Search publications of the members of the Royal Belgian institute of natural Sciences
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Calcardea junnei Gingerich, 1987 from the late Paleocene of North America is not a heron, but resembles the early Eocene Indian taxon Vastanavis Mayr et al., 2007
- We revisit the holotype of Calcardea junnei Gingerich, 1987 from the latest Paleocene (Clarkforkian) of the Willwood Formation (Wyoming, USA). The species is based on a partial skeleton and was originally assigned to the Ardeidae (herons). As we show, this classification cannot be upheld and Calcardea Gingerich, 1987 more closely resembles the taxon Vastanavis Mayr et al., 2007 (Vastanavidae), a parrot-like bird from the early Eocene of India. Even though C. junnei is a large bird, its long wings and short tarsometatarsus argue against a predominantly terrestrial way of living, and the morphology of the tarsometatarsus and pedal phalanges instead suggest strong grasping feet.We conclude that an assignment of Calcardea to the landbird clade (Telluraves) is better supported than its classification into the waterbird clade (Aequornithes), which includes Ardeidae and other ‘ciconiiform’ and ‘pelecaniform’ taxa. Calcardea junnei is one of the oldest known representatives of Telluraves and its morphology shows plesiomorphic features, which contributed to its previous misidentification as a heron. Calcardea exhibits a distinctive osteology and affords a glimpse of a previously unknown late Paleocene avian morphotype.
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New fossils, systematics, and biogeography of the oldest known crown primate Teilhardina from the earliest Eocene of Asia, Europe, and North America
- Omomyiform primates are among the most basal fossil haplorhines, with the oldest classified in the genus Teilhardina and known contemporaneously from Asia, Europe, and North America during the PaleoceneeEocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) ~56 mya. Characterization of morphology in this genus has been limited by small sample sizes and fragmentary fossils. A new dental sample (n ¼ 163) of the North American species Teilhardina brandti from PETM strata of the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, documents previously unknown morphology and variation, prompting the need for a systematic revision of the genus. The P4 of T. brandti expresses a range of variation that encompasses that of the recently named, slightly younger North American species ‘Teilhardina gingerichi,’ which is here synonymized with T. brandti. A new partial dentary preserving the alveoli for P1-2 demonstrates that T. brandti variably expresses an unreduced, centrally-located P1, and in this regard is similar to that of T. asiatica from China. This observation, coupled with further documentation of variability in P1 alveolar size, position, and presence in the European type species T. belgica, indicates that the original diagnosis of T. asiatica is insufficient at distinguishing this species from either T. belgica or T. brandti. Likewise, the basal omomyiform ‘Archicebus achilles’ requires revision to be distinguished from Teilhardina. Results from a phylogenetic analysis of 1890 characters scored for omomyiforms, adapiforms, and other euarchontan mammals produces a novel clade including T. magnoliana, T. brandti, T. asiatica, and T. belgica to the exclusion of two species previously referred to Teilhardina, which are here classified in a new genus (Bownomomys americanus and Bownomomys crassidens). While hypotheses of relationships and inferred biogeographic patterns among species of Teilhardina could change with the discovery of more complete fossils, the results of these analyses indicate a similar probability that the genus originated in either Asia or North America.
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An integrated risk-based assessment of the North Sea to guide ecosystem-based management
- This study provides an integrated perspective to ecosystem based management (EBM) by considering a diverse array of societal goals, i.e. sustainable food supply, clean energy and a healthy marine ecosystem, and a selection of management measures to achieve them. The primary aim of this exercise is to provide guidance for (more) integrated EBM in the North Sea based on an evaluation of the effectiveness of those management measures in contributing to the conservation of marine biodiversity. A secondary aim is to identify the requirements of the knowledge base to guide such future EBM initiatives. Starting from the societal goals we performed a scoping exercise to identify a “focal social-ecological system” which is a subset of the full social-ecological system but considered adequate to guide EBM towards the achievement of those societal goals. A semi-quantitative risk assessment including all the relevant human activities, their pressures and the impacted ecosystem components was then applied to identify the main threats to the North Sea biodiversity and evaluate the effectiveness of the management measures to mitigate those threats. This exercise revealed the need for such risk-based approaches in providing a more integrated perspective but also the trade-off between being comprehensive but qualitative versus quantitative but limited in terms of the “focal” part of the SES that can be covered. The findings in this paper provide direction to the (further) development of EBM and its knowledge base that should ultimately allow an integrated perspective while maintaining its capacity to deliver the accuracy and detail needed for decision-making.
