Search publications of the members of the Royal Belgian institute of natural Sciences
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The Streif classification system: a tribute to an alternative system for organising and mapping Holocene coastal deposits
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Sequence mapping of Holocene coastal lowlands. The application of the Streif classification system in the Belgian coastal plain
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Optical dating of tidal sediments: Potentials and limits inferred from the North Sea coast
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Archeologische evaluatie en waardering van de circulaire structuur van Ver-Assebroek (gemeente Brugge, provincie West-Vlaanderen).
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Report 2012 Building capacities for biodiversity and development
- Abstract annual report 2012 DGD/RBINS Project The year 2012 was the last year of the work programme 2008-2012. During the year 2012 a new agreement between DGD and RBINS for the strategy 2014-2023 has been approved. In 2012 the institutional partnership with the Institut National de l’Environnement et la Conservation de la Nature (INECN, Burundi) was extended to also include an IMAB component (Inventarisation , Monitoring and Assessment of Biodiversity) with a workshop on the monitoring of habitats (‘LEM’) given in Bujumbura, and followed by a practical course in the “Parc national de la Kibera”. At the level of the Clearing House Mechanism (CHM), a follow-up training was given at the INECN, and the national reference center/library on the environment was reinforced by training the librarians. A donation of equipment and 4 series from the RBINS archives about the protected areas of DR Congo were sent to DR Congo and Burundi . In DR Congo, the partnership included capacity training at the university of Kisangani, the publication of a vulgarization lexicon on habitat and vegetation types (the preparation of a second one started this year), and strengthening the institutional partnership with the “Institut Congolais de la Conservation de la Nature” (ICCN). This included a.o. supporting the implementation of the LEM-habitats, support to Congolese students undertaking research in ICCN protected areas, cooperation with the group of geology for economical sustainable development (GECO), teaching tools and lexicons of plants dominant in their habitats. Within the Global Taxonomy Initiative (GTI) we supported projects and workshops in Ethiopia, DR Congo, Ecuador, Vietnam, and we invited 16 foreign visitors to Belgium, coming from Cameroon, Colombia Cuba, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Kenya and South Africa. We prepared the publication of volume 13: Bréviaire de taxonomie des acariens of our series of capacity building manuals, Abc Taxa. The hydraulic marine ecosystem model “COHERENS” team continued providing distance coaching to its trained partners, and gave in house training, to experts from Indonesia, India, Brazil and Peru. Within the framework of the Clearing House Mechanism (CHM), a Pilot project initiated in 2011 to develop a tool for reporting for the NBSAP towards the AICHI targets was tested in 2012 by our CHM partners. We also demonstrated the tool in a side-event during COP11 as well as during an EU CHM network meeting. The EU meeting decided that the principles of the tool are very useful and to continue its development to include indicators. In parallel, we continued in 2012 our webmaster training activities, with workshops in Niger, Ghana and Burundi. We have started to get involved in ABS activities during the Conference of the Parties (COP 11) with H. de Koeijer as pilot for Belgium. As a first result Belgium nominated H. de Koeijer in the beginning of 2013 to participate in an expert meeting to develop a strategic framework for capacity building for Access and Benefit Sharing of genetic resources.
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Reassessment of the small "arctocyonid" Prolatidens waudruae from the Early Paleocene of Belgium, and its phylogenetic relationships with ungulate-like mammals
- ‘Arctocyonids’ are generally considered as including some of the most primitive ‘ungulates’ from the Paleocene. Although more than 15 genera are known from North America, European members of this order are less common and mainly belong to derived genera such as Arctocyon. However, one species of primitive arctocyonid, Prolatidens waudruae, was described from the early Paleocene of Hainin, Mons Basin, Belgium. Here we describe new dental positions of this small taxon, including for the first time upper molars and upper fourth premolar. Morphological comparisons confirm the position of P. waudruae among primitive ‘ungulates,’ with the closest North American arctocyonids being Prothryptacodon furens and Oxyprimus galadrielae. Oxyprimus galadrielae features slightly more primitive morphological traits than both other species. Apheliscids share several characters with Prolatidens, but the latter lacks the apomorphies defining the family. Among ‘arctocyonids,’ Prolatidens shares with only Protungulatum and Oxyprimus the incomplete lingual cingulum at the base of the protocone of M1. Prolatidens waudruae is unique among Procreodi in its combination of primitive and derived characters. The cladistic analysis places P. waudruae close to the base of the ingroup, indicating that this species is among the most primitive members of the Paleocene ‘ungulates.’ However, the lower nodes of the trees are not well supported and definitive conclusions should await more complete specimens and analysis. Apheliscids are situated relatively far from Prolatidens, suggesting that the resemblances between them are better considered as convergences. Based on the morphological comparisons, the arctocyonid from Hainin correlates best with North American Torrejonian taxa.
