Paleobiology and Evolution
The team consists of two groups:
- PARADIVE (head: Kenneth De Baets)
- Vertebrate Paleobiology (heads: Sergi López-Torres and Mateusz Tałanda)
Information on courses at the UW for students interested in palaeobiology can be found here
Publications
2025
Lang, Madlen M.; Silcox, Mary T.; Fostowicz‐Frelik, Łucja; Lis, Adam; López‐Torres, Sergi; San Martin‐Flores, Gabriela; Bertrand, Ornella C.
But how does it smell? An investigation of olfactory bulb size among living and fossil primates and other euarchontoglirans Journal Article
In: The Anatomical Record, 2025, ISSN: 1932-8494.
@article{Lang2025,
title = {But how does it smell? An investigation of olfactory bulb size among living and fossil primates and other euarchontoglirans},
author = {Madlen M. Lang and Mary T. Silcox and Łucja Fostowicz‐Frelik and Adam Lis and Sergi López‐Torres and San Martin‐Flores, Gabriela and Ornella C. Bertrand},
doi = {10.1002/ar.25651},
issn = {1932-8494},
year = {2025},
date = {2025-03-10},
urldate = {2025-03-10},
journal = {The Anatomical Record},
publisher = {Wiley},
abstract = {<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Primates are often considered to have a poor sense of smell. While all studies identify small olfactory bulbs (OB; the region of the brain responsible for processing scent) among haplorhines, whether or not strepsirrhines also possess small OBs is less clear, as is the evolutionary backdrop from which these patterns emerged. Here, we examine the relative size of the olfactory bulbs in cranial endocasts of living and fossil primates and their kin (Euarchontoglires [Primates, Dermoptera, Scandentia, Rodentia, Lagomorpha]), testing previous hypotheses. Regression analyses of OB volume and mass relative to endocranial volume (ECV) and body mass (BM), and ANOVAS of residuals, were performed on a dataset of 181 extant and 41 extinct species. Analyses show clear differences in the relative size of the OBs, with haplorhines possessing distinctly smaller OBs relative to all other clades. Pairwise tests indicate haplorhine OBs are significantly smaller than those of all other clades, including strepsirrhines; when the haplorhines are removed from analyses, strepsirrhines are significantly smaller than all other clades. This suggests that a reduction in OB size occurred at the crown primate node, a pattern also seen in ancestral state reconstruction (ASR) analyses. The ASR analyses suggest multiple iterations of olfactory bulb size decrease occurred in Haplorhini, reflecting large amounts of parallelism. These results likely differ from previous studies due to the inclusion of additional fossils and more appropriate outgroups based on up‐to‐date phylogenetic hypotheses.</jats:p>},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Primates are often considered to have a poor sense of smell. While all studies identify small olfactory bulbs (OB; the region of the brain responsible for processing scent) among haplorhines, whether or not strepsirrhines also possess small OBs is less clear, as is the evolutionary backdrop from which these patterns emerged. Here, we examine the relative size of the olfactory bulbs in cranial endocasts of living and fossil primates and their kin (Euarchontoglires [Primates, Dermoptera, Scandentia, Rodentia, Lagomorpha]), testing previous hypotheses. Regression analyses of OB volume and mass relative to endocranial volume (ECV) and body mass (BM), and ANOVAS of residuals, were performed on a dataset of 181 extant and 41 extinct species. Analyses show clear differences in the relative size of the OBs, with haplorhines possessing distinctly smaller OBs relative to all other clades. Pairwise tests indicate haplorhine OBs are significantly smaller than those of all other clades, including strepsirrhines; when the haplorhines are removed from analyses, strepsirrhines are significantly smaller than all other clades. This suggests that a reduction in OB size occurred at the crown primate node, a pattern also seen in ancestral state reconstruction (ASR) analyses. The ASR analyses suggest multiple iterations of olfactory bulb size decrease occurred in Haplorhini, reflecting large amounts of parallelism. These results likely differ from previous studies due to the inclusion of additional fossils and more appropriate outgroups based on up‐to‐date phylogenetic hypotheses.</jats:p>
Anderson, Holly E.; Lis, Adam; Lundeen, Ingrid; Silcox, Mary T.; López-Torres, Sergi
Sensory Reconstruction of the Fossil Lorisid Mioeuoticus: Systematic and Evolutionary Implications Journal Article
In: Animals, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 345, 2025, ISSN: 2076-2615.
@article{ani15030345,
title = {Sensory Reconstruction of the Fossil Lorisid Mioeuoticus: Systematic and Evolutionary Implications},
author = {Holly E. Anderson and Adam Lis and Ingrid Lundeen and Mary T. Silcox and Sergi López-Torres},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/15/3/345},
doi = {10.3390/ani15030345},
issn = {2076-2615},
year = {2025},
date = {2025-01-25},
urldate = {2025-01-01},
journal = {Animals},
volume = {15},
number = {3},
pages = {345},
abstract = {The fossil record of lorises and pottos (family Lorisidae) potentially dates back to the late Oligocene of Namibia, but a later moderate diversification of this family occurred during the Miocene of Africa and Asia. In the African Miocene, the family Lorisidae is represented solely by one genus: Mioeuoticus. The phyletic position of Mioeuoticus has been a source of debate, as it has been suggested to belong to either the stem of the family Lorisidae or to be further nested within lorisids, as a sister to the African potto clade (subfamily Perodicticinae). Reconstructing the internal sensory anatomy of Mioeuoticus shipmani (KNM-RU 2052) could shed some light on this debate and possibly clarify how modern lorisoid olfactory and visual sensitivity and locomotor abilities evolved. Here, we collected data from the nasal turbinals, bony labyrinths, and orbits of Mioeuoticus shipmani from the early Miocene of Rusinga Island, Kenya. These results are consistent with Mioeuoticus, having developed typical modern lorisid behaviour (i.e., slow locomotion, nocturnal activity pattern) and olfactory abilities consistent with modern representatives. However, the arrangement of the nasal turbinals shows an intermediate state between lemuroids and lorisoids that is most consistent with a basal position of Mioeuoticus within the family Lorisidae or even the superfamily Lorisoidea.},
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}
The fossil record of lorises and pottos (family Lorisidae) potentially dates back to the late Oligocene of Namibia, but a later moderate diversification of this family occurred during the Miocene of Africa and Asia. In the African Miocene, the family Lorisidae is represented solely by one genus: Mioeuoticus. The phyletic position of Mioeuoticus has been a source of debate, as it has been suggested to belong to either the stem of the family Lorisidae or to be further nested within lorisids, as a sister to the African potto clade (subfamily Perodicticinae). Reconstructing the internal sensory anatomy of Mioeuoticus shipmani (KNM-RU 2052) could shed some light on this debate and possibly clarify how modern lorisoid olfactory and visual sensitivity and locomotor abilities evolved. Here, we collected data from the nasal turbinals, bony labyrinths, and orbits of Mioeuoticus shipmani from the early Miocene of Rusinga Island, Kenya. These results are consistent with Mioeuoticus, having developed typical modern lorisid behaviour (i.e., slow locomotion, nocturnal activity pattern) and olfactory abilities consistent with modern representatives. However, the arrangement of the nasal turbinals shows an intermediate state between lemuroids and lorisoids that is most consistent with a basal position of Mioeuoticus within the family Lorisidae or even the superfamily Lorisoidea.
2024
Pochat‐Cottilloux, Yohan; Perrichon, Gwendal; Hautier, Lionel; Rinder, Nicolas; Amiot, Romain; Raselli, Irena; Adrien, Jérôme; Lachambre, Joël; Fernandez, Vincent; Martin, Jeremy E.
Size, not phylogeny, explains the morphology of the endosseous labyrinth in the crown clade Crocodylia Journal Article
In: Journal of Anatomy, 2024, ISSN: 1469-7580.
@article{Pochat‐Cottilloux2024,
title = {Size, not phylogeny, explains the morphology of the endosseous labyrinth in the crown clade Crocodylia},
author = {Yohan Pochat‐Cottilloux and Gwendal Perrichon and Lionel Hautier and Nicolas Rinder and Romain Amiot and Irena Raselli and Jérôme Adrien and Joël Lachambre and Vincent Fernandez and Jeremy E. Martin},
doi = {10.1111/joa.14170},
issn = {1469-7580},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-12-20},
urldate = {2024-12-20},
journal = {Journal of Anatomy},
publisher = {Wiley},
abstract = {<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The endosseous labyrinths are associated with several functions, including hearing and spatial orientation. Throughout their evolutionary history, crocodylomorphs have thrived in diverse environments, and the morphology of their endosseous labyrinths has been suggested as a proxy for inferring their lifestyle. However, the relationships between the shape of their endosseous labyrinths and ontogenetic and phylogenetic factors are difficult to interpret and have rarely been investigated in depth previously, particularly in terms of dataset size. Here, we present the most complete dataset to date on the endosseous labyrinths of extant crocodylians, including 111 specimens covering 22 species of different ontogenetic status (from hatchlings to adults). Using 3D geometric morphometrics, we show that allometry constitutes a major contributor of the shape variation of the crocodylian endosseous labyrinths and that the development of this structure is likely linked to the braincase conformation, in all extant genera. We also find a moderate phylogenetic signal, but only without considering the size effect, so it could not be translated into relevant discrete morphological characters. Based on these results, we discuss several remaining problems that prevent the inclusion of fossil forms with highly divergent lifestyles to study how ecological differences shaped the endosseous labyrinths of crocodylomorphs.</jats:p>},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The endosseous labyrinths are associated with several functions, including hearing and spatial orientation. Throughout their evolutionary history, crocodylomorphs have thrived in diverse environments, and the morphology of their endosseous labyrinths has been suggested as a proxy for inferring their lifestyle. However, the relationships between the shape of their endosseous labyrinths and ontogenetic and phylogenetic factors are difficult to interpret and have rarely been investigated in depth previously, particularly in terms of dataset size. Here, we present the most complete dataset to date on the endosseous labyrinths of extant crocodylians, including 111 specimens covering 22 species of different ontogenetic status (from hatchlings to adults). Using 3D geometric morphometrics, we show that allometry constitutes a major contributor of the shape variation of the crocodylian endosseous labyrinths and that the development of this structure is likely linked to the braincase conformation, in all extant genera. We also find a moderate phylogenetic signal, but only without considering the size effect, so it could not be translated into relevant discrete morphological characters. Based on these results, we discuss several remaining problems that prevent the inclusion of fossil forms with highly divergent lifestyles to study how ecological differences shaped the endosseous labyrinths of crocodylomorphs.</jats:p>
De Baets, Kenneth
Evolution: Morphological complexity fuels rapid species turnover Journal Article
In: Current Biology, vol. 34, no. 24, pp. R1235–R1237, 2024, ISSN: 0960-9822.
@article{DeBaets2024b,
title = {Evolution: Morphological complexity fuels rapid species turnover},
author = {De Baets, Kenneth},
doi = {10.1016/j.cub.2024.11.001},
issn = {0960-9822},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-12-16},
urldate = {2024-12-00},
journal = {Current Biology},
volume = {34},
number = {24},
pages = {R1235--R1237},
publisher = {Elsevier BV},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Dzik, Jerzy
Faunal dynamics and evolution of Ordovician conodonts on the Baltic side of the Tornquist Sea Journal Article
In: Earth and Environmental Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, pp. 1–38, 2024, ISSN: 1755-6929.
@article{DZIK2024b,
title = {Faunal dynamics and evolution of Ordovician conodonts on the Baltic side of the Tornquist Sea},
author = {Jerzy Dzik},
doi = {10.1017/s1755691024000070},
issn = {1755-6929},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-12-10},
urldate = {2024-12-10},
journal = {Earth and Environmental Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh},
pages = {1--38},
publisher = {Cambridge University Press (CUP)},
abstract = {<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title>
<jats:p>Continental drift of Baltica from the Tremadocian subpolar latitudes to subtropical latitudes in the Katian was the main factor controlling the succession of the Ordovician Baltic conodont communities. These faunas were gradually enriched during the Floian as a result of immigrations from the regions experiencing warmer climate. Reinterpretation of quantitative data in terms of population approach to fossil assemblages shows how some of these immigrants evolved anagenetically in place, changing their contribution to the secondary productivity of the ecosystem. The composition of the fauna became surprisingly uniform, at least since the numerical domination by the presumably indigenous <jats:italic>Baltoniodus</jats:italic> lineage was established during the Dapingian. <jats:italic>Baltoniodus</jats:italic> was supplemented by another indigenous lineage of <jats:italic>Trapezognathus-Lenodus-Eoplacognathus</jats:italic>, which continued its subordinate occurrence during the Darriwilian. The early Sandbian transgression resulted in immigration of the <jats:italic>Amorphognathus</jats:italic> lineage that emerged allopatrically in an unknown region but then began evolving anagenetically until the end of the Ordovician. Conodonts with coniform apparatus elements added complexity to the general picture of immigrations and disappearances, but only the lineage of <jats:italic>Protopanderodus rectus</jats:italic> seems to have differentiated geographically its contribution to the biological productivity. Several brief cooling and warming episodes did not result in any long-term transformations of the conodont communities. Most intriguing was the immigration of the <jats:italic>Yaoxianognathus</jats:italic> lineage that probably gave rise to all of the post-Ordovician ozarkodinids. By that time, <jats:italic>Yaoxianognathus</jats:italic> had its close relative in the tropical North American Midcontinent, but the source area was probably in the Darriwilian of the Argentinian part of Gondwana. Forms with thin P<jats:sub>1</jats:sub> elements of basal cone walls, like <jats:italic>Scabbardella</jats:italic> or <jats:italic>Hamarodus</jats:italic>, are indicators of glacial Gondwanan influences. The lineage of <jats:italic>Sagittodontina</jats:italic>, associated with these in the Małopolska microcontinent (with Gondwanan affinities), was subordinate in Baltica until it had been influenced by the Hirnantian glaciation that ended the Baltic conodont fauna.</jats:p>},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title>
<jats:p>Continental drift of Baltica from the Tremadocian subpolar latitudes to subtropical latitudes in the Katian was the main factor controlling the succession of the Ordovician Baltic conodont communities. These faunas were gradually enriched during the Floian as a result of immigrations from the regions experiencing warmer climate. Reinterpretation of quantitative data in terms of population approach to fossil assemblages shows how some of these immigrants evolved anagenetically in place, changing their contribution to the secondary productivity of the ecosystem. The composition of the fauna became surprisingly uniform, at least since the numerical domination by the presumably indigenous <jats:italic>Baltoniodus</jats:italic> lineage was established during the Dapingian. <jats:italic>Baltoniodus</jats:italic> was supplemented by another indigenous lineage of <jats:italic>Trapezognathus-Lenodus-Eoplacognathus</jats:italic>, which continued its subordinate occurrence during the Darriwilian. The early Sandbian transgression resulted in immigration of the <jats:italic>Amorphognathus</jats:italic> lineage that emerged allopatrically in an unknown region but then began evolving anagenetically until the end of the Ordovician. Conodonts with coniform apparatus elements added complexity to the general picture of immigrations and disappearances, but only the lineage of <jats:italic>Protopanderodus rectus</jats:italic> seems to have differentiated geographically its contribution to the biological productivity. Several brief cooling and warming episodes did not result in any long-term transformations of the conodont communities. Most intriguing was the immigration of the <jats:italic>Yaoxianognathus</jats:italic> lineage that probably gave rise to all of the post-Ordovician ozarkodinids. By that time, <jats:italic>Yaoxianognathus</jats:italic> had its close relative in the tropical North American Midcontinent, but the source area was probably in the Darriwilian of the Argentinian part of Gondwana. Forms with thin P<jats:sub>1</jats:sub> elements of basal cone walls, like <jats:italic>Scabbardella</jats:italic> or <jats:italic>Hamarodus</jats:italic>, are indicators of glacial Gondwanan influences. The lineage of <jats:italic>Sagittodontina</jats:italic>, associated with these in the Małopolska microcontinent (with Gondwanan affinities), was subordinate in Baltica until it had been influenced by the Hirnantian glaciation that ended the Baltic conodont fauna.</jats:p>
<jats:p>Continental drift of Baltica from the Tremadocian subpolar latitudes to subtropical latitudes in the Katian was the main factor controlling the succession of the Ordovician Baltic conodont communities. These faunas were gradually enriched during the Floian as a result of immigrations from the regions experiencing warmer climate. Reinterpretation of quantitative data in terms of population approach to fossil assemblages shows how some of these immigrants evolved anagenetically in place, changing their contribution to the secondary productivity of the ecosystem. The composition of the fauna became surprisingly uniform, at least since the numerical domination by the presumably indigenous <jats:italic>Baltoniodus</jats:italic> lineage was established during the Dapingian. <jats:italic>Baltoniodus</jats:italic> was supplemented by another indigenous lineage of <jats:italic>Trapezognathus-Lenodus-Eoplacognathus</jats:italic>, which continued its subordinate occurrence during the Darriwilian. The early Sandbian transgression resulted in immigration of the <jats:italic>Amorphognathus</jats:italic> lineage that emerged allopatrically in an unknown region but then began evolving anagenetically until the end of the Ordovician. Conodonts with coniform apparatus elements added complexity to the general picture of immigrations and disappearances, but only the lineage of <jats:italic>Protopanderodus rectus</jats:italic> seems to have differentiated geographically its contribution to the biological productivity. Several brief cooling and warming episodes did not result in any long-term transformations of the conodont communities. Most intriguing was the immigration of the <jats:italic>Yaoxianognathus</jats:italic> lineage that probably gave rise to all of the post-Ordovician ozarkodinids. By that time, <jats:italic>Yaoxianognathus</jats:italic> had its close relative in the tropical North American Midcontinent, but the source area was probably in the Darriwilian of the Argentinian part of Gondwana. Forms with thin P<jats:sub>1</jats:sub> elements of basal cone walls, like <jats:italic>Scabbardella</jats:italic> or <jats:italic>Hamarodus</jats:italic>, are indicators of glacial Gondwanan influences. The lineage of <jats:italic>Sagittodontina</jats:italic>, associated with these in the Małopolska microcontinent (with Gondwanan affinities), was subordinate in Baltica until it had been influenced by the Hirnantian glaciation that ended the Baltic conodont fauna.</jats:p>
De Baets, Kenneth; Dentzien-Dias, Paula; Huntley, John Warren; Vanhove, Maarten P. M.; Łaska, Weronika; Skawina, Aleksandra; Van Steenkiste, Niels W. L.; Vanadzina, Karina
Fossil constraints on the origin and evolution of Platyhelminthes are surprisingly concordant with modern molecular phylogenies Journal Article
In: Zoologia (Curitiba), vol. 41, pp. e24002, 2024, ISSN: 1984-4689.