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Reassessment of historical sections from the Paleogene marine margin of the Congo Basin reveals an almost complete absence of Danian deposits
- The early Paleogene is critical for understanding global biodiversity patterns in modern ecosystems. During this interval, Southern Hemisphere continents were largely characterized by isolation and faunal endemism following the breakup of Gondwana. Africa has been proposed as an important source area for the origin of several marine vertebrate groups but its Paleogene record is poorly sampled, especially from sub-Saharan Africa. To document the early Paleogene marine ecosystems of Central Africa, we revised the stratigraphic context of sedimentary deposits from three fossil-rich vertebrate localities: the Landana section in the Cabinda exclave (Angola), and the Manzadi and Bololo localities in western Democratic Republic of Congo. We provide more refined age constraints for these three localities based on invertebrate and vertebrate faunas, foraminiferal and dinoflagellate cyst assemblages, and carbon isotope records. We find an almost complete absence of Danian-aged rocks in the Landana section, contrary to prevailing interpretations over the last half a century (only the layer 1, at the base of the section, seems to be Danian). Refining the age of these Paleocene layers is crucial for analyzing fish evolution in a global framework, with implications for the early appearance of Scombridae (tunas and mackerels) and Tetraodontiformes (puffer fishes). The combination of vertebrate fossil records from Manzadi and Landana sections suggests important environmental changes around the K/Pg transition characterized by an important modification of the ichthyofauna. A small faunal shift may have occurred during the Selandian. More dramatic is the distinct decrease in overall richness that lasts from the Selandian to the Ypresian. The Lutetian ofWest Central Africa is characterized by the first appearance of numerous cartilaginous and bony fishes. Our analysis of the ichthyofauna moreover indicates two periods of faunal exchanges: one during the Paleocene, where Central Africa appears to have been a source for the European marine fauna, and another during the Eocene when Europe was the source of the Central Africa fauna. These data indicate that Central Africa has had connections with the Tethyian realm.
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Inside baleen: Exceptional microstructure preservation in a late Miocene whale skeleton from Peru
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Berries from Belgium: archaeobotanical finds of redcurrant, blackcurrant and gooseberry
- Recently medieval and post-medieval carpological data from Belgium were collected in an ArboDat© database. The dataset obtained shows a diversification of fruit species during the late medieval period, which can be related to the development of horticulture. Blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum), redcurrant (Ribes rubrum) and gooseberry (Ribes uva-crispa) belong to this new fruit species group occurrence. In the Low Countries Ribes sp. pollen and macrobotanical remains dating to the Atlantic period were recently recorded, suggesting that at least some species are autochthonous. However, it is striking that the earliest records after prehistoric times date to the medieval period. In Northwestern Europe archaeobotanical finds become more frequent from the end of the medieval period and the beginning of the early modern period onwards. Likewise, the oldest historical sources date to the 15th and 16th centuries. This poster gives an overview of the Belgian archaeobotanical records of Ribes species. We will discuss the species status and use during the late medieval and post-medieval period in Belgium based on archaeobotanical finds and information from iconographical and written sources.