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A Strigogyps-like bird from the Middle Paleocene of China with an unusual grasping foot
- We describe a new avian species, Qianshanornis rapax, gen. et sp. nov., from the middle Paleocene Wanghudun Formation of the Qianshan Basin in Anhui Province, China. The holotype consists of an incomplete articulated foot and a few associated bones, mainly of the leg, wing, and pectoral girdle. Qianshanornis rapax is characterized by a derived foot morphology and may have had a hyperextendible second toe, which has so far only been reported for some Mesozoic taxa. The new species is markedly different from all other known Cenozoic birds and is here classified in the new taxonQianshanornithidae. The leg bones, especially the distal end of the tibiotarsus, most closely resemble those of Strigogyps (Ameghinornithidae) from the Eocene, and possibly Oligocene, of Europe, but unlike the latter, the much smaller Q. rapax appears to have had well-developed flight capabilities.
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An interesting symmetric palpal teratology in Trochosa ruricola (de Geer, 1778)
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Patience rewarded: the presence in belgium of Coelotes atropos (walckenaer, 1830) (Araneae: Agelenidae) finally confirmed
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Tarsal organ morphology and the phylogeny of goblin spiders (Araneae, oonopidae), with notes on basal genera.
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Oreonetides quadridentatus (Wunderlich, 1972) (Araneae: Linyphiidae, Linyphiinae), espèce nouvelle pour l'aranéofaune belge
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Bibliografische referenties betreffende de Belgische arachnofauna, aangevuld met de arachnologische werken gepubliceerd door Belgische arachnologen
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The Thomisidae and Philodromidae (Arachnida: Araneae) of the Galápagos Islands (Ecuador)
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Contribution of Asia to the evolution and paleobiogeography of the earliest modern mammals
- The mammals, inconspicuous during the dinosaur period, saw an increase in their size and number of species after the extinction of these giants sixty-five million years ago. This was the beginning of the Age of Mammals. But it was only at the beginning of the Eocene fifty-five million years ago during an extremely fast and intense global warming called PETM (Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum) when their diversity exploded. New groups then suddenly appeared on the three northern continents via intercontinental land bridges across which they made important dispersals. These new groups, called “modern mammals”, consist of rodents, lagomorphs, perissodactyls, artiodactyls, cetaceans, primates, carnivorans and bats. Although these eight groups represent 83 % of the extant mammal species diversity, their ancestors are still unknown. A short overview of the knowledge and recent progress on this research is here presented on the basis of Belgian studies and expeditions, especially in India and China.
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Conserving large populations of lions – the argument for fences has holes
- Packer et al. reported that fenced lion populations attain densities closer to carrying capacity than unfenced populations. However, fenced populations are often maintained above carrying capacity, and most are small. Many more lions are conserved per dollar invested in unfenced ecosystems, which avoid the ecological and economic costs of fencing.
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Stratigraphic and paleoenvironmental analysis of the Rupelian-Chattian transition in the type region: evidence from dinoflagellate cysts, foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils.
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Danian/Selandian boundary stratigraphy, paleoenvironment and Ostracoda from Sidi Nasseur, Tunisia.
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Paleoenvironmental change at the Danian-Selandian transition in Tunisia: planktic fioraminifera, calcareous nannofossil and organic-walled dinoflagellate cyst records
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Danian/Selandian boundary criteria and North Sea Basin-Tethys correlations based on calcareous nannofossil and foraminiferal trends in SW France.
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In search of the latest Danian Event in a paleobathymetric transect off Kasserine Island (North-Central Tunisia).