@article{DeBaets2024,
title = {Fossil constraints on the origin and evolution of Platyhelminthes are surprisingly concordant with modern molecular phylogenies},
author = {De Baets, Kenneth and Paula Dentzien-Dias and John Warren Huntley and Maarten P.M. Vanhove and Weronika Łaska and Aleksandra Skawina and Van Steenkiste, Niels W.L. and Karina Vanadzina},
doi = {10.1590/s1984-4689.v41.e24002},
issn = {1984-4689},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-11-29},
urldate = {2024-11-29},
journal = {Zoologia (Curitiba)},
volume = {41},
pages = {e24002},
publisher = {FapUNIFESP (SciELO)},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Pochat-Cottilloux, Yohan
A review of the non-semiaquatic adaptations of extinct crocodylomorphs throughout their fossil record Journal Article
In: The Anatomical Record, vol. n/a, no. n/a, 2024.
@article{https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.25586,
title = {A review of the non-semiaquatic adaptations of extinct crocodylomorphs throughout their fossil record},
author = {Yohan Pochat-Cottilloux},
url = {https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ar.25586},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.25586},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-11-25},
journal = {The Anatomical Record},
volume = {n/a},
number = {n/a},
abstract = {Abstract Crocodylomorphs constitute a clade of archosaurs that have thrived since the Mesozoic until today and have survived numerous major biological crises. Contrary to historic belief, their semiaquatic extant representatives (crocodylians) are not living fossils, and, during their evolutionary history, crocodylomorphs have evolved to live in a variety of environments. This review aims to summarize the non-semiaquatic adaptations (i.e., either terrestrial or fully aquatic) of different groups from different periods, highlighting how exactly those different lifestyles are inferred for those animals, with regard to their geographic and temporal distribution and phylogenetic relationships. The ancestral condition for Crocodylomorpha seems to have been a terrestrial lifestyle, linked with several morphological adaptations such as an altirostral skull, long limbs allowing a fully erect posture and a specialized dentition for diets based on land. However, some members of this clade, such as thalattosuchians and dyrosaurids display adaptations for an opposite, aquatic lifestyle, interestingly inferred from the same type of morphological observations. Finally, new techniques for inferring the paleobiology of those extinct animals have been put forward in the last decade, appearing as a complementary approach to traditional morphological descriptions and comparisons. Such is the case of paleoneuroanatomical (CT scan data), histological, and geochemical studies.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Abstract Crocodylomorphs constitute a clade of archosaurs that have thrived since the Mesozoic until today and have survived numerous major biological crises. Contrary to historic belief, their semiaquatic extant representatives (crocodylians) are not living fossils, and, during their evolutionary history, crocodylomorphs have evolved to live in a variety of environments. This review aims to summarize the non-semiaquatic adaptations (i.e., either terrestrial or fully aquatic) of different groups from different periods, highlighting how exactly those different lifestyles are inferred for those animals, with regard to their geographic and temporal distribution and phylogenetic relationships. The ancestral condition for Crocodylomorpha seems to have been a terrestrial lifestyle, linked with several morphological adaptations such as an altirostral skull, long limbs allowing a fully erect posture and a specialized dentition for diets based on land. However, some members of this clade, such as thalattosuchians and dyrosaurids display adaptations for an opposite, aquatic lifestyle, interestingly inferred from the same type of morphological observations. Finally, new techniques for inferring the paleobiology of those extinct animals have been put forward in the last decade, appearing as a complementary approach to traditional morphological descriptions and comparisons. Such is the case of paleoneuroanatomical (CT scan data), histological, and geochemical studies.
Ara, Chaman; Yasin, Riffat; Ishaq, Hafiz M.; Naz, Shakila; Sultana, Tayyaba; Samiullah, Khizar; Al‐Misned, Fahad A.; Ullah, Kifayait; Anderson, Holly E.; López‐Torres, Sergi; Abbas, Asghar
New Euungulate Fossils from the Middle Siwalik Subgroup of the Potwar Plateau of Northern Pakistan Journal Article
In: Geological Journal, vol. 60, iss. 1, pp. 133–162, 2024, ISSN: 1099-1034.
@article{Ara2024,
title = {New Euungulate Fossils from the Middle Siwalik Subgroup of the Potwar Plateau of Northern Pakistan},
author = {Chaman Ara and Riffat Yasin and Hafiz M. Ishaq and Shakila Naz and Tayyaba Sultana and Khizar Samiullah and Fahad A. Al‐Misned and Kifayait Ullah and Holly E. Anderson and Sergi López‐Torres and Asghar Abbas},
doi = {10.1002/gj.5081},
issn = {1099-1034},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-11-14},
urldate = {2024-11-14},
journal = {Geological Journal},
volume = {60},
issue = {1},
pages = {133--162},
publisher = {Wiley},
abstract = {<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title><jats:p>This article provides a detailed taxonomic study of mammalian fossil fauna from five localities situated within the Middle Siwalik subgroup including the Nagri and Dhok Pathan formations in Punjab, Pakistan. Twenty‐three euungulate specimens comprised of isolated teeth, and maxillary and mandibular fragments, are described. This collection includes the bovid, <jats:italic>Elachistoceras</jats:italic>; a very rare faunal element in the Siwaliks of Pakistan, as well as <jats:italic>Elachistoceras khauristanensis</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Pachyportax latidens</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Giraffa punjabiensis</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Bramatherium grande</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Merycopotamus dissimilis</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Dorcatherium minus</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Dorcatherium majus</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Hippopotamodon sivalense</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Sivalhippus theobaldi</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Sivalhippus nagriensis</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Brachypotherium perimense</jats:italic> These fossil remains add important new insights into the taxonomy and diversity of Late Miocene mammal faunas of the Middle Siwaliks. The data is important for understanding the biogeographical and palaeoenvironmental history of the region. The characteristics of the fossils described in this study further support the currently hypothesised presence of a massive open land environment with variable wet and dry seasons alike to that of the current climate in Eurasia and Africa. The variable habitat niches of these co‐existing fauna also give further support to the supposition that there was a much more mixed array of palaeoenvironments ranging from a prevalence of woodland to expansive savannah territory during the deposition of Nagri and Dhok Pathan formations.</jats:p>},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title><jats:p>This article provides a detailed taxonomic study of mammalian fossil fauna from five localities situated within the Middle Siwalik subgroup including the Nagri and Dhok Pathan formations in Punjab, Pakistan. Twenty‐three euungulate specimens comprised of isolated teeth, and maxillary and mandibular fragments, are described. This collection includes the bovid, <jats:italic>Elachistoceras</jats:italic>; a very rare faunal element in the Siwaliks of Pakistan, as well as <jats:italic>Elachistoceras khauristanensis</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Pachyportax latidens</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Giraffa punjabiensis</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Bramatherium grande</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Merycopotamus dissimilis</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Dorcatherium minus</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Dorcatherium majus</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Hippopotamodon sivalense</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Sivalhippus theobaldi</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Sivalhippus nagriensis</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Brachypotherium perimense</jats:italic> These fossil remains add important new insights into the taxonomy and diversity of Late Miocene mammal faunas of the Middle Siwaliks. The data is important for understanding the biogeographical and palaeoenvironmental history of the region. The characteristics of the fossils described in this study further support the currently hypothesised presence of a massive open land environment with variable wet and dry seasons alike to that of the current climate in Eurasia and Africa. The variable habitat niches of these co‐existing fauna also give further support to the supposition that there was a much more mixed array of palaeoenvironments ranging from a prevalence of woodland to expansive savannah territory during the deposition of Nagri and Dhok Pathan formations.</jats:p>
Awdankiewicz, Marek; Pańczyk, Magdalena; Ploch, Izabela; Raczyński, Paweł; Awdankiewicz, Honorata; Górecka-Nowak, Anna; Pawlak, Wojciech; Peryt, Tadeusz
In: International Journal of Earth Sciences, 2024, ISSN: 1437-3262.
@article{Awdankiewicz2024,
title = {Timing of post-orogenic silicic volcanism in the eastern part of the European Variscides: constraints from SHRIMP U–Pb zircon study of the Permo-Carboniferous Góry Suche Rhyolitic Tuffs (the Intra-Sudetic Basin)},
author = {Marek Awdankiewicz and Magdalena Pańczyk and Izabela Ploch and Paweł Raczyński and Honorata Awdankiewicz and Anna Górecka-Nowak and Wojciech Pawlak and Tadeusz Peryt},
doi = {10.1007/s00531-024-02474-y},
issn = {1437-3262},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-11-01},
urldate = {2024-11-01},
journal = {International Journal of Earth Sciences},
publisher = {Springer Science and Business Media LLC},
abstract = {<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The Góry Suche Rhyolitic Tuffs in the Intra-Sudetic Basin, in the eastern part of the Variscan Belt of Europe, represent a voluminous (ca. 100 km<jats:sup>3</jats:sup>), possibly caldera-related, ignimbrite-dominated complex and the Łomnica Rhyolites are associated, post-ignimbrite sills. Zircon separates from nine samples were dated using the U–Pb SHRIMP method. Well-defined concordia ages were determined in four ignimbrite samples (300.5 ± 2.0, 300.5 ± 1.4, 298.0 ± 1.6 and 297.2 ± 0.9 Ma) and in two rhyolite samples (298.4 ± 1.5 and 292.6 ± 1.9 Ma). Clustering of the ignimbrite sample ages between 300.5 ± 2.0 and 297.2 ± 0.9 Ma and geological evidence indicate the eruption and deposition of the tuffs close to the Carboniferous/Permian boundary, in a geologically rapid event at approximately 299 Ma. Zircon assemblages in three tuff specimens are strongly dominated by xenocrysts of various Palaeozoic and Precambrian ages that were incorporated during the eruption through the basin fill. The emplacement of the tuffs was followed (and partly overlapped?) by the emplacement of the Łomnica Rhyolites as sills in two episodes in the early Permian. The Góry Suche Rhyolitic Tuffs may be a few million years older than assumed so far, and this, as well as rather imprecise biostratigraphic constraints from the host sedimentary rocks, suggest a need for revision of the existing lithostratigraphic and evolutionary schemes for the Permo-Carboniferous of the Intra-Sudetic Basin. The studied tuffs and rhyolites together with coeval granitic plutons in vicinity can be linked to the onset of post-Carboniferous lithospheric thinning in Central Europe.</jats:p>
<jats:p><jats:bold>Graphical abstract</jats:bold></jats:p>},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The Góry Suche Rhyolitic Tuffs in the Intra-Sudetic Basin, in the eastern part of the Variscan Belt of Europe, represent a voluminous (ca. 100 km<jats:sup>3</jats:sup>), possibly caldera-related, ignimbrite-dominated complex and the Łomnica Rhyolites are associated, post-ignimbrite sills. Zircon separates from nine samples were dated using the U–Pb SHRIMP method. Well-defined concordia ages were determined in four ignimbrite samples (300.5 ± 2.0, 300.5 ± 1.4, 298.0 ± 1.6 and 297.2 ± 0.9 Ma) and in two rhyolite samples (298.4 ± 1.5 and 292.6 ± 1.9 Ma). Clustering of the ignimbrite sample ages between 300.5 ± 2.0 and 297.2 ± 0.9 Ma and geological evidence indicate the eruption and deposition of the tuffs close to the Carboniferous/Permian boundary, in a geologically rapid event at approximately 299 Ma. Zircon assemblages in three tuff specimens are strongly dominated by xenocrysts of various Palaeozoic and Precambrian ages that were incorporated during the eruption through the basin fill. The emplacement of the tuffs was followed (and partly overlapped?) by the emplacement of the Łomnica Rhyolites as sills in two episodes in the early Permian. The Góry Suche Rhyolitic Tuffs may be a few million years older than assumed so far, and this, as well as rather imprecise biostratigraphic constraints from the host sedimentary rocks, suggest a need for revision of the existing lithostratigraphic and evolutionary schemes for the Permo-Carboniferous of the Intra-Sudetic Basin. The studied tuffs and rhyolites together with coeval granitic plutons in vicinity can be linked to the onset of post-Carboniferous lithospheric thinning in Central Europe.</jats:p>
<jats:p><jats:bold>Graphical abstract</jats:bold></jats:p>
<jats:p><jats:bold>Graphical abstract</jats:bold></jats:p>
Agiadi, Konstantina; Hohmann, Niklas; Gliozzi, Elsa; Thivaiou, Danae; Bosellini, Francesca R.; Taviani, Marco; Bianucci, Giovanni; Collareta, Alberto; Londeix, Laurent; Faranda, Costanza; Bulian, Francesca; Koskeridou, Efterpi; Lozar, Francesca; Mancini, Alan Maria; Dominici, Stefano; Moissette, Pierre; Campos, Ildefonso Bajo; Borghi, Enrico; Iliopoulos, George; Antonarakou, Assimina; Kontakiotis, George; Besiou, Evangelia; Zarkogiannis, Stergios D.; Harzhauser, Mathias; Sierro, Francisco Javier; Camerlenghi, Angelo; García-Castellanos, Daniel
A revised marine fossil record of the Mediterranean before and after the Messinian salinity crisis Journal Article
In: Earth System Science Data, vol. 16, no. 10, pp. 4767–4775, 2024, ISSN: 1866-3516.
@article{Agiadi2024c,
title = {A revised marine fossil record of the Mediterranean before and after the Messinian salinity crisis},
author = {Konstantina Agiadi and Niklas Hohmann and Elsa Gliozzi and Danae Thivaiou and Francesca R. Bosellini and Marco Taviani and Giovanni Bianucci and Alberto Collareta and Laurent Londeix and Costanza Faranda and Francesca Bulian and Efterpi Koskeridou and Francesca Lozar and Alan Maria Mancini and Stefano Dominici and Pierre Moissette and Ildefonso Bajo Campos and Enrico Borghi and George Iliopoulos and Assimina Antonarakou and George Kontakiotis and Evangelia Besiou and Stergios D. Zarkogiannis and Mathias Harzhauser and Francisco Javier Sierro and Angelo Camerlenghi and Daniel García-Castellanos},
doi = {10.5194/essd-16-4767-2024},
issn = {1866-3516},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-10-22},
urldate = {2024-10-22},
journal = {Earth System Science Data},
volume = {16},
number = {10},
pages = {4767--4775},
publisher = {Copernicus GmbH},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Raza, Tehreem; Yasin, Riffat; López-Torres, Sergi; Warburton, Natalie M.; Samiullah, Khizar; Ghaffar, Abdul; Khan, Muhammad N.; Ara, Chaman; Muzaffar, Eisha
New sivatheriine giraffid (Ruminantia, Mammalia) craniodental material from the Siwaliks of Pakistan Journal Article
In: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, vol. 44, iss. 1, pp. e2376241, 2024, ISSN: 1937-2809.