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Evolution of plant economy in Medieval and Post-Medieval Belgium, a review of the Archaeobotanical Data
- The first archaeobotanical studies on medieval and early modern sites in Belgium were published in the eighties of last century. Since then hundreds of samples from rescue excavations have been analysed and the increasing amount of data permits a first review. In this presentation we will give a synthesis of the carpological records of cultivated and collected plants of economic importance from medieval and post-medieval sites in Belgium. It will comprise published data from Flanders (the northern part of Belgium) and published and unpublished data from the Brussels region and the Walloon region (the southern part of Belgium), recently collected by the archaeobotanical team of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. After evaluating the potential and limits of this rich archaeobotanical dataset, diachronic trends related to intensification of crop cultivation, developments in horticulture and fruit cultivation, introductions of non-indigenous species, changing trade networks and changes in food consumption patterns of medieval and post-medieval populations will be discussed. The data will be confronted with information from historical sources and archaeobotanical records from the wider region. Finally we will define some research questions for future studies.
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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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An update of the lithostratigraphy of the Ieper Group.
- The objective of the present revision is to complement the lithostratigraphy of the Ieper Group published in 2001 (Laga et al., 2001). This last publication reflected the activities in the Tertiary Subcommission at that time. The review published in 2001 framed in an initiative of the National Stratigraphic Commission and was limited to the lithostratigraphy at formation level. The Laga et al (2001) reference document has been the basis for the NCS website until now. The Ieper Group is characterised by clay−dominated sediments overlying, in most situations, the Landen Group strata and, if not outcropping, underlying the sand−dominated Zenne Group sediments. According to Laga et al. (2001) in their reference document for Paleogene and Neogene lithostratigraphy, the Ieper Group consists of the Kortrijk, Tielt and Gentbrugge Formations and ,members in these Formations are only listed. These subdivisions are also used on the 1:50 000 geological maps of Flanders, edited in the last decades of the 20th century. Especially the additional description of the members, and where possible, horizons, identified in the Formations, made the present review necessary and also modifications at the formation level itself arisen since 2001 needed to be integrated in a new synthesis. The present update is based on the earlier description of members in Maréchal & Laga (1988), Geets et al. (2000) and Steurbaut (1998) as far as appropriate. All modifications, discussions and additions are supported by the relevant literature references.
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Macroraptorial sperm whales (Cetacea, Odontoceti, Physeteroidea) from the Miocene of Peru
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The Holocene occurrence of Acipenser spp. in the southern North Sea: the archaeological record
- Archaeological sturgeon remains from the southern North Sea basin used to be automatically attributed to Acipenser sturio, since this was the only acipenserid species believed to occur there. These species identifications, however, were in need of revision after a growing number of indications were found for the historical presence of Acipenser oxyrinchus in western Europe. In this study, morphological and genetic data on sturgeon remains from archaeological sites along the southern North Sea are revised. A large number of Dutch, Belgian, British and some French archaeological sturgeon remains, dating from theMesolithic up to Late Modern times, are morphologically examined and fish sizes are reconstructed. This study of >7000 acipenserid bones proves the sympatric occurrence of European sturgeon A. sturio and Atlantic sturgeon A. oxyrinchus in the southern North Sea at least since the Neolithic (fourth millennium BC onwards), with A. oxyrinchus remains always outnumbering those of A. sturio. Human influence is documented by the decrease in finds through time, but no clear evidence was found for a diachronic change in fish lengths that could possibly be related to fishing pressure.
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Fluorapatite in carbonatite-related phosphate deposits: the case of the Matongo carbonatite (Burundi)
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Book review of Kouki, P., M. Lavento. - Petra - The Mountain of Aaron. The Finnish Archaeological Project in Jordan. Volume III. The Archaeological Survey.
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The 'Demange drawings': known and unknown malacological contributions of Victor Demange (1870-1940)
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Synchronous genetic turnovers across Western Eurasia in Late Pleistocene collared lemmings
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The end of the mammoth steppe in central East European plains during the Epigravettian: insights from collagen stable isotopes
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Comparing Gravettian and Epigravettian canids from Europe with Late Pleistocene canids from Yakutia
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The Upper Palaeolithic domestication of the dog
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The identity of Darwininitium shiwalikianum Budha & Mordan, 2012 (Gastropoda, Stylommatophora)
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Crossed-lamellar layer in evolution of the Molluscan shell microstructures
