in being morphologically intermediate between H. dux and the other Hapalodectes species, notably the Bumbanian Hapalodectes hetangensis and H. huanghaiensis from China; it is thus identified as a new species, Hapalodectes lopatini (possibly a male individual). Its discovery is important because it sheds light on the initial radiation of hapalodectids. The presence of one primitive hapalodectid in Mongolia previously suggested the Mongolian Plateau as the centre of origination of this carnivorous family, but the discovery of H. lopatini in older sediments from south-east China challenges this hypothesis. In the earliest Eocene, Hapalodectes dispersed from Asia to North America; this event being part of the ‘East of Eden’ dispersals. This event resulted in the geographical separation of two distinct Hapalodectes groups, in North America and south-eastern China respectively.
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New fossils of paroxyclaenids (Placentalia, Mammalia) from the early Eocene of France shed light on the origin and evolution of these endemic European mammals
- Paroxyclaenidae is an enigmatic archaic group of middle size placental mammals. They are known only from Europe, and are recorded from the early Eocene (Ypresian) to the middle Eocene (Bartonian). Paroxyclaenids are divided into two distinct subfamilies: Paroxyclaeninae and Merialinae. They have been variously placed by different authors in Carnivora, Creodonta, ‘Condylarthra’, and Insectivora, but are considered since 1970’s as members of Pantolesta. The dentition of paroxyclaenids is complete (4 premolars, 3 molars); it is highly specialized, with relatively enlarged posterior premolars, spaced out cheek teeth, but primitive, for instance, in the absence of hypocone on upper molars. The molars decrease in size from M1/m1 to M3/m3; the M3 and m3 are sometimes well reduced. A particularity of the dentition of some paroxyclaenids is the tendency to enlargement and molarisation of the third and fourth upper and lower premolars, generally exceeding the succeeding molars in size. We recently studied unpublished fossils from the first half of the Ypresian: these fossils originate from the French localities of Le Lien (Hérault), Pourcy, Mutigny, Avenay (Marne), and Condé-en-Brie (Aisne). They allow to describe new specimens of Merialus martinae (the oldest paroxyclaenid) and three new species – the oldest paroxyclaenine and two merialines. Their study is the opportunity to review the evolution of this family – the last extensive and comprehensive review of the paroxyclaenids has been published in 1988. The two paroxyclaenid subfamilies – Paroxyclaeninae and Merialinae – are rarely recorded together: this case only occurs in the Paris Basin during the early Eocene (Mutigny, Avenay, Condé-en-Brie). Half of the merialines are present in the Southern European Province, while the paroxyclaenines are only recorded in Northern European Province. The two subfamilies reach their maximum size (+/- 3-4 kg) (e.g., Spaniella, Kopidodon) around the early/middle Eocene boundary (47.8 Myr). However, some smaller paroxyclaenids (body mass around 1 kg) have co-existed together with the larger ones. The small middle Eocene paroxyclaenids, which are as small as the taxa found in the early Eocene, have been the last representatives of the group (Bartonian). The maximum of diversity of the Paroxyclaenids occurred during the Lutetian (middle Eocene). Finally, because the new fossils provide information on the morphology of the earliest paroxyclaenids, their study is the opportunity to question the origin of this group and its relationships among Placentalia. Grant Information: This abstract is a contribution to the project BR/121/A3/PALEURAFRICA funded by the Belgian Science Policy Office.