@article{Raza2024,
title = {New sivatheriine giraffid (Ruminantia, Mammalia) craniodental material from the Siwaliks of Pakistan},
author = {Tehreem Raza and Riffat Yasin and Sergi López-Torres and Natalie M. Warburton and Khizar Samiullah and Abdul Ghaffar and Muhammad N. Khan and Chaman Ara and Eisha Muzaffar},
doi = {10.1080/02724634.2024.2376241},
issn = {1937-2809},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-10-01},
urldate = {2024-10-01},
journal = {Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology},
volume = {44},
issue = {1},
pages = {e2376241},
publisher = {Informa UK Limited},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Witasik, Marceli; Słowiak, Justyna; Szczygielski, Tomasz
Modified laminar bone did not stop sauropods from achieving large body sizes Journal Article
In: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 2024, ISSN: 1937-2809.
@article{Witasik2024,
title = {Modified laminar bone did not stop sauropods from achieving large body sizes},
author = {Marceli Witasik and Justyna Słowiak and Tomasz Szczygielski},
doi = {10.1080/02724634.2024.2396816},
issn = {1937-2809},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-09-30},
urldate = {2024-09-30},
journal = {Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology},
publisher = {Informa UK Limited},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Agiadi, Konstantina; Hohmann, Niklas; Gliozzi, Elsa; Thivaiou, Danae; Bosellini, Francesca R.; Taviani, Marco; Bianucci, Giovanni; Collareta, Alberto; Londeix, Laurent; Faranda, Costanza; Bulian, Francesca; Koskeridou, Efterpi; Lozar, Francesca; Mancini, Alan Maria; Dominici, Stefano; Moissette, Pierre; Campos, Ildefonso Bajo; Borghi, Enrico; Iliopoulos, George; Antonarakou, Assimina; Kontakiotis, George; Besiou, Evangelia; Zarkogiannis, Stergios D.; Harzhauser, Mathias; Sierro, Francisco Javier; Coll, Marta; Vasiliev, Iuliana; Camerlenghi, Angelo; García-Castellanos, Daniel
Late Miocene transformation of Mediterranean Sea biodiversity Journal Article
In: Science Advances, vol. 10, no. 39, pp. eadp1134, 2024, ISSN: 2375-2548.
@article{Agiadi2024b,
title = {Late Miocene transformation of Mediterranean Sea biodiversity},
author = {Konstantina Agiadi and Niklas Hohmann and Elsa Gliozzi and Danae Thivaiou and Francesca R. Bosellini and Marco Taviani and Giovanni Bianucci and Alberto Collareta and Laurent Londeix and Costanza Faranda and Francesca Bulian and Efterpi Koskeridou and Francesca Lozar and Alan Maria Mancini and Stefano Dominici and Pierre Moissette and Ildefonso Bajo Campos and Enrico Borghi and George Iliopoulos and Assimina Antonarakou and George Kontakiotis and Evangelia Besiou and Stergios D. Zarkogiannis and Mathias Harzhauser and Francisco Javier Sierro and Marta Coll and Iuliana Vasiliev and Angelo Camerlenghi and Daniel García-Castellanos},
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.adp1134},
issn = {2375-2548},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-09-25},
urldate = {2024-09-25},
journal = {Science Advances},
volume = {10},
number = {39},
pages = {eadp1134},
publisher = {American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)},
abstract = {<jats:p>Understanding deep-time marine biodiversity change under the combined effects of climate and connectivity changes is fundamental for predicting the impacts of modern climate change in semi-enclosed seas. We quantify the Late Miocene–Early Pliocene [11.63 to 3.6 million years (Ma)] taxonomic diversity of the Mediterranean Sea for calcareous nannoplankton, dinocysts, foraminifera, ostracods, corals, molluscs, bryozoans, echinoids, fishes, and marine mammals. During this time, marine biota was affected by global climate cooling and the restriction of the Mediterranean’s connection to the Atlantic Ocean that peaked with the Messinian salinity crisis. Although the net change in species richness from the Tortonian to the Zanclean varies by group, species turnover is greater than 30% in all cases, reflecting a high degree of reorganization of the marine ecosystem after the crisis. The results show a clear perturbation already in the pre-evaporitic Messinian (7.25 to 5.97 Ma), with patterns differing among groups and subbasins.</jats:p>},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
<jats:p>Understanding deep-time marine biodiversity change under the combined effects of climate and connectivity changes is fundamental for predicting the impacts of modern climate change in semi-enclosed seas. We quantify the Late Miocene–Early Pliocene [11.63 to 3.6 million years (Ma)] taxonomic diversity of the Mediterranean Sea for calcareous nannoplankton, dinocysts, foraminifera, ostracods, corals, molluscs, bryozoans, echinoids, fishes, and marine mammals. During this time, marine biota was affected by global climate cooling and the restriction of the Mediterranean’s connection to the Atlantic Ocean that peaked with the Messinian salinity crisis. Although the net change in species richness from the Tortonian to the Zanclean varies by group, species turnover is greater than 30% in all cases, reflecting a high degree of reorganization of the marine ecosystem after the crisis. The results show a clear perturbation already in the pre-evaporitic Messinian (7.25 to 5.97 Ma), with patterns differing among groups and subbasins.</jats:p>
Uhlik, Marcin E.
In: The European Zoological Journal, vol. 91, no. 2, pp. 1035–1051, 2024, ISSN: 2475-0263.
@article{Uhlik2024,
title = {Embryogeny of \textit{Pleuroxus aduncus} (Jurine, 1820) and \textit{Chydorus sphaericus} S. Lato (Müller, 1776) indicate on conservative instars development among family Chydoridae (Crustacea, Cladocera, Anomopoda)},
author = {Marcin E. Uhlik},
doi = {10.1080/24750263.2024.2393834},
issn = {2475-0263},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-09-09},
urldate = {2024-07-02},
journal = {The European Zoological Journal},
volume = {91},
number = {2},
pages = {1035--1051},
publisher = {Informa UK Limited},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Agiadi, Konstantina; Hohmann, Niklas; Gliozzi, Elsa; Thivaiou, Danae; Bosellini, Francesca R.; Taviani, Marco; Bianucci, Giovanni; Collareta, Alberto; Londeix, Laurent; Faranda, Costanza; Bulian, Francesca; Koskeridou, Efterpi; Lozar, Francesca; Mancini, Alan Maria; Dominici, Stefano; Moissette, Pierre; Campos, Ildefonso Bajo; Borghi, Enrico; Iliopoulos, George; Antonarakou, Assimina; Kontakiotis, George; Besiou, Evangelia; Zarkogiannis, Stergios D.; Harzhauser, Mathias; Sierro, Francisco Javier; Coll, Marta; Vasiliev, Iuliana; Camerlenghi, Angelo; García-Castellanos, Daniel
The marine biodiversity impact of the Late Miocene Mediterranean salinity crisis Journal Article
In: Science, vol. 385, no. 6712, pp. 986–991, 2024.
@article{Agiadi2024,
title = {The marine biodiversity impact of the Late Miocene Mediterranean salinity crisis},
author = {Konstantina Agiadi and Niklas Hohmann and Elsa Gliozzi and Danae Thivaiou and Francesca R. Bosellini and Marco Taviani and Giovanni Bianucci and Alberto Collareta and Laurent Londeix and Costanza Faranda and Francesca Bulian and Efterpi Koskeridou and Francesca Lozar and Alan Maria Mancini and Stefano Dominici and Pierre Moissette and Ildefonso Bajo Campos and Enrico Borghi and George Iliopoulos and Assimina Antonarakou and George Kontakiotis and Evangelia Besiou and Stergios D. Zarkogiannis and Mathias Harzhauser and Francisco Javier Sierro and Marta Coll and Iuliana Vasiliev and Angelo Camerlenghi and Daniel García-Castellanos},
doi = {10.1126/science.adp3703},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-08-29},
urldate = {2024-08-29},
journal = {Science},
volume = {385},
number = {6712},
pages = {986--991},
publisher = {American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)},
abstract = {<jats:p>Massive salt accumulations, or salt giants, have formed in highly restricted marine basins throughout geological history, but their impact on biodiversity has been only patchily studied. The salt giant in the Mediterranean Sea formed as a result of the restriction of its gateway to the Atlantic during the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) 5.97 to 5.33 million years ago. Here, we quantify the biodiversity changes associated with the MSC based on a compilation of the Mediterranean fossil record. We conclude that 86 endemic species of the 2006 pre-MSC marine species survived the crisis, and that the present eastward-decreasing richness gradient in the Mediterranean was established after the MSC.</jats:p>},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
<jats:p>Massive salt accumulations, or salt giants, have formed in highly restricted marine basins throughout geological history, but their impact on biodiversity has been only patchily studied. The salt giant in the Mediterranean Sea formed as a result of the restriction of its gateway to the Atlantic during the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) 5.97 to 5.33 million years ago. Here, we quantify the biodiversity changes associated with the MSC based on a compilation of the Mediterranean fossil record. We conclude that 86 endemic species of the 2006 pre-MSC marine species survived the crisis, and that the present eastward-decreasing richness gradient in the Mediterranean was established after the MSC.</jats:p>
Tsuboi, Masahito; Sztepanacz, Jacqueline; Lisle, Stephen De; Voje, Kjetil L; Grabowski, Mark; Hopkins, Melanie J; Porto, Arthur; Balk, Meghan; Pontarp, Mikael; Rossoni, Daniela; Hildesheim, Laura S; Horta-Lacueva, Quentin J-B; Hohmann, Niklas; Holstad, Agnes; Lürig, Moritz; Milocco, Lisandro; Nilén, Sofie; Passarotto, Arianna; Svensson, Erik I; Villegas, Cristina; Winslott, Erica; Liow, Lee Hsiang; Hunt, Gene; Love, Alan C; Houle, David
The Paradox of Predictability Provides a Bridge Between Micro- and Macroevolution Journal Article
In: Journal of Evolutionary Biology, pp. voae103, 2024, ISSN: 1420-9101.
@article{Tsuboi2024,
title = {The Paradox of Predictability Provides a Bridge Between Micro- and Macroevolution},
author = {Masahito Tsuboi and Jacqueline Sztepanacz and Stephen De Lisle and Kjetil L Voje and Mark Grabowski and Melanie J Hopkins and Arthur Porto and Meghan Balk and Mikael Pontarp and Daniela Rossoni and Laura S Hildesheim and Quentin J-B Horta-Lacueva and Niklas Hohmann and Agnes Holstad and Moritz Lürig and Lisandro Milocco and Sofie Nilén and Arianna Passarotto and Erik I Svensson and Cristina Villegas and Erica Winslott and Lee Hsiang Liow and Gene Hunt and Alan C Love and David Houle},
doi = {10.1093/jeb/voae103},
issn = {1420-9101},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-08-29},
urldate = {2024-08-29},
journal = {Journal of Evolutionary Biology},
pages = {voae103},
publisher = {Oxford University Press (OUP)},
abstract = {<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title>
<jats:p>The relationship between the evolutionary dynamics observed in contemporary populations (microevolution) and evolution on timescales of millions of years (macroevolution) has been a topic of considerable debate. Historically, this debate centers on inconsistencies between microevolutionary processes and macroevolutionary patterns. Here, we characterize a striking exception: emerging evidence indicates that standing variation in contemporary populations and macroevolutionary rates of phenotypic divergence are often positively correlated. This apparent consistency between micro- and macroevolution is paradoxical because it contradicts our previous understanding of phenotypic evolution and is so far unexplained. Here, we explore the prospects for bridging evolutionary timescales through an examination of this “paradox of predictability.” We begin by explaining why the divergence-variance correlation is a paradox, followed by data analysis to show that the correlation is a general phenomenon across a broad range of temporal scales, from a few generations to tens of millions of years. Then we review complementary approaches from quantitative-genetics, comparative morphology, evo-devo, and paleontology to argue that they can help to address the paradox from the shared vantage point of recent work on evolvability. In conclusion, we recommend a methodological orientation that combines different kinds of short-term and long-term data using multiple analytical frameworks in an interdisciplinary research program. Such a program will increase our general understanding about how evolution works within and across timescales.</jats:p>},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title>
<jats:p>The relationship between the evolutionary dynamics observed in contemporary populations (microevolution) and evolution on timescales of millions of years (macroevolution) has been a topic of considerable debate. Historically, this debate centers on inconsistencies between microevolutionary processes and macroevolutionary patterns. Here, we characterize a striking exception: emerging evidence indicates that standing variation in contemporary populations and macroevolutionary rates of phenotypic divergence are often positively correlated. This apparent consistency between micro- and macroevolution is paradoxical because it contradicts our previous understanding of phenotypic evolution and is so far unexplained. Here, we explore the prospects for bridging evolutionary timescales through an examination of this “paradox of predictability.” We begin by explaining why the divergence-variance correlation is a paradox, followed by data analysis to show that the correlation is a general phenomenon across a broad range of temporal scales, from a few generations to tens of millions of years. Then we review complementary approaches from quantitative-genetics, comparative morphology, evo-devo, and paleontology to argue that they can help to address the paradox from the shared vantage point of recent work on evolvability. In conclusion, we recommend a methodological orientation that combines different kinds of short-term and long-term data using multiple analytical frameworks in an interdisciplinary research program. Such a program will increase our general understanding about how evolution works within and across timescales.</jats:p>
<jats:p>The relationship between the evolutionary dynamics observed in contemporary populations (microevolution) and evolution on timescales of millions of years (macroevolution) has been a topic of considerable debate. Historically, this debate centers on inconsistencies between microevolutionary processes and macroevolutionary patterns. Here, we characterize a striking exception: emerging evidence indicates that standing variation in contemporary populations and macroevolutionary rates of phenotypic divergence are often positively correlated. This apparent consistency between micro- and macroevolution is paradoxical because it contradicts our previous understanding of phenotypic evolution and is so far unexplained. Here, we explore the prospects for bridging evolutionary timescales through an examination of this “paradox of predictability.” We begin by explaining why the divergence-variance correlation is a paradox, followed by data analysis to show that the correlation is a general phenomenon across a broad range of temporal scales, from a few generations to tens of millions of years. Then we review complementary approaches from quantitative-genetics, comparative morphology, evo-devo, and paleontology to argue that they can help to address the paradox from the shared vantage point of recent work on evolvability. In conclusion, we recommend a methodological orientation that combines different kinds of short-term and long-term data using multiple analytical frameworks in an interdisciplinary research program. Such a program will increase our general understanding about how evolution works within and across timescales.</jats:p>
Hohmann, Niklas; Koelewijn, Joël R.; Burgess, Peter; Jarochowska, Emilia
Identification of the mode of evolution in incomplete carbonate successions Journal Article
In: BMC Ecology and Evolution, vol. 24, no. 113, 2024, ISSN: 2730-7182.
