Search publications of the members of the Royal Belgian institute of natural Sciences
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New postcranial Elements for the Early Eocene primitive fossil primate Teilhardina belgica
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First evidence of reproductive adaptation to “Island effect” of a dwarf Cretaceous Romanian titanosaur, with embryonic integument in ovo
- Background: The Cretaceous vertebrate assemblages of Romania are famous for geographically endemic dwarfed dinosaur taxa. We report the first complete egg clutches of a dwarf lithostrotian titanosaur, from Totes¸ti, Romania, and its reproductive adaptation to the ‘‘island effect’’. Methodology/Findings: The egg clutches were discovered in sequential sedimentary layers of the Maastrichtian Saˆnpetru Formation, Totes¸ti. The occurrence of 11 homogenous clutches in successive strata suggests philopatry by the same dinosaur species, which laid clutches averaging four ,12 cm diameters eggs. The eggs and eggshells display numerous characters shared with the positively identified material from egg-bearing level 4 of the Auca Mahuevo (Patagonia,Argentina) nemegtosaurid lithostrotian nesting site. Microscopic embryonic integument with bacterial evidences was recovered in one egg. The millimeter-size embryonic integument displays micron size dermal papillae implying an early embryological stage at the time of death, likely corresponding to early organogenesis before the skeleton formation. Conclusions/Significance: The shared oological characters between the Hat¸eg specimens and their mainland relatives suggest a highly conservative reproductive template, while the nest decrease in egg numbers per clutch may reflect an adaptive trait to a smaller body size due to the ‘‘island effect’’. The combined presence of the lithostrotian egg and its embryo in the Early Cretaceous Gobi coupled with the oological similarities between the Hat¸eg and Auca Mahuevo oological material evidence that several titanosaur species migrated from Gondwana through the Hat¸eg Island before or during the Aptian/Albian. It also suggests that this island might have had episodic land bridges with the rest of the European archipelago and Asia deep into the Cretaceous.
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The Magnitude of Global Eukaryotic Marine Biodiversity
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Extreme tolerance of sexual and parthenogenetic resting eggs of Eucypris virens (Crustacea, Ostracoda)
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Towards a Global Phylogeny of the "Living Fossil" Crustacean Order of the Notostraca
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On the Strandesia obtusata/ elliptica - lineage (Ostracoda, Cyprididae) in the alluvial valley of the Upper Paraná River (Brazil), with the description of three new species.
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Vulnerability of sexual and asexual Eucypris virens (Crustacea, Ostracoda) to predation: an experimental approach with dragonfly naiads
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Acidity of tank bromeliad water in a cloud forest, Cusuco National Park, Honduras.
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Predation by macroinvertebrates on Heterocypris incongruens (Ostracoda) in temporary ponds: impacts and responses
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On a new cypridopsine genus of ostracods (Crustacea, Ostracoda, Cyprididae) from the Upper Paraná River Floodplain (Brazil)
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Body size and dispersal mode as key traits determining metacommunity structure of aquatic organisms
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Subfossil ostracode assemblages from Mongolia – Quantifying response for paleolimnological applications
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Extraordinary morphological changes in valve morphology during the ontogeny of several species of the Australian ostracod genus Bennelongia (Crustacea, Ostracoda).
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European Journal of Taxonomy: a Public Collaborative Project in Open Access scholarly communication
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Chapter 33. Reassessment of the Posterior Brain Region in Multituberculate Mammals
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Integrative analyses of valve outlines and molecular DNA sequences in Eucypris virens (Crustacea, Ostracoda).
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Chapter 2. Systematics and paleobiogeography of early bats
- no abstract
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Linking present environment and reproductive modes segregation (geographic parthenogenesis) in Eucypris virens (Crustacea: Ostracoda).
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On the presence of a Strandesia species flock (Ostracoda, Crustacea) in the Upper Parana floodplain (Brazil)
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What can molecular data from ostracods tell us?