@article{Hohmann2024,
title = {Identification of the mode of evolution in incomplete carbonate successions},
author = {Niklas Hohmann and Joël R. Koelewijn and Peter Burgess and Emilia Jarochowska},
doi = {10.1186/s12862-024-02287-2},
issn = {2730-7182},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-08-23},
urldate = {2024-08-23},
journal = {BMC Ecology and Evolution},
volume = {24},
number = {113},
publisher = {Springer Science and Business Media LLC},
abstract = {<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Background</jats:title>
<jats:p>The fossil record provides the unique opportunity to observe evolution over millions of years, but is known to be incomplete. While incompleteness varies spatially and is hard to estimate for empirical sections, computer simulations of geological processes can be used to examine the effects of the incompleteness <jats:italic>in silico</jats:italic>.</jats:p>
<jats:p>We combine simulations of different modes of evolution (stasis, (un)biased random walks) with deposition of carbonate platforms strata to examine how well the mode of evolution can be recovered from fossil time series, and how test results vary between different positions in the carbonate platform and multiple stratigraphic architectures generated by different sea level curves.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Results</jats:title>
<jats:p>Stratigraphic architecture and position along an onshore-offshore gradient has only a small influence on the mode of evolution recovered by statistical tests. For simulations of random walks, support for the correct mode decreases with time series length.</jats:p>
<jats:p>Visual examination of trait evolution in lineages shows that rather than stratigraphic incompleteness, maximum hiatus duration determines how much fossil time series differ from the original evolutionary process. Gradual directional evolution is more susceptible to stratigraphic effects, turning it into punctuated evolution. In contrast, stasis remains unaffected.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title>
<jats:p>• Fossil time series favor the recognition of both stasis and complex, punctuated modes of evolution.</jats:p>
<jats:p>• Not stratigraphic incompleteness, but the presence of rare, prolonged gaps has the largest effect on trait evolution. This suggests that incomplete sections with regular hiatus frequency and durations can potentially preserve evolutionary history without major biases. Understanding external controls on stratigraphic architectures such as sea level fluctuations is crucial for distinguishing between stratigraphic effects and genuine evolutionary process.</jats:p>
</jats:sec>},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Background</jats:title>
<jats:p>The fossil record provides the unique opportunity to observe evolution over millions of years, but is known to be incomplete. While incompleteness varies spatially and is hard to estimate for empirical sections, computer simulations of geological processes can be used to examine the effects of the incompleteness <jats:italic>in silico</jats:italic>.</jats:p>
<jats:p>We combine simulations of different modes of evolution (stasis, (un)biased random walks) with deposition of carbonate platforms strata to examine how well the mode of evolution can be recovered from fossil time series, and how test results vary between different positions in the carbonate platform and multiple stratigraphic architectures generated by different sea level curves.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Results</jats:title>
<jats:p>Stratigraphic architecture and position along an onshore-offshore gradient has only a small influence on the mode of evolution recovered by statistical tests. For simulations of random walks, support for the correct mode decreases with time series length.</jats:p>
<jats:p>Visual examination of trait evolution in lineages shows that rather than stratigraphic incompleteness, maximum hiatus duration determines how much fossil time series differ from the original evolutionary process. Gradual directional evolution is more susceptible to stratigraphic effects, turning it into punctuated evolution. In contrast, stasis remains unaffected.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title>
<jats:p>• Fossil time series favor the recognition of both stasis and complex, punctuated modes of evolution.</jats:p>
<jats:p>• Not stratigraphic incompleteness, but the presence of rare, prolonged gaps has the largest effect on trait evolution. This suggests that incomplete sections with regular hiatus frequency and durations can potentially preserve evolutionary history without major biases. Understanding external controls on stratigraphic architectures such as sea level fluctuations is crucial for distinguishing between stratigraphic effects and genuine evolutionary process.</jats:p>
</jats:sec>
<jats:title>Background</jats:title>
<jats:p>The fossil record provides the unique opportunity to observe evolution over millions of years, but is known to be incomplete. While incompleteness varies spatially and is hard to estimate for empirical sections, computer simulations of geological processes can be used to examine the effects of the incompleteness <jats:italic>in silico</jats:italic>.</jats:p>
<jats:p>We combine simulations of different modes of evolution (stasis, (un)biased random walks) with deposition of carbonate platforms strata to examine how well the mode of evolution can be recovered from fossil time series, and how test results vary between different positions in the carbonate platform and multiple stratigraphic architectures generated by different sea level curves.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Results</jats:title>
<jats:p>Stratigraphic architecture and position along an onshore-offshore gradient has only a small influence on the mode of evolution recovered by statistical tests. For simulations of random walks, support for the correct mode decreases with time series length.</jats:p>
<jats:p>Visual examination of trait evolution in lineages shows that rather than stratigraphic incompleteness, maximum hiatus duration determines how much fossil time series differ from the original evolutionary process. Gradual directional evolution is more susceptible to stratigraphic effects, turning it into punctuated evolution. In contrast, stasis remains unaffected.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title>
<jats:p>• Fossil time series favor the recognition of both stasis and complex, punctuated modes of evolution.</jats:p>
<jats:p>• Not stratigraphic incompleteness, but the presence of rare, prolonged gaps has the largest effect on trait evolution. This suggests that incomplete sections with regular hiatus frequency and durations can potentially preserve evolutionary history without major biases. Understanding external controls on stratigraphic architectures such as sea level fluctuations is crucial for distinguishing between stratigraphic effects and genuine evolutionary process.</jats:p>
</jats:sec>
Dzik, Jerzy
A variety of meroms and affinity of receptaculitids Journal Article
In: Lethaia, vol. 57, no. 2, pp. 1-8, 2024, ISSN: 1502-3931.
@article{DZIK2024,
title = {A variety of meroms and affinity of receptaculitids},
author = {Jerzy Dzik},
doi = {10.18261/let.57.2.7},
issn = {1502-3931},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-08-21},
urldate = {2024-06-20},
journal = {Lethaia},
volume = {57},
number = {2},
pages = {1-8},
publisher = {Scandinavian University Press / Universitetsforlaget AS},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
López-Torres, Sergi; Bertrand, Ornella C; Fostowicz-Frelik, Łucja; Lang, Madlen M; Law, Chris J; San Martin-Flores, Gabriela; Schillaci, Michael A; Silcox, Mary T
The allometry of brain size in Euarchontoglires: clade-specific patterns and their impact on encephalization quotients Journal Article
In: Journal of Mammalogy, vol. 105, iss. 6, pp. 1430-1445, 2024, ISSN: 1545-1542.
@article{López-Torres2024,
title = {The allometry of brain size in Euarchontoglires: clade-specific patterns and their impact on encephalization quotients},
author = {Sergi López-Torres and Ornella C Bertrand and Łucja Fostowicz-Frelik and Madlen M Lang and Chris J Law and San Martin-Flores, Gabriela and Michael A Schillaci and Mary T Silcox},
editor = {Deyan Ge},
doi = {10.1093/jmammal/gyae084},
issn = {1545-1542},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-08-16},
urldate = {2024-08-16},
journal = {Journal of Mammalogy},
volume = {105},
issue = {6},
pages = {1430-1445},
publisher = {Oxford University Press (OUP)},
abstract = {The timing and nature of evolutionary shifts in the relative brain size of Primates have been extensively studied. Less is known, however, about the scaling of the brain-to-body size in their closest living relatives, i.e., among other members of Euarchontoglires (Dermoptera, Scandentia, Lagomorpha, Rodentia). Ordinary least squares (OLS), reduced major axis (RMA), and phylogenetic generalized least squares (PGLS) regressions were fitted to the largest euarchontogliran data set of brain and body mass, comprising 715 species. Contrary to previous inferences, lagomorph brain sizes (PGLS slope = 0.465; OLS slope = 0.593) scale relative to body mass similarly to rodents (PGLS = 0.526; OLS = 0.638), and differently than primates (PGLS = 0.607; OLS = 0.794). There is a shift in the pattern of the scaling of the brain in Primates, with Strepsirrhini occupying an intermediate stage similar to Scandentia but different from Rodentia and Lagomorpha, while Haplorhini differ from all other groups in the OLS and RMA analyses. The unique brain–body scaling relationship of Primates among Euarchontoglires illustrates the need for clade-specific metrics for relative brain size (i.e., encephalization quotients; EQs) for more restricted taxonomic entities than Mammalia. We created clade-specific regular and phylogenetically adjusted EQ equations at superordinal, ordinal, and subordinal levels. When using fossils as test cases, our results show that generalized mammalian equations underestimate the encephalization of the stem lagomorph Megalagus turgidus in the context of lagomorphs, overestimate the encephalization of the stem primate Microsyops annectens and the early euprimate Necrolemur antiquus, but provide similar EQ values as our new strepsirrhine-specific EQ when applied to the early euprimate Adapis parisiensis.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The timing and nature of evolutionary shifts in the relative brain size of Primates have been extensively studied. Less is known, however, about the scaling of the brain-to-body size in their closest living relatives, i.e., among other members of Euarchontoglires (Dermoptera, Scandentia, Lagomorpha, Rodentia). Ordinary least squares (OLS), reduced major axis (RMA), and phylogenetic generalized least squares (PGLS) regressions were fitted to the largest euarchontogliran data set of brain and body mass, comprising 715 species. Contrary to previous inferences, lagomorph brain sizes (PGLS slope = 0.465; OLS slope = 0.593) scale relative to body mass similarly to rodents (PGLS = 0.526; OLS = 0.638), and differently than primates (PGLS = 0.607; OLS = 0.794). There is a shift in the pattern of the scaling of the brain in Primates, with Strepsirrhini occupying an intermediate stage similar to Scandentia but different from Rodentia and Lagomorpha, while Haplorhini differ from all other groups in the OLS and RMA analyses. The unique brain–body scaling relationship of Primates among Euarchontoglires illustrates the need for clade-specific metrics for relative brain size (i.e., encephalization quotients; EQs) for more restricted taxonomic entities than Mammalia. We created clade-specific regular and phylogenetically adjusted EQ equations at superordinal, ordinal, and subordinal levels. When using fossils as test cases, our results show that generalized mammalian equations underestimate the encephalization of the stem lagomorph Megalagus turgidus in the context of lagomorphs, overestimate the encephalization of the stem primate Microsyops annectens and the early euprimate Necrolemur antiquus, but provide similar EQ values as our new strepsirrhine-specific EQ when applied to the early euprimate Adapis parisiensis.
Brady, Peggy L.; Castellon Arteaga, Alejandro; López-Torres, Sergi; Springer, Mark S.
The effects of ordered multistate morphological characters on phylogenetic analyses of eutherian mammals Journal Article
In: Journal of Mammalian Evolution, vol. 31, pp. 28, 2024.
@article{Brady2024,
title = {The effects of ordered multistate morphological characters on phylogenetic analyses of eutherian mammals},
author = {Peggy L. Brady and Castellon Arteaga, Alejandro and Sergi López-Torres and Mark S. Springer},
url = {https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10914-024-09727-2},
doi = {10.1007/s10914-024-09727-2},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-07-18},
urldate = {2024-07-18},
journal = {Journal of Mammalian Evolution},
volume = {31},
pages = {28},
publisher = {Springer Link},
abstract = {Multistate morphological characters are routinely used in phylogenetic analyses. Individual multistate characters may be treated as linearly ordered, partially ordered, or unordered. Each option implies a hypothesis of character evolution, and significant debate surrounds the appropriateness of ordering multistate characters. Several previous analyses support ordering multistate morphological characters when the character states form a morphocline. Here, we explore the effects of ordering a subset of characters in the largest morphological character matrix that is available for placental mammals. All multistate characters were assessed and were ordered only if the character states were meristic or hypothesized to form a morphocline. We then performed parsimony analyses, with and without molecular scaffolds, to examine the effects of ordering on placental mammal phylogeny. We also performed pseudoextinction analyses, which treated designated extant taxa as extinct by eliminating them from the molecular scaffold and scoring soft-tissue characters as missing, to determine if ordered or unordered characters would more accurately reconstruct the relationships of pseudoextinct placental orders. Character ordering affected the placement of a variety of taxa in non-scaffolded analyses, but the effects were less evident in scaffolded analyses. Nevertheless, one of the islands of most parsimonious trees with the ordered data set and a scaffold for extant taxa supported the inclusion of Leptictida, including the Late Cretaceous Gypsonictops, inside of crown Placentalia. Our analyses rarely supported the monophyly of Tamirtheria, the Late Cretaceous-Paleogene stem-based clade that is hypothesized to be the sister to Placentalia. Pseudoextinction analyses using ordered and unordered characters both reconstructed 12 of 19 pseudoextinct orders in positions that are incongruent with a well-supported molecular scaffold. These results suggest that the use of ordered multistate characters does not increase the proportion of well-supported molecular clades that are reconstructed with the largest available phenomic data set for placental mammals.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Multistate morphological characters are routinely used in phylogenetic analyses. Individual multistate characters may be treated as linearly ordered, partially ordered, or unordered. Each option implies a hypothesis of character evolution, and significant debate surrounds the appropriateness of ordering multistate characters. Several previous analyses support ordering multistate morphological characters when the character states form a morphocline. Here, we explore the effects of ordering a subset of characters in the largest morphological character matrix that is available for placental mammals. All multistate characters were assessed and were ordered only if the character states were meristic or hypothesized to form a morphocline. We then performed parsimony analyses, with and without molecular scaffolds, to examine the effects of ordering on placental mammal phylogeny. We also performed pseudoextinction analyses, which treated designated extant taxa as extinct by eliminating them from the molecular scaffold and scoring soft-tissue characters as missing, to determine if ordered or unordered characters would more accurately reconstruct the relationships of pseudoextinct placental orders. Character ordering affected the placement of a variety of taxa in non-scaffolded analyses, but the effects were less evident in scaffolded analyses. Nevertheless, one of the islands of most parsimonious trees with the ordered data set and a scaffold for extant taxa supported the inclusion of Leptictida, including the Late Cretaceous Gypsonictops, inside of crown Placentalia. Our analyses rarely supported the monophyly of Tamirtheria, the Late Cretaceous-Paleogene stem-based clade that is hypothesized to be the sister to Placentalia. Pseudoextinction analyses using ordered and unordered characters both reconstructed 12 of 19 pseudoextinct orders in positions that are incongruent with a well-supported molecular scaffold. These results suggest that the use of ordered multistate characters does not increase the proportion of well-supported molecular clades that are reconstructed with the largest available phenomic data set for placental mammals.
Pawlak, Wojciech; Ploch, Izabela; Štamberg, Stanislav; Raczyński, Paweł; Kiersnowski, Hubert
A new early Permian actinopterygian assemblage shows environmental controls on the distribution of Paramblypterus (Intra-Sudetic Basin, Poland) Journal Article
In: Geological Quarterly, vol. 68, no. 2, pp. 1-14, 2024, ISSN: 1641-7291.
@article{PAWLAK2024,
title = {A new early Permian actinopterygian assemblage shows environmental controls on the distribution of Paramblypterus (Intra-Sudetic Basin, Poland)},
author = {Wojciech Pawlak and Izabela Ploch and Stanislav Štamberg and Paweł Raczyński and Hubert Kiersnowski},
doi = {10.7306/gq.1741},
issn = {1641-7291},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-07-04},
urldate = {2024-07-04},
journal = {Geological Quarterly},
volume = {68},
number = {2},
pages = {1-14},
publisher = {Polish Geological Institute - National Research Institute (PGI-NRI)},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Anderson, Karyn A.; Teichroeb, Julie A.; Ramsay, Malcolm S.; Bădescu, Iulia; López-Torres, Sergi; Gibb, James K.
Same-sex sexual behaviour among mammals is widely observed, yet seldomly reported: Evidence from an online expert survey Journal Article
In: PLoS ONE, vol. 19, iss. 6, pp. e0304885, 2024.
@article{nokey,
title = {Same-sex sexual behaviour among mammals is widely observed, yet seldomly reported: Evidence from an online expert survey},
author = {Karyn A. Anderson and Julie A. Teichroeb and Malcolm S. Ramsay and Iulia Bădescu and Sergi López-Torres and James K. Gibb},
url = {https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0304885},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0304885},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-06-20},
journal = {PLoS ONE},
volume = {19},
issue = {6},
pages = {e0304885},
abstract = {Same-sex sexual behaviour (SSSB) occurs in most animal clades, but published reports are largely concentrated in a few taxa. Thus, there remains a paucity of published reports for most mammalian species. We conducted a cross-sectional expert survey to better understand the underlying reasons for the lack of publications on this topic. Most respondents researched Primates (83.6%, N = 61), while the rest studied Carnivora (6.9%, N = 5), Rodentia (4.1%, N = 3), Artiodactyla (2.7%, N = 2), and Proboscidea (2.7%, N = 2). Most respondents (76.7%, N = 56) had observed SSSB in their study species, but only 48.2% (N = 27) collected data on SSSB, and few (18.5%, N = 5) had published papers on SSSB. Of the unique species identified as engaging in SSSB in the survey, 38.6% (N = 17) have no existing reports of SSSB to the knowledge of the authors. In both the survey questions and freeform responses, most respondents indicated that their lack of data collection or publication on SSSB was because the behaviours were rare, or because it was not a research priority of their lab. No respondents reported discomfort or sociopolitical concerns at their university or field site as a reason for why they did not collect data or publish on SSSB. Multiple logistic regressions were performed to assess whether taxa studied, education level, or identification within the LGBTQ+ community predicted observing, collecting data on, or publishing on SSSB, but none of these variables were significant predictors. These results provide preliminary evidence that SSSB occurs more frequently than what is available in the published record and suggest that this may be due to a publishing bias against anecdotal evidence.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Same-sex sexual behaviour (SSSB) occurs in most animal clades, but published reports are largely concentrated in a few taxa. Thus, there remains a paucity of published reports for most mammalian species. We conducted a cross-sectional expert survey to better understand the underlying reasons for the lack of publications on this topic. Most respondents researched Primates (83.6%, N = 61), while the rest studied Carnivora (6.9%, N = 5), Rodentia (4.1%, N = 3), Artiodactyla (2.7%, N = 2), and Proboscidea (2.7%, N = 2). Most respondents (76.7%, N = 56) had observed SSSB in their study species, but only 48.2% (N = 27) collected data on SSSB, and few (18.5%, N = 5) had published papers on SSSB. Of the unique species identified as engaging in SSSB in the survey, 38.6% (N = 17) have no existing reports of SSSB to the knowledge of the authors. In both the survey questions and freeform responses, most respondents indicated that their lack of data collection or publication on SSSB was because the behaviours were rare, or because it was not a research priority of their lab. No respondents reported discomfort or sociopolitical concerns at their university or field site as a reason for why they did not collect data or publish on SSSB. Multiple logistic regressions were performed to assess whether taxa studied, education level, or identification within the LGBTQ+ community predicted observing, collecting data on, or publishing on SSSB, but none of these variables were significant predictors. These results provide preliminary evidence that SSSB occurs more frequently than what is available in the published record and suggest that this may be due to a publishing bias against anecdotal evidence.
Shirley, Bryan; Leonhard, Isabella; Murdock, Duncan J. E.; Repetski, John; Świś, Przemysław; Bestmann, Michel; Trimby, Pat; Ohl, Markus; Plümper, Oliver; King, Helen E.; Jarochowska, Emilia
Increasing control over biomineralization in conodont evolution Journal Article
In: Nature Communications, vol. 15, iss. 1, pp. 1-13, 2024, ISSN: 2041-1723.
@article{Shirley2024,
title = {Increasing control over biomineralization in conodont evolution},
author = {Bryan Shirley and Isabella Leonhard and Duncan J. E. Murdock and John Repetski and Przemysław Świś and Michel Bestmann and Pat Trimby and Markus Ohl and Oliver Plümper and Helen E. King and Emilia Jarochowska},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-49526-0},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-024-49526-0},
issn = {2041-1723},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-06-20},
urldate = {2024-06-20},
journal = {Nature Communications},
volume = {15},
issue = {1},
pages = {1-13},
publisher = {Nature Publishing Group},
abstract = {Vertebrates use the phosphate mineral apatite in their skeletons, which allowed them to develop tissues such as enamel, characterized by an outstanding combination of hardness and elasticity. It has been hypothesized that the evolution of the earliest vertebrate skeletal tissues, found in the teeth of the extinct group of conodonts, was driven by adaptation to dental function. We test this hypothesis quantitatively and demonstrate that the crystallographic order increased throughout the early evolution of conodont teeth in parallel with morphological adaptation to food processing. With the c-axes of apatite crystals oriented perpendicular to the functional feeding surfaces, the strongest resistance to uniaxial compressional stress is conferred along the long axes of denticles. Our results support increasing control over biomineralization in the first skeletonized vertebrates and allow us to test models of functional morphology and material properties across conodont dental diversity. Conodonts, early vertebrates, are thought to have evolved complex tooth tissue as an adaptation for feeding. Here, the authors use Electron Backscatter Diffraction to show increasing dental crystallographic order through conodont evolution, in parallel with dietary adaptations.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Vertebrates use the phosphate mineral apatite in their skeletons, which allowed them to develop tissues such as enamel, characterized by an outstanding combination of hardness and elasticity. It has been hypothesized that the evolution of the earliest vertebrate skeletal tissues, found in the teeth of the extinct group of conodonts, was driven by adaptation to dental function. We test this hypothesis quantitatively and demonstrate that the crystallographic order increased throughout the early evolution of conodont teeth in parallel with morphological adaptation to food processing. With the c-axes of apatite crystals oriented perpendicular to the functional feeding surfaces, the strongest resistance to uniaxial compressional stress is conferred along the long axes of denticles. Our results support increasing control over biomineralization in the first skeletonized vertebrates and allow us to test models of functional morphology and material properties across conodont dental diversity. Conodonts, early vertebrates, are thought to have evolved complex tooth tissue as an adaptation for feeding. Here, the authors use Electron Backscatter Diffraction to show increasing dental crystallographic order through conodont evolution, in parallel with dietary adaptations.
Jiménez-Mejías, Pedro; Manzano, Saúl; Gowda, Vinita; Krell, Frank-Thorsten; Lin, Mei-Ying; Martín-Bravo, Santiago; Martín-Torrijos, Laura; Nieto Feliner, Gonzalo; Mosyakin, Sergei L; Naczi, Robert F C; Acedo, Carmen; Álvarez, Inés; Crisci, Jorge V; Luceño Garcés, Modesto; Manning, John; Moreno Saiz, Juan Carlos; Muasya, A Muthama; Riina, Ricarda; Sánchez Meseguer, Andrea; Sánchez-Mata, Daniel; additional 1543 coauthors,
Protecting stable biological nomenclatural systems enables universal communication: A collective international appeal Journal Article
In: BioScience, pp. biae043, 2024.
@article{nokey,
title = {Protecting stable biological nomenclatural systems enables universal communication: A collective international appeal},
author = {Pedro Jiménez-Mejías and Saúl Manzano and Vinita Gowda and Frank-Thorsten Krell and Mei-Ying Lin and Santiago Martín-Bravo and Laura Martín-Torrijos and Nieto Feliner, Gonzalo and Sergei L Mosyakin and Robert F C Naczi and Carmen Acedo and Inés Álvarez and Jorge V Crisci and Luceño Garcés, Modesto and John Manning and Moreno Saiz, Juan Carlos and A Muthama Muasya and Ricarda Riina and Sánchez Meseguer, Andrea and Daniel Sánchez-Mata and additional 1543 coauthors},
url = {https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/advance-article/doi/10.1093/biosci/biae043/7696204},
doi = {10.1093/biosci/biae043},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-06-19},
urldate = {2024-06-19},
journal = {BioScience},
pages = {biae043},
abstract = {The fundamental value of universal nomenclatural systems in biology is that they enable unambiguous scientific communication. However, the stability of these systems is threatened by recent discussions asking for a fairer nomenclature, raising the possibility of bulk revision processes for “inappropriate”names. It is evident that such proposals come from very deep feelings, but we show how they can irreparably damage the foundation of biological communication and, in turn, the sciences that depend on it. There are four essential consequences of objective codes of nomenclature: universality, stability, neutrality, and transculturality. These codes provide fair and impartial guides to the principles governing biological nomenclature and allow unambiguous universal communication in biology. Accordingly, no subjective proposals should be allowed to undermine them.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The fundamental value of universal nomenclatural systems in biology is that they enable unambiguous scientific communication. However, the stability of these systems is threatened by recent discussions asking for a fairer nomenclature, raising the possibility of bulk revision processes for “inappropriate”names. It is evident that such proposals come from very deep feelings, but we show how they can irreparably damage the foundation of biological communication and, in turn, the sciences that depend on it. There are four essential consequences of objective codes of nomenclature: universality, stability, neutrality, and transculturality. These codes provide fair and impartial guides to the principles governing biological nomenclature and allow unambiguous universal communication in biology. Accordingly, no subjective proposals should be allowed to undermine them.
Klug, Christian; Schweigert, Günter; Hoffmann, René; Fuchs, Dirk; Pohle, Alexander; Weis, Robert; De Baets, Kenneth
Anatomy and size of Megateuthis, the largest belemnite Journal Article
In: Swiss Journal of Palaeontology, vol. 143, no. 1, pp. 1-19, 2024, ISSN: 1664-2384.
@article{Klug2024,
title = {Anatomy and size of Megateuthis, the largest belemnite},
author = {Christian Klug and Günter Schweigert and René Hoffmann and Dirk Fuchs and Alexander Pohle and Robert Weis and De Baets, Kenneth},
doi = {10.1186/s13358-024-00320-x},
issn = {1664-2384},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-05-30},
urldate = {2024-05-30},
journal = {Swiss Journal of Palaeontology},
volume = {143},
number = {1},
pages = {1-19},
publisher = {Springer Science and Business Media LLC},
abstract = {<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Belemnite rostra are very abundant in Mesozoic marine deposits in many regions. Despite this abundance, soft-tissue specimens of belemnites informing about anatomy and proportions of these coleoid cephalopods are extremely rare and limited to a few moderately large genera like <jats:italic>Passaloteuthis</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Hibolithes</jats:italic>. For all other genera, we can make inferences on their body proportions and body as well as mantle length by extrapolating from complete material. We collected data of the proportions of the hard parts of some Jurassic belemnites in order to learn about shared characteristics in their gross anatomy. This knowledge is then applied to the Bajocian genus <jats:italic>Megateuthis</jats:italic>, which is the largest known belemnite genus worldwide. Our results provide simple ratios that can be used to estimate belemnite body size, where only the rostrum is known.</jats:p>},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Belemnite rostra are very abundant in Mesozoic marine deposits in many regions. Despite this abundance, soft-tissue specimens of belemnites informing about anatomy and proportions of these coleoid cephalopods are extremely rare and limited to a few moderately large genera like <jats:italic>Passaloteuthis</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Hibolithes</jats:italic>. For all other genera, we can make inferences on their body proportions and body as well as mantle length by extrapolating from complete material. We collected data of the proportions of the hard parts of some Jurassic belemnites in order to learn about shared characteristics in their gross anatomy. This knowledge is then applied to the Bajocian genus <jats:italic>Megateuthis</jats:italic>, which is the largest known belemnite genus worldwide. Our results provide simple ratios that can be used to estimate belemnite body size, where only the rostrum is known.</jats:p>
Voigt, Sebastian; Calábková, Gabriela; Ploch, Izabela; Nosek, Vojtěch; Pawlak, Wojciech; Raczyński, Paweł; Spindler, Frederik; Werneburg, Ralf
A diadectid skin impression and its implications for the evolutionary origin of epidermal scales Journal Article
In: Biology Letters, vol. 20, no. 5, pp. 20240041, 2024.
@article{doi:10.1098/rsbl.2024.0041,
title = {A diadectid skin impression and its implications for the evolutionary origin of epidermal scales},
author = {Sebastian Voigt and Gabriela Calábková and Izabela Ploch and Vojtěch Nosek and Wojciech Pawlak and Paweł Raczyński and Frederik Spindler and Ralf Werneburg},
url = {https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rsbl.2024.0041},
doi = {10.1098/rsbl.2024.0041},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-05-22},
urldate = {2024-01-01},
journal = {Biology Letters},
volume = {20},
number = {5},
pages = {20240041},
abstract = {Corneous skin appendages are not only common and diverse in crown-group amniotes but also present in some modern amphibians. This raises the still unresolved question of whether the ability to form corneous skin appendages is an apomorphy of a common ancestor of amphibians and amniotes or evolved independently in both groups. So far, there is no palaeontological contribution to the issue owing to the lack of keratin soft tissue preservation in Palaeozoic anamniotes. New data are provided by a recently discovered ichnofossil specimen from the early Permian of Poland that shows monospecific tetrapod footprints associated with a partial scaly body impression. The traces can be unambiguously attributed to diadectids and are interpreted as the globally first evidence of horned scales in tetrapods close to the origin of amniotes. Taking hitherto little-noticed scaly skin impressions of lepospondyl stem amniotes from the early Permian of Germany into account, the possibility has to be considered that the evolutionary origin of epidermal scales deeply roots among anamniotes.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Corneous skin appendages are not only common and diverse in crown-group amniotes but also present in some modern amphibians. This raises the still unresolved question of whether the ability to form corneous skin appendages is an apomorphy of a common ancestor of amphibians and amniotes or evolved independently in both groups. So far, there is no palaeontological contribution to the issue owing to the lack of keratin soft tissue preservation in Palaeozoic anamniotes. New data are provided by a recently discovered ichnofossil specimen from the early Permian of Poland that shows monospecific tetrapod footprints associated with a partial scaly body impression. The traces can be unambiguously attributed to diadectids and are interpreted as the globally first evidence of horned scales in tetrapods close to the origin of amniotes. Taking hitherto little-noticed scaly skin impressions of lepospondyl stem amniotes from the early Permian of Germany into account, the possibility has to be considered that the evolutionary origin of epidermal scales deeply roots among anamniotes.
Rytel, Adam; Böhmer, Christine; Spiekman, Stephan N. F.; Tałanda, Mateusz
In: Royal Society Open Science, vol. 11, no. 5, pp. 240233, 2024.
@article{doi:10.1098/rsos.240233,
title = {Extreme neck elongation evolved despite strong developmental constraints in bizarre Triassic reptiles—implications for neck modularity in archosaurs},
author = {Adam Rytel and Christine Böhmer and Stephan N. F. Spiekman and Mateusz Tałanda},
url = {https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rsos.240233},
doi = {10.1098/rsos.240233},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-05-15},
urldate = {2024-01-01},
journal = {Royal Society Open Science},
volume = {11},
number = {5},
pages = {240233},
abstract = {The Triassic radiation of vertebrates saw the emergence of the modern vertebrate groups, as well as numerous extinct animals exhibiting conspicuous, unique anatomical characteristics. Among these, members of Tanystropheidae (Reptilia: Archosauromorpha) displayed cervical vertebral elongation to an extent unparalleled in any other vertebrate. Tanystropheids were exceptionally ecologically diverse and had a wide spatial and temporal distribution. This may have been related to their neck anatomy, yet its evolution and functional properties remain poorly understood. We used geometric morphometrics to capture the intraspecific variation between the vertebrae comprising the cervical column among early archosauromorphs, to trace the evolutionary history of neck elongation in these animals. Our results show that the cervical series of these reptiles can be divided into modules corresponding to those of extant animals. Tanystropheids achieved neck elongation through somite elongation and a shift between cervical and thoracic regions, without presacral vertebrae count increase—contrary to crown archosaurs. This suggests a peculiar developmental constraint that strongly affected the evolution of tanystropheids. The data obtained just at the base of the archosauromorph phylogenetic tree are crucial for further studies on the modularity of vertebral columns of not only Triassic reptile groups but extant and other extinct animals as well.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The Triassic radiation of vertebrates saw the emergence of the modern vertebrate groups, as well as numerous extinct animals exhibiting conspicuous, unique anatomical characteristics. Among these, members of Tanystropheidae (Reptilia: Archosauromorpha) displayed cervical vertebral elongation to an extent unparalleled in any other vertebrate. Tanystropheids were exceptionally ecologically diverse and had a wide spatial and temporal distribution. This may have been related to their neck anatomy, yet its evolution and functional properties remain poorly understood. We used geometric morphometrics to capture the intraspecific variation between the vertebrae comprising the cervical column among early archosauromorphs, to trace the evolutionary history of neck elongation in these animals. Our results show that the cervical series of these reptiles can be divided into modules corresponding to those of extant animals. Tanystropheids achieved neck elongation through somite elongation and a shift between cervical and thoracic regions, without presacral vertebrae count increase—contrary to crown archosaurs. This suggests a peculiar developmental constraint that strongly affected the evolution of tanystropheids. The data obtained just at the base of the archosauromorph phylogenetic tree are crucial for further studies on the modularity of vertebral columns of not only Triassic reptile groups but extant and other extinct animals as well.
Selig, Keegan R.; López-Torres, Sergi; Burrows, Anne M.; Silcox, Mary T.
Dental Topographic Analysis of Living and Fossil Lorisoids: Investigations into Markers of Exudate Feeding in Lorises and Galagos Journal Article
In: International Journal of Primatology, vol. 45, pp. 951-971, 2024.
@article{https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-024-00433-7,
title = {Dental Topographic Analysis of Living and Fossil Lorisoids: Investigations into Markers of Exudate Feeding in Lorises and Galagos},
author = {Keegan R. Selig and Sergi López-Torres and Anne M. Burrows and Mary T. Silcox},
url = {https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10764-024-00433-7},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-024-00433-7},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-05-08},
urldate = {2024-05-08},
journal = {International Journal of Primatology},
volume = {45},
pages = {951-971},
abstract = {Abstract Studies integrating patterns of molar morphology and diet are particularly useful to address questions of evolutionary history and diet in extinct taxa. However, such studies are lacking among lorisoids compared with other primates. Lorisoidea is distinctive when considering diet as some taxa consume large quantities of gums or exudates, whereas others consume none. Although there has been previous study of the relationship between craniodental form and exudate feeding, little is known about how patterns of exudate feeding covary with variation in molar topography. We analyzed a sample (n = 52) of lorisoids representing 17 extant taxa and one extinct taxon (Karanisia clarki). We used dental topographic metrics to quantify functional aspects (i.e., curvature, complexity, and relief) of occlusal morphology. We also used ancestral state reconstruction to estimate topographic parameters for the last common ancestors (LCA) of Lorisoidea, Lorisidae, and Galagidae. As with previous studies, we found that higher topographic values characterize insectivores, whereas frugivores tend to have lower values. We reconstructed the LCA of Lorisoidea, Lorisidae, and Galagidae as insectivorous, with Lorisidae slightly more insectivorous, and potentially more exudativorous than Galagidae. Moreover, we identified a significant interaction between the primary dietary component (i.e., fruit or insects) and the level of exudate feeding in our sample, with exudate-feeding insectivores being associated with lower topographic values than exclusive insectivores. Finally, we reconstruct K. clarki as an insectivore, contrary to previous findings, although whether the animal fed on exudates remains ambiguous. Overall, our results provide a framework for testing ecological hypotheses about lorisoids and may point to a unique pattern of molar topography among exudativores.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Abstract Studies integrating patterns of molar morphology and diet are particularly useful to address questions of evolutionary history and diet in extinct taxa. However, such studies are lacking among lorisoids compared with other primates. Lorisoidea is distinctive when considering diet as some taxa consume large quantities of gums or exudates, whereas others consume none. Although there has been previous study of the relationship between craniodental form and exudate feeding, little is known about how patterns of exudate feeding covary with variation in molar topography. We analyzed a sample (n = 52) of lorisoids representing 17 extant taxa and one extinct taxon (Karanisia clarki). We used dental topographic metrics to quantify functional aspects (i.e., curvature, complexity, and relief) of occlusal morphology. We also used ancestral state reconstruction to estimate topographic parameters for the last common ancestors (LCA) of Lorisoidea, Lorisidae, and Galagidae. As with previous studies, we found that higher topographic values characterize insectivores, whereas frugivores tend to have lower values. We reconstructed the LCA of Lorisoidea, Lorisidae, and Galagidae as insectivorous, with Lorisidae slightly more insectivorous, and potentially more exudativorous than Galagidae. Moreover, we identified a significant interaction between the primary dietary component (i.e., fruit or insects) and the level of exudate feeding in our sample, with exudate-feeding insectivores being associated with lower topographic values than exclusive insectivores. Finally, we reconstruct K. clarki as an insectivore, contrary to previous findings, although whether the animal fed on exudates remains ambiguous. Overall, our results provide a framework for testing ecological hypotheses about lorisoids and may point to a unique pattern of molar topography among exudativores.
Dzik, Jerzy
Aplacophoran traits in the late Ordovician septemchitonid polyplacophorans Journal Article
In: Journal of Morphology, vol. 285, no. 5, pp. e21700, 2024.
@article{https://doi.org/10.1002/jmor.21700,
title = {Aplacophoran traits in the late Ordovician septemchitonid polyplacophorans},
author = {Jerzy Dzik},
url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jmor.21700},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1002/jmor.21700},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-05-08},
urldate = {2024-05-22},
journal = {Journal of Morphology},
volume = {285},
number = {5},
pages = {e21700},
abstract = {Abstract A sample of phosphatized, originally calcareous, mollusk shells from the Katian age uppermost Mójcza Limestone at its type locality yielded a few hundred polyplacophoran plates. The chelodids are very rare among them. Three septemchitonid species dominate. They represent a gradation from underived steep roof-like plates to almost cylindrical ones, leaving only a narrow ventral slit for the foot. Apparently, this represents the first step toward the extremely derived ‘segmented clam’ Bauplan of the Silurian Carnicoleus, with plates completely closed at the venter except for the mouth and anal openings. To enable growth, the plates became thinner and more flexible (or perhaps resorbed) along the dorsum. The tendency toward reduction of the ventral gap of the plates in the early Paleozoic septemchitonid polyplacophorans implies their lack of ability to cling to the substrate with a muscular foot. In compensation, their plates changed toward a more efficient protective function, covering the animal body sides more and more completely. This may explain the origin of the ventral furrow of extant solenogasters hiding the rudimentary foot. An opposite route was chosen by the coeval Acaenoplax lineage, in which the plates did not contact each other, exposing much of the soft body on the dorsum. In both cases the animals appeared to be worm-like, perhaps representing different ways of evolution from the Paleozoic chitons to the extant aplacophorans.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Abstract A sample of phosphatized, originally calcareous, mollusk shells from the Katian age uppermost Mójcza Limestone at its type locality yielded a few hundred polyplacophoran plates. The chelodids are very rare among them. Three septemchitonid species dominate. They represent a gradation from underived steep roof-like plates to almost cylindrical ones, leaving only a narrow ventral slit for the foot. Apparently, this represents the first step toward the extremely derived ‘segmented clam’ Bauplan of the Silurian Carnicoleus, with plates completely closed at the venter except for the mouth and anal openings. To enable growth, the plates became thinner and more flexible (or perhaps resorbed) along the dorsum. The tendency toward reduction of the ventral gap of the plates in the early Paleozoic septemchitonid polyplacophorans implies their lack of ability to cling to the substrate with a muscular foot. In compensation, their plates changed toward a more efficient protective function, covering the animal body sides more and more completely. This may explain the origin of the ventral furrow of extant solenogasters hiding the rudimentary foot. An opposite route was chosen by the coeval Acaenoplax lineage, in which the plates did not contact each other, exposing much of the soft body on the dorsum. In both cases the animals appeared to be worm-like, perhaps representing different ways of evolution from the Paleozoic chitons to the extant aplacophorans.
Czepiński, Łukasz; Madzia, Daniel
In: Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, pp. zlae048, 2024, ISSN: 0024-4082.
@article{10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae048,
title = {Osteology, phylogenetic affinities, and palaeobiogeographic significance of the bizarre ornithischian dinosaur Ajkaceratops kozmai from the Late Cretaceous European archipelago},
author = {Łukasz Czepiński and Daniel Madzia},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae048},
doi = {10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae048},
issn = {0024-4082},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-04-29},
urldate = {2024-01-01},
journal = {Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society},
pages = {zlae048},
abstract = {At the climax of their evolutionary history in the latest Cretaceous, ceratopsian dinosaurs were among the most dominant components of North American and Asian land ecosystems. In other continental landmasses, however, ceratopsians were extraordinarily rare and the affinities of their proposed representatives often turned out to be inconclusive. Arguably the most significant evidence of Ceratopsia from outside North America and Asia is represented by Ajkaceratops kozmai from the Santonian (Upper Cretaceous) of Hungary. We provide a detailed osteological description of Ajkaceratops and highlight its bizarre anatomy. Ajkaceratops has been ‘traditionally’ interpreted to represent a Bagaceratops-like coronosaur, and its occurrence on the European islands was hypothesized to probably result from an early Late Cretaceous dispersal event from Asia. However, while the snout of Ajkaceratops may resemble that of some ceratopsians, closer inspection of the preserved elements indicates that these similarities are largely superficial. While it cannot be ruled out that Ajkaceratops represents a highly peculiar member of the clade, its placement is far from certain. Still, the discovery of Ajkaceratops exemplifies the importance and uniqueness of European dinosaur faunas.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
At the climax of their evolutionary history in the latest Cretaceous, ceratopsian dinosaurs were among the most dominant components of North American and Asian land ecosystems. In other continental landmasses, however, ceratopsians were extraordinarily rare and the affinities of their proposed representatives often turned out to be inconclusive. Arguably the most significant evidence of Ceratopsia from outside North America and Asia is represented by Ajkaceratops kozmai from the Santonian (Upper Cretaceous) of Hungary. We provide a detailed osteological description of Ajkaceratops and highlight its bizarre anatomy. Ajkaceratops has been ‘traditionally’ interpreted to represent a Bagaceratops-like coronosaur, and its occurrence on the European islands was hypothesized to probably result from an early Late Cretaceous dispersal event from Asia. However, while the snout of Ajkaceratops may resemble that of some ceratopsians, closer inspection of the preserved elements indicates that these similarities are largely superficial. While it cannot be ruled out that Ajkaceratops represents a highly peculiar member of the clade, its placement is far from certain. Still, the discovery of Ajkaceratops exemplifies the importance and uniqueness of European dinosaur faunas.
Selig, Keegan R.; López-Torres, Sergi; Burrows, Anne M.; Silcox, Mary T.; Meng, Jin
Dental caries in living and extinct strepsirrhines with insights into diet Journal Article
In: The Anatomical Record, vol. 307, iss. 6, pp. 1995-2006, 2024.
@article{https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.25420,
title = {Dental caries in living and extinct strepsirrhines with insights into diet},
author = {Keegan R. Selig and Sergi López-Torres and Anne M. Burrows and Mary T. Silcox and Jin Meng},
url = {https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ar.25420},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.25420},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-03-11},
urldate = {2024-03-11},
journal = {The Anatomical Record},
volume = {307},
issue = {6},
pages = {1995-2006},
abstract = {Abstract Dental caries is one of the most common diseases afflicting modern humans and occurs in both living and extinct non-human primates, as well as other mammalian species. Compared to other primates, less is known about the etiology or frequency of caries among the Strepsirrhini. Given the link between caries and diet, caries frequency may be informative about the dietary ecology of a given animal. Understanding rates of caries in wild populations is also critical to assessing dental health in captive populations. Here, we examine caries frequency in a sample of 36 extant strepsirrhine species (n = 316 individuals) using odontological collections of wild-, non-captive animals housed at the American Museum of Natural History by counting the number of specimens characterized by the disease. Additionally, in the context of studying caries lesions in strepsirrhines, case studies were also conducted to test if similar lesions were found in their fossil relatives. In particular, two fossil strepsirrhine species were analyzed: the earliest Late Eocene Karanisia clarki, and the subfossil lemur Megaladapis madagascariensis. Our results suggest that caries affects 13.92% of the extant individuals we examined. The frugivorous and folivorous taxa were characterized by the highest overall frequency of caries, whereas the insectivores, gummivores, and omnivores had much lower caries frequencies. Our results suggest that caries may be common among wild populations of strepsirrhines, and in fact is more prevalent than in many catarrhines and platyrrhines. These findings have important implications for understanding caries, diet, and health in living and fossil taxa.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Abstract Dental caries is one of the most common diseases afflicting modern humans and occurs in both living and extinct non-human primates, as well as other mammalian species. Compared to other primates, less is known about the etiology or frequency of caries among the Strepsirrhini. Given the link between caries and diet, caries frequency may be informative about the dietary ecology of a given animal. Understanding rates of caries in wild populations is also critical to assessing dental health in captive populations. Here, we examine caries frequency in a sample of 36 extant strepsirrhine species (n = 316 individuals) using odontological collections of wild-, non-captive animals housed at the American Museum of Natural History by counting the number of specimens characterized by the disease. Additionally, in the context of studying caries lesions in strepsirrhines, case studies were also conducted to test if similar lesions were found in their fossil relatives. In particular, two fossil strepsirrhine species were analyzed: the earliest Late Eocene Karanisia clarki, and the subfossil lemur Megaladapis madagascariensis. Our results suggest that caries affects 13.92% of the extant individuals we examined. The frugivorous and folivorous taxa were characterized by the highest overall frequency of caries, whereas the insectivores, gummivores, and omnivores had much lower caries frequencies. Our results suggest that caries may be common among wild populations of strepsirrhines, and in fact is more prevalent than in many catarrhines and platyrrhines. These findings have important implications for understanding caries, diet, and health in living and fossil taxa.
Sulej, Tomasz; Machalski, Marcin; Tałanda, Mateusz
New finds of Olenekian, Early Triassic, trematosaurid amphibians and prolocophonid reptiles from Poland Journal Article
In: Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, vol. 69, no. 1, pp. 49–56, 2024.
@article{sulej2024new,
title = {New finds of Olenekian, Early Triassic, trematosaurid amphibians and prolocophonid reptiles from Poland},
author = {Tomasz Sulej and Marcin Machalski and Mateusz Tałanda},
url = {https://www.app.pan.pl/article/item/app011092023.html},
doi = {10.4202/app.01109.2023},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-03-08},
urldate = {2024-03-08},
journal = {Acta Palaeontologica Polonica},
volume = {69},
number = {1},
pages = {49–56},
abstract = {The continental Lower Triassic (Middle Buntsandstein) siliciclastic deposits exposed along the margins of the Holy Cross Mountains, Poland, yield locally abundant vertebrate footprints and bones. Although the footprints have been described in a number of studies, providing, for example, new insights into the origin of dinosaurs, there are few studies focusing on the bones. Here, we describe new amphibian and reptile material from the Buntsandstein fluvial sandstones of early Olenekian age exposed at Stryczowice on the north-eastern margin of the Holy Cross Mountains. These finds include fragmentary cranial specimens referred to as Trematosauridae gen. et sp. indet. and Procolophonidae gen. et sp. indet. Faunal differences between Stryczowice and the best-known Polish Olenekian vertebrate-bearing site of Czatkowice 1 near Kraków support heterogeneity in the Early Triassic vertebrate distribution across Pangea.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The continental Lower Triassic (Middle Buntsandstein) siliciclastic deposits exposed along the margins of the Holy Cross Mountains, Poland, yield locally abundant vertebrate footprints and bones. Although the footprints have been described in a number of studies, providing, for example, new insights into the origin of dinosaurs, there are few studies focusing on the bones. Here, we describe new amphibian and reptile material from the Buntsandstein fluvial sandstones of early Olenekian age exposed at Stryczowice on the north-eastern margin of the Holy Cross Mountains. These finds include fragmentary cranial specimens referred to as Trematosauridae gen. et sp. indet. and Procolophonidae gen. et sp. indet. Faunal differences between Stryczowice and the best-known Polish Olenekian vertebrate-bearing site of Czatkowice 1 near Kraków support heterogeneity in the Early Triassic vertebrate distribution across Pangea.
Łaska, Weronika; Rodríguez-Tovar, Francisco J; Uchman, Alfred
New insights into endolithic palaeocommunity development in mobile hard substrate using CT imaging of bioeroded clasts from the Pliocene (Almería, SE Spain) Journal Article
In: The Science of Nature, vol. 111, no. 1, pp. 1–25, 2024.
@article{laska2024new,
title = {New insights into endolithic palaeocommunity development in mobile hard substrate using CT imaging of bioeroded clasts from the Pliocene (Almería, SE Spain)},
author = {Weronika Łaska and Francisco J Rodríguez-Tovar and Alfred Uchman},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-02-08},
urldate = {2024-01-01},
journal = {The Science of Nature},
volume = {111},
number = {1},
pages = {1–25},
publisher = {Springer},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Skawina, Aleksandra; Dąbrowska, Agnieszka; Bonk, Agata; Paterczyk, Bohdan; Nowakowska, Julita
Tracking the micro-and nanoplastics in the terrestrial-freshwater food webs. Bivalves as sentinel species Journal Article
In: Science of The Total Environment, vol. 917, pp. 170468, 2024.
@article{skawina2024tracking,
title = {Tracking the micro-and nanoplastics in the terrestrial-freshwater food webs. Bivalves as sentinel species},
author = {Aleksandra Skawina and Agnieszka Dąbrowska and Agata Bonk and Bohdan Paterczyk and Julita Nowakowska},
doi = {10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170468},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-02-05},
urldate = {2024-02-05},
journal = {Science of The Total Environment},
volume = {917},
pages = {170468},
publisher = {Elsevier},
abstract = {Micro- (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) are currently ubiquitous in the ecosystems, and freshwater biota is still insufficiently studied to understand the global fate, transport paths, and consequences of their presence. Thus, in this study, we investigated the role of bivalves and a trophic transfer of MPs and NPs in an experimental food chain. The food chain consisted of terrestrial non-selective detritivore Dendrobaena (Eisenia) sp., freshwater benthic filter feeder Unio tumidus, and freshwater benthic detritivore-collectors Asellus aquaticus or Gammarus sp. Animals were exposed to different fluorescently labeled micro- and nanoplastics (PMMA 20 μm, nanoPS 15–18 nm, and 100 nm, PS 1 μm and 20 μm, PE from cosmetics) as well as to the faeces of animals exposed to plastics to assess their influence on the environmental transportation, availability to biota, and bioaccumulation of supplied particles. Damaged and intact fluorescent particles were observed in the faeces of terrestrial detritivores and in the droppings of aquatic filter feeders, respectively. They were also present in the guts of bivalves and of crustaceans which were fed with bivalve droppings. Bivalves (Unio tumidus, and additionally Unio pictorum, and Sphaerium corneum) produced droppings containing micro- and nanoparticles filtered from suspension and deposited them onto the tank bottom, making them available for broader feeding guilds of animals (e.g. collectors, like crustaceans). Finally, the natural ageing of PS and its morphological changes, leakage of the fluorescent labelling, and agglomeration of particles were demonstrated. That supports our hypothesis of the crucial role of the characterization of physical and chemical materials in adequately understanding the mechanisms of their interaction with biota. Microscopical methods (confocal, fluorescent, scanning electron) and Raman and FT-IR spectroscopy were used to track the particles' passage in a food web and monitor structural changes of the MPs' and NPs' surface.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Micro- (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) are currently ubiquitous in the ecosystems, and freshwater biota is still insufficiently studied to understand the global fate, transport paths, and consequences of their presence. Thus, in this study, we investigated the role of bivalves and a trophic transfer of MPs and NPs in an experimental food chain. The food chain consisted of terrestrial non-selective detritivore Dendrobaena (Eisenia) sp., freshwater benthic filter feeder Unio tumidus, and freshwater benthic detritivore-collectors Asellus aquaticus or Gammarus sp. Animals were exposed to different fluorescently labeled micro- and nanoplastics (PMMA 20 μm, nanoPS 15–18 nm, and 100 nm, PS 1 μm and 20 μm, PE from cosmetics) as well as to the faeces of animals exposed to plastics to assess their influence on the environmental transportation, availability to biota, and bioaccumulation of supplied particles. Damaged and intact fluorescent particles were observed in the faeces of terrestrial detritivores and in the droppings of aquatic filter feeders, respectively. They were also present in the guts of bivalves and of crustaceans which were fed with bivalve droppings. Bivalves (Unio tumidus, and additionally Unio pictorum, and Sphaerium corneum) produced droppings containing micro- and nanoparticles filtered from suspension and deposited them onto the tank bottom, making them available for broader feeding guilds of animals (e.g. collectors, like crustaceans). Finally, the natural ageing of PS and its morphological changes, leakage of the fluorescent labelling, and agglomeration of particles were demonstrated. That supports our hypothesis of the crucial role of the characterization of physical and chemical materials in adequately understanding the mechanisms of their interaction with biota. Microscopical methods (confocal, fluorescent, scanning electron) and Raman and FT-IR spectroscopy were used to track the particles' passage in a food web and monitor structural changes of the MPs' and NPs' surface.
2023
Klug, Christian; Stevens, Kevin; Hoffmann, René; Zatoń, Michał; Clements, Thomas; Košťák, Martin; Weis, Robert; De Baets, Kenneth; Lehmann, Jens; Vinther, Jakob; Fuchs, Dirk
Revisiting the identification of Syllipsimopodi bideni and timing of the decabrachian-octobrachian divergence Journal Article
In: Nature Communications, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 8094, 2023, ISSN: 2041-1723.
@article{klug_revisiting_2023,
title = {Revisiting the identification of Syllipsimopodi bideni and timing of the decabrachian-octobrachian divergence},
author = {Christian Klug and Kevin Stevens and René Hoffmann and Michał Zatoń and Thomas Clements and Martin Košťák and Robert Weis and De Baets, Kenneth and Jens Lehmann and Jakob Vinther and Dirk Fuchs},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-42842-x},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-023-42842-x},
issn = {2041-1723},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-12-07},
urldate = {2023-12-07},
journal = {Nature Communications},
volume = {14},
number = {1},
pages = {8094},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Świś, Przemysław
Anagenetic evolution and peramorphosis of a latest Devonian conodont from Holy Cross Mountain (Poland) Journal Article
In: Journal of Micropalaeontology, vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 193–210, 2023.
@article{jm-42-193-2023,
title = {Anagenetic evolution and peramorphosis of a latest Devonian conodont from Holy Cross Mountain (Poland)},
author = {Przemysław Świś},
url = {https://jm.copernicus.org/articles/42/193/2023/},
doi = {10.5194/jm-42-193-2023},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-11-20},
urldate = {2023-01-01},
journal = {Journal of Micropalaeontology},
volume = {42},
number = {2},
pages = {193–210},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Barido-Sottani, Joëlle; Pohle, Alexander; De Baets, Kenneth; Murdock, Duncan; Warnock, Rachel C. M.
Putting the F into FBD analysis: tree constraints or morphological data? Journal Article
In: Palaeontology, vol. 66, no. 6, pp. e12679, 2023.
@article{https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12679,
title = {Putting the F into FBD analysis: tree constraints or morphological data?},
author = {Joëlle Barido-Sottani and Alexander Pohle and De Baets, Kenneth and Duncan Murdock and Rachel C. M. Warnock},
url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/pala.12679},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12679},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-11-12},
urldate = {2023-11-12},
journal = {Palaeontology},
volume = {66},
number = {6},
pages = {e12679},
abstract = {Abstract The fossilized birth–death (FBD) process provides an ideal model for inferring phylogenies from both extant and fossil taxa. Using this approach, fossils are directly integrated into the tree, leading to a statistically coherent prior on divergence times. Since fossils are typically not associated with molecular sequences, additional information is required to place fossils in the tree. We use simulations to evaluate two different approaches to handling fossil placement in FBD analyses: using topological constraints, where the user specifies monophyletic clades based on established taxonomy, or using total-evidence analyses, which use a morphological data matrix in addition to the molecular alignment. We also explore how rate variation in fossil recovery or diversification rates impacts these approaches. We find that the extant topology is well recovered under all methods of fossil placement. Divergence times are similarly well recovered across all methods, with the exception of constraints which contain errors. We see similar patterns in datasets which include rate variation, however, relative errors in extant divergence times increase when more variation is included in the dataset, for all approaches using topological constraints, and particularly for constraints with errors. Finally, we show that trees recovered under the FBD model are more accurate than those estimated using non-time calibrated inference. Overall, we show that both fossil placement approaches are reliable even when including uncertainty. Our results underscore the importance of core taxonomic research, including morphological data collection and species descriptions, irrespective of the approach to handling phylogenetic uncertainty using the FBD process.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Abstract The fossilized birth–death (FBD) process provides an ideal model for inferring phylogenies from both extant and fossil taxa. Using this approach, fossils are directly integrated into the tree, leading to a statistically coherent prior on divergence times. Since fossils are typically not associated with molecular sequences, additional information is required to place fossils in the tree. We use simulations to evaluate two different approaches to handling fossil placement in FBD analyses: using topological constraints, where the user specifies monophyletic clades based on established taxonomy, or using total-evidence analyses, which use a morphological data matrix in addition to the molecular alignment. We also explore how rate variation in fossil recovery or diversification rates impacts these approaches. We find that the extant topology is well recovered under all methods of fossil placement. Divergence times are similarly well recovered across all methods, with the exception of constraints which contain errors. We see similar patterns in datasets which include rate variation, however, relative errors in extant divergence times increase when more variation is included in the dataset, for all approaches using topological constraints, and particularly for constraints with errors. Finally, we show that trees recovered under the FBD model are more accurate than those estimated using non-time calibrated inference. Overall, we show that both fossil placement approaches are reliable even when including uncertainty. Our results underscore the importance of core taxonomic research, including morphological data collection and species descriptions, irrespective of the approach to handling phylogenetic uncertainty using the FBD process.
Czepiński, Łukasz; Pawlak, Wojciech; Rytel, Adam; Tałanda, Mateusz; Szczygielski, Tomasz; Sulej, Tomasz
A new Middle Triassic vertebrate assemblage from Miedary (southern Poland) Journal Article
In: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, vol. 0, no. 0, pp. e2265445, 2023.
@article{doi:10.1080/02724634.2023.2265445,
title = {A new Middle Triassic vertebrate assemblage from Miedary (southern Poland)},
author = {Łukasz Czepiński and Wojciech Pawlak and Adam Rytel and Mateusz Tałanda and Tomasz Szczygielski and Tomasz Sulej},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2023.2265445},
doi = {10.1080/02724634.2023.2265445},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-10-27},
urldate = {2023-10-27},
journal = {Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology},
volume = {0},
number = {0},
pages = {e2265445},
publisher = {Taylor & Francis},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Skawina, Aleksandra
X-rays and invisible sand: two new methods for designing burrowing behavioral experiments with juvenile unionoids Journal Article
In: Hydrobiologia, 2023.
@article{Skawina_23_hydro,
title = {X-rays and invisible sand: two new methods for designing burrowing behavioral experiments with juvenile unionoids},
author = {Aleksandra Skawina},
doi = {10.1007/s10750-023-05362-9},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-09-20},
urldate = {2023-09-20},
journal = {Hydrobiologia},
abstract = {Unionoids are in global decline, which may be associated with their complex life cycle. Their juveniles are unique because while hidden (burrowed deeply in bottom sediments) they undergo critical anatomical changes (also developing a characteristic juvenile shell sculpture). Currently, the juveniles’ period of life is believed to be both the least known and one of the most vulnerable—thus the possibility of obtaining any biological knowledge is essential for establishing conservation strategies and addressing functional or evolutionary questions. I propose two new methods for visualization of the burrowing behavior of unionoid juveniles within deposits that are cheap and easy: (1) laminated deposits of quartz–aragonite sand for time-stepped X-ray images of bivalve traces, and (2) silica gel serving as 'invisible sand' for direct observations and video recording of behavior within sediments. Both deposits in a pilot study were accepted by the juvenile unionoids—they were stable enough and penetrable, with no observable signs of harmful effects on animals’ behavior during trials. In both, juveniles were clearly visible, settled within the top 1 cm layer of deposits. Both methods are promising tools for future in situ within the deposits research on the biology of this much unexplored and vulnerable unionoids' life stage.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Unionoids are in global decline, which may be associated with their complex life cycle. Their juveniles are unique because while hidden (burrowed deeply in bottom sediments) they undergo critical anatomical changes (also developing a characteristic juvenile shell sculpture). Currently, the juveniles’ period of life is believed to be both the least known and one of the most vulnerable—thus the possibility of obtaining any biological knowledge is essential for establishing conservation strategies and addressing functional or evolutionary questions. I propose two new methods for visualization of the burrowing behavior of unionoid juveniles within deposits that are cheap and easy: (1) laminated deposits of quartz–aragonite sand for time-stepped X-ray images of bivalve traces, and (2) silica gel serving as 'invisible sand' for direct observations and video recording of behavior within sediments. Both deposits in a pilot study were accepted by the juvenile unionoids—they were stable enough and penetrable, with no observable signs of harmful effects on animals’ behavior during trials. In both, juveniles were clearly visible, settled within the top 1 cm layer of deposits. Both methods are promising tools for future in situ within the deposits research on the biology of this much unexplored and vulnerable unionoids' life stage.
Žliobaitė, Indrė; Fortelius, Mikael; Bernor, Raymond L.; Ostende, Lars W. Hoek; Janis, Christine M.; Lintulaakso, Kari; Säilä, Laura K.; Werdelin, Lars; Casanovas-Vilar, Isaac; Croft, Darin A.; Flynn, Lawrence J.; Hopkins, Samantha S. B.; Kaakinen, Anu; Kordos, László; Kostopoulos, Dimitris S.; Pandolfi, Luca; Rowan, John; Tesakov, Alexey; Vislobokova, Innessa; Zhang, Zhaoqun; Aiglstorfer, Manuela; Alba, David M.; Arnal, Michelle; Antoine, Pierre-Olivier; Belmaker, Miriam; Bilgin, Melike; Boisserie, Jean-Renaud; Borths, Matthew R.; Cooke, Siobhán B.; Dam, Jan A.; Delson, Eric; Eronen, Jussi T.; Fox, David; Friscia, Anthony R.; Furió, Marc; Giaourtsakis, Ioannis X.; Holbrook, Luke; Hunter, John; López-Torres, Sergi; Ludtke, Joshua; Minwer-Barakat, Raef; Made, Jan; Mennecart, Bastien; Pushkina, Diana; Rook, Lorenzo; Saarinen, Juha; Samuels, Joshua X.; Sanders, William; Silcox, Mary T.; Vepsäläinen, Jouni
The NOW Database of Fossil Mammals Book Chapter
In: Casanovas-Vilar, Isaac; Ostende, Lars W. Hoek; Janis, Christine M.; Saarinen, Juha (Ed.): Evolution of Cenozoic Land Mammal Faunas and Ecosystems: 25 Years of the NOW Database of Fossil Mammals, pp. 33–42, Springer International Publishing, Cham, 2023, ISBN: 978-3-031-17491-9.
@inbook{Žliobaitė2023,
title = {The NOW Database of Fossil Mammals},
author = {Indrė Žliobaitė and Mikael Fortelius and Raymond L. Bernor and Lars W. Hoek Ostende and Christine M. Janis and Kari Lintulaakso and Laura K. Säilä and Lars Werdelin and Isaac Casanovas-Vilar and Darin A. Croft and Lawrence J. Flynn and Samantha S. B. Hopkins and Anu Kaakinen and László Kordos and Dimitris S. Kostopoulos and Luca Pandolfi and John Rowan and Alexey Tesakov and Innessa Vislobokova and Zhaoqun Zhang and Manuela Aiglstorfer and David M. Alba and Michelle Arnal and Pierre-Olivier Antoine and Miriam Belmaker and Melike Bilgin and Jean-Renaud Boisserie and Matthew R. Borths and Siobhán B. Cooke and Jan A. Dam and Eric Delson and Jussi T. Eronen and David Fox and Anthony R. Friscia and Marc Furió and Ioannis X. Giaourtsakis and Luke Holbrook and John Hunter and Sergi López-Torres and Joshua Ludtke and Raef Minwer-Barakat and Jan Made and Bastien Mennecart and Diana Pushkina and Lorenzo Rook and Juha Saarinen and Joshua X. Samuels and William Sanders and Mary T. Silcox and Jouni Vepsäläinen},
editor = {Isaac Casanovas-Vilar and Lars W. Hoek Ostende and Christine M. Janis and Juha Saarinen},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-17491-9_3},
doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-17491-9_3},
isbn = {978-3-031-17491-9},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-08-09},
urldate = {2023-01-01},
booktitle = {Evolution of Cenozoic Land Mammal Faunas and Ecosystems: 25 Years of the NOW Database of Fossil Mammals},
pages = {33–42},
publisher = {Springer International Publishing},
address = {Cham},
abstract = {NOW (New and Old Worlds) is a global database of fossil mammal occurrences, currently containing around 68,000 locality-species entries. The database spans the last 66 million years, with its primary focus on the last 23 million years. Whereas the database contains recordsNOW Databaserecords from all continents, the main focus and coverage of the database historically has been on Eurasia. The database includes primarily, but not exclusively, terrestrial mammals. It covers a large part of the currently known mammalian fossil record, focusing on classical and actively researched fossil localities. The database is managed in collaboration with an international advisory board of experts. Rather than a static archive, it emphasizes the continuous integration of new knowledge of the communityNOW Databasedatacuration in, data curationDatacuration, and consistencyNOW Databaseconsistency of scientific interpretations. The database records species occurrences at localities worldwide, as well as ecologicalEcological characteristics of fossil species, geological contextsGeologic/geologicalcontext of localities and more. The NOW database is primarily used for two purposes: (1) queries about occurrences of particular taxa, their characteristics and properties of localities in the spirit of an encyclopedia; and (2) large scale research and quantitative analyses of evolutionary processes, patterns, reconstructing past environments, as well as interpreting evolutionary contexts. The data are fully open, no logging in or community membership is necessary for using the data for any purpose.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inbook}
}
NOW (New and Old Worlds) is a global database of fossil mammal occurrences, currently containing around 68,000 locality-species entries. The database spans the last 66 million years, with its primary focus on the last 23 million years. Whereas the database contains recordsNOW Databaserecords from all continents, the main focus and coverage of the database historically has been on Eurasia. The database includes primarily, but not exclusively, terrestrial mammals. It covers a large part of the currently known mammalian fossil record, focusing on classical and actively researched fossil localities. The database is managed in collaboration with an international advisory board of experts. Rather than a static archive, it emphasizes the continuous integration of new knowledge of the communityNOW Databasedatacuration in, data curationDatacuration, and consistencyNOW Databaseconsistency of scientific interpretations. The database records species occurrences at localities worldwide, as well as ecologicalEcological characteristics of fossil species, geological contextsGeologic/geologicalcontext of localities and more. The NOW database is primarily used for two purposes: (1) queries about occurrences of particular taxa, their characteristics and properties of localities in the spirit of an encyclopedia; and (2) large scale research and quantitative analyses of evolutionary processes, patterns, reconstructing past environments, as well as interpreting evolutionary contexts. The data are fully open, no logging in or community membership is necessary for using the data for any purpose.
Szczygielski, Tomasz; Piechowski, Rafał
Limb anatomy of the Triassic turtles: appendicular osteology of Proterochersis (Testudinata, Proterochersidae) Journal Article
In: Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, pp. zlad057, 2023, ISSN: 0024-4082.
@article{10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad057,
title = {Limb anatomy of the Triassic turtles: appendicular osteology of Proterochersis (Testudinata, Proterochersidae)},
author = {Tomasz Szczygielski and Rafał Piechowski},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad057},
doi = {10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad057},
issn = {0024-4082},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-07-25},
urldate = {2023-01-01},
journal = {Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society},
pages = {zlad057},
abstract = {The turtle locomotor system is heavily modified owing to the severe impact of development of the shell on the body plan of these reptiles. Although limb and girdle osteology of the earliest, Triassic turtles is relatively well understood in general, the exact impacts of variability, ontogeny and preservation (e.g. deformation) on the observed morphologies have rarely been considered in detail. Here, we describe in detail and document the osteology and intraspecific variability of the limbs and girdles of Proterochersis spp., the basalmost true turtles (Testudinata). We also provide a synthesis of currently available data and detailed comparisons with other Triassic stem turtles to gain a better understanding of the diagnostic value of the early turtle appendicular skeleton and to pave the way for future biomechanical and functional studies. Our data suggest that Proterochersis spp. could be at least partly aquatic and could change their preferred habitat during ontogeny, with larger (and, presumably, older) specimens presenting more characters suggestive of a more terrestrial environment.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The turtle locomotor system is heavily modified owing to the severe impact of development of the shell on the body plan of these reptiles. Although limb and girdle osteology of the earliest, Triassic turtles is relatively well understood in general, the exact impacts of variability, ontogeny and preservation (e.g. deformation) on the observed morphologies have rarely been considered in detail. Here, we describe in detail and document the osteology and intraspecific variability of the limbs and girdles of Proterochersis spp., the basalmost true turtles (Testudinata). We also provide a synthesis of currently available data and detailed comparisons with other Triassic stem turtles to gain a better understanding of the diagnostic value of the early turtle appendicular skeleton and to pave the way for future biomechanical and functional studies. Our data suggest that Proterochersis spp. could be at least partly aquatic and could change their preferred habitat during ontogeny, with larger (and, presumably, older) specimens presenting more characters suggestive of a more terrestrial environment.
Nätscher, Paulina S.; Gliwa, Jana; De Baets, Kenneth; Ghaderi, Abbas; Korn, Dieter
Exceptions to the temperature–size rule: no Lilliput Effect in end-Permian ostracods (Crustacea) from Aras Valley (northwest Iran) Journal Article
In: Palaeontology, vol. 66, no. 4, pp. e12667, 2023.
@article{https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12667,
title = {Exceptions to the temperature–size rule: no Lilliput Effect in end-Permian ostracods (Crustacea) from Aras Valley (northwest Iran)},
author = {Paulina S. Nätscher and Jana Gliwa and De Baets, Kenneth and Abbas Ghaderi and Dieter Korn},
url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/pala.12667},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12667},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-07-11},
urldate = {2023-01-01},
journal = {Palaeontology},
volume = {66},
number = {4},
pages = {e12667},
abstract = {Abstract The body size of marine ectotherms is often negatively correlated with ambient water temperature, as seen in many clades during the hyperthermal crisis of the end-Permian mass extinction (c. 252 Ma). However, in the case of ostracods, size changes during ancient hyperthermal events are rarely quantified. In this study, we evaluate the body size changes of ostracods in the Aras Valley section (northwest Iran) in response to the drastic warming during the end-Permian mass extinction at three taxonomic levels: class, order, species. At the assemblage level, the warming triggers a complete species turnover in the Aras Valley section, with larger, newly emerging species dominating the immediate post-extinction assemblage for a short time. Individual ostracod species and instars do not show dwarfing or a change in body size as an adaptation to the temperature stress during the end-Permian crisis. This may indicate that the ostracods in the Aras Valley section might have been exceptions to the temperature–size rule (TSR), using an adaptation mechanism that does not involve a decrease in body size. This adaptation might be similar to the accelerated development despite constant instar body sizes that can be observed in some recent experimental studies of ostracod responses to thermal stress.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Abstract The body size of marine ectotherms is often negatively correlated with ambient water temperature, as seen in many clades during the hyperthermal crisis of the end-Permian mass extinction (c. 252 Ma). However, in the case of ostracods, size changes during ancient hyperthermal events are rarely quantified. In this study, we evaluate the body size changes of ostracods in the Aras Valley section (northwest Iran) in response to the drastic warming during the end-Permian mass extinction at three taxonomic levels: class, order, species. At the assemblage level, the warming triggers a complete species turnover in the Aras Valley section, with larger, newly emerging species dominating the immediate post-extinction assemblage for a short time. Individual ostracod species and instars do not show dwarfing or a change in body size as an adaptation to the temperature stress during the end-Permian crisis. This may indicate that the ostracods in the Aras Valley section might have been exceptions to the temperature–size rule (TSR), using an adaptation mechanism that does not involve a decrease in body size. This adaptation might be similar to the accelerated development despite constant instar body sizes that can be observed in some recent experimental studies of ostracod responses to thermal stress.
Allaire, Ninon; Ginot, Samuel; De Baets, Kenneth; Korn, Dieter; Goudemand, Nicolas; Monnet, Claude; Crônier, Catherine
Morphological disparity of early ammonoids: A geometric morphometric approach to investigate conch geometry Journal Article
In: Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, vol. 68, no. 2, pp. 193–212, 2023.
@article{allaire2023morphological,
title = {Morphological disparity of early ammonoids: A geometric morphometric approach to investigate conch geometry},
author = {Ninon Allaire and Samuel Ginot and De Baets, Kenneth and Dieter Korn and Nicolas Goudemand and Claude Monnet and Catherine Crônier},
url = {https://www.app.pan.pl/article/item/app010332022.html},
doi = {10.4202/app.01033.2022},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-07-03},
urldate = {2023-07-03},
journal = {Acta Palaeontologica Polonica},
volume = {68},
number = {2},
pages = {193–212},
abstract = {Fossils of Devonian ammonoids are abundant and well-preserved in the Anti-Atlas of Morocco; as such they provide an invaluable record of regional morphological disparity changes (diversity of shapes) that characterise the first steps of ammonoid evolution. However, they were rarely analysed quantitatively with respect to their morphological spectrum. Here, we investigated the morphological disparity of the Early–Middle Devonian ammonoids of the Moroccan Anti- Atlas by analysing the shape of their whorl profile. A geometric morphometric approach based on the acquisition of outline semilandmark coordinates was used to analyse the whorl profiles. For comparison, morphometric ratios based on classical conch measurements were also analysed to investigate the overall conch geometry. Several standard disparity estimators were computed to measure different aspects of morphological disparity fluctuations through time. It appears that a major increase in disparity occurred throughout the Early Devonian, followed by fluctuating disparity during the Middle Devonian constituting a general decreasing trend. Only the end-Eifelian Kačák Event shows a significant decrease in disparity. Thus, the ammonoids explored the range of possible shapes fairly quickly during their initial radiation; however, we found no evidence for an early burst of shape diversity (i.e., the rise does not exceed the expectations given diversity). Nevertheless, correlation tests between diversity and disparity time series support that they are partially decoupled. The highly resolved biozone record highlights that the increase in disparity began earlier than the increase in diversity that characterises the late Emsian.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Fossils of Devonian ammonoids are abundant and well-preserved in the Anti-Atlas of Morocco; as such they provide an invaluable record of regional morphological disparity changes (diversity of shapes) that characterise the first steps of ammonoid evolution. However, they were rarely analysed quantitatively with respect to their morphological spectrum. Here, we investigated the morphological disparity of the Early–Middle Devonian ammonoids of the Moroccan Anti- Atlas by analysing the shape of their whorl profile. A geometric morphometric approach based on the acquisition of outline semilandmark coordinates was used to analyse the whorl profiles. For comparison, morphometric ratios based on classical conch measurements were also analysed to investigate the overall conch geometry. Several standard disparity estimators were computed to measure different aspects of morphological disparity fluctuations through time. It appears that a major increase in disparity occurred throughout the Early Devonian, followed by fluctuating disparity during the Middle Devonian constituting a general decreasing trend. Only the end-Eifelian Kačák Event shows a significant decrease in disparity. Thus, the ammonoids explored the range of possible shapes fairly quickly during their initial radiation; however, we found no evidence for an early burst of shape diversity (i.e., the rise does not exceed the expectations given diversity). Nevertheless, correlation tests between diversity and disparity time series support that they are partially decoupled. The highly resolved biozone record highlights that the increase in disparity began earlier than the increase in diversity that characterises the late Emsian.
De Baets, Kenneth; Vanadzina, Karina; Schiffbauer, James
Parasitic Relationships: Trapped in time Journal Article
In: eLife, vol. 12, pp. e90008, 2023, ISSN: 2050-084X.
@article{10.7554/eLife.90008,
title = {Parasitic Relationships: Trapped in time},
author = {De Baets, Kenneth and Karina Vanadzina and James Schiffbauer},
url = {https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.90008},
doi = {10.7554/eLife.90008},
issn = {2050-084X},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-07-01},
urldate = {2023-07-01},
journal = {eLife},
volume = {12},
pages = {e90008},
publisher = {eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd},
abstract = {Analysis of specimens preserved in amber from the Cretaceous period suggests that nematodes changed their host preference towards insects with a complete metamorphosis more recently.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Analysis of specimens preserved in amber from the Cretaceous period suggests that nematodes changed their host preference towards insects with a complete metamorphosis more recently.
Czepiński, Łukasz
Skull of a dromaeosaurid Shri devi from the Upper Cretaceous of the Gobi Desert suggests convergence to the North American forms Journal Article
In: Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, vol. 68, 2023.
@article{Czepiński_2023,
title = {Skull of a dromaeosaurid Shri devi from the Upper Cretaceous of the Gobi Desert suggests convergence to the North American forms},
author = {Łukasz Czepiński},
doi = {10.4202/app.01065.2023},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-06-21},
urldate = {2023-06-21},
journal = {Acta Palaeontologica Polonica},
volume = {68},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Vinn, Olev; De Baets, Kenneth; Isakar, Mare; Toom, Ursula
Parasite-induced shell damage in brachiopod Porambonites (Porambonites) laticaudata from the Late Ordovician (Sandbian) of Estonia Journal Article
In: Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences, vol. 72, no. 1, pp. 110–113, 2023.
@article{vinn2023parasite,
title = {Parasite-induced shell damage in brachiopod Porambonites (Porambonites) laticaudata from the Late Ordovician (Sandbian) of Estonia},
author = {Vinn, Olev and De Baets, Kenneth and Isakar, Mare and Toom, Ursula },
url = {https://kirj.ee/wp-content/plugins/kirj/pub/earth-1-2023-110-113_20230610122825.pdf},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-06-14},
urldate = {2023-06-14},
journal = {Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences},
volume = {72},
number = {1},
pages = {110–113},
abstract = {A new type of shell damage has been described in Ordovician brachiopods in Porambonites (Porambonites) laticaudata. There is a pair of small pits with somewhat different outline in the shell surface at the anterior commissure of the brachiopod. These pits are oriented in lateral direction, about 40o from the direction of the sulcus on the anterior commissure. Previously known shell damage has resulted from failed predatory attacks by durophagous predators and differ from the shell damage in P. (P.) laticaudata. The pits in the shell margin are most likely the result of shell malformation caused by the presence of symbionts. It is plausible that the symbionts of the P. (P.) laticaudata benefitted from inhalant currents and were cleptoparasites. The symbionts caused damage to the host brachiopod, which also suggests a parasitic relationship.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
A new type of shell damage has been described in Ordovician brachiopods in Porambonites (Porambonites) laticaudata. There is a pair of small pits with somewhat different outline in the shell surface at the anterior commissure of the brachiopod. These pits are oriented in lateral direction, about 40o from the direction of the sulcus on the anterior commissure. Previously known shell damage has resulted from failed predatory attacks by durophagous predators and differ from the shell damage in P. (P.) laticaudata. The pits in the shell margin are most likely the result of shell malformation caused by the presence of symbionts. It is plausible that the symbionts of the P. (P.) laticaudata benefitted from inhalant currents and were cleptoparasites. The symbionts caused damage to the host brachiopod, which also suggests a parasitic relationship.
López-Torres, Sergi; Bertrand, Ornella C.; Lang, Madlen M.; Fostowicz-Frelik, Łucja; Silcox, Mary T.; Meng, Jin
Cranial endocast of Anagale gobiensis (Anagalidae) and its implications for early brain evolution in Euarchontoglires Journal Article
In: Palaeontology, vol. 66, no. 3, pp. e12650, 2023.
@article{https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12650,
title = {Cranial endocast of Anagale gobiensis (Anagalidae) and its implications for early brain evolution in Euarchontoglires},
author = {Sergi López-Torres and Ornella C. Bertrand and Madlen M. Lang and Łucja Fostowicz-Frelik and Mary T. Silcox and Jin Meng},
url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/pala.12650},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12650},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-06-01},
urldate = {2023-06-01},
journal = {Palaeontology},
volume = {66},
number = {3},
pages = {e12650},
abstract = {Abstract Anagalids are an extinct group of primitive mammals from the Asian Palaeogene thought to be possible basal members of Glires. Anagalid material is rare, with only a handful of crania known. Here we describe the first virtual endocast of an anagalid, based on the holotype of Anagale gobiensis (AMNH 26079; late Eocene, China), which allows for comparison with published endocasts from fossil members of modern euarchontogliran lineages (i.e. primates, rodents, lagomorphs). The endocast displays traits often observed in fossorial mammals, such as relatively small petrosal lobules and a low neocortical ratio, which would be consistent with previous inferences about use of subterranean food sources based on heavy dental wear. In fact, Anagale gobiensis has the lowest neocortical ratio yet recorded for a euarchontogliran. This species was olfaction-driven, based on the relatively large olfactory bulbs and laterally expansive palaeocortex. The endocast supports previous inferences that relatively large olfactory bulbs, partial midbrain exposure and low encephalization quotient are ancestral for Euarchontoglires, although the likely fossorial adaptations of Anagale gobiensis may also partly explain these traits. While Anagale gobiensis is a primitive mammal in many aspects, some of its derived endocranial traits point towards a new, different trajectory of brain evolution within Euarchontoglires.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Abstract Anagalids are an extinct group of primitive mammals from the Asian Palaeogene thought to be possible basal members of Glires. Anagalid material is rare, with only a handful of crania known. Here we describe the first virtual endocast of an anagalid, based on the holotype of Anagale gobiensis (AMNH 26079; late Eocene, China), which allows for comparison with published endocasts from fossil members of modern euarchontogliran lineages (i.e. primates, rodents, lagomorphs). The endocast displays traits often observed in fossorial mammals, such as relatively small petrosal lobules and a low neocortical ratio, which would be consistent with previous inferences about use of subterranean food sources based on heavy dental wear. In fact, Anagale gobiensis has the lowest neocortical ratio yet recorded for a euarchontogliran. This species was olfaction-driven, based on the relatively large olfactory bulbs and laterally expansive palaeocortex. The endocast supports previous inferences that relatively large olfactory bulbs, partial midbrain exposure and low encephalization quotient are ancestral for Euarchontoglires, although the likely fossorial adaptations of Anagale gobiensis may also partly explain these traits. While Anagale gobiensis is a primitive mammal in many aspects, some of its derived endocranial traits point towards a new, different trajectory of brain evolution within Euarchontoglires.
López-Torres, Sergi; Bhagat, Raj; Bertrand, Ornella C.; Silcox, Mary T.; Fostowicz-Frelik, Łucja
Locomotor behavior and hearing sensitivity in an early lagomorph reconstructed from the bony labyrinth Journal Article
In: Ecology and Evolution, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. e9890, 2023.
@article{LopezE&E2023,
title = {Locomotor behavior and hearing sensitivity in an early lagomorph reconstructed from the bony labyrinth},
author = {Sergi López-Torres and Raj Bhagat and Ornella C. Bertrand and Mary T. Silcox and Łucja Fostowicz-Frelik},
url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ece3.9890},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9890},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-03-18},
urldate = {2023-03-18},
journal = {Ecology and Evolution},
volume = {13},
number = {3},
pages = {e9890},
abstract = {Abstract The structure of the bony labyrinth is highly informative with respect to locomotor agility (semicircular canals [SCC]) and hearing sensitivity (cochlear and oval windows). Here, we reconstructed the agility and hearing sensitivity of the stem lagomorph Megalagus turgidus from the early Oligocene of the Brule Formation of Nebraska (USA). Megalagus has proportionally smaller SCCs with respect to its body mass compared with most extant leporids but within the modern range of variability, suggesting that it was less agile than most of its modern relatives. A level of agility for Megalagus within the range of modern rabbits is consistent with the evidence from postcranial elements. The hearing sensitivity for Megalagus is in the range of extant lagomorphs for both low- and high-frequency sounds. Our data show that by the early Oligocene stem lagomorphs had already attained fundamentally rabbit-like hearing sensitivity and locomotor behavior, even though Megalagus was not a particularly agile lagomorph. This is likely because Megalagus was more of a woodland dweller than an open-habitat runner. The study of sensory evolution in Lagomorpha is practically unknown, and these results provide first advances in understanding the primitive stages for the order and how the earliest members of this clade perceived their environment.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Abstract The structure of the bony labyrinth is highly informative with respect to locomotor agility (semicircular canals [SCC]) and hearing sensitivity (cochlear and oval windows). Here, we reconstructed the agility and hearing sensitivity of the stem lagomorph Megalagus turgidus from the early Oligocene of the Brule Formation of Nebraska (USA). Megalagus has proportionally smaller SCCs with respect to its body mass compared with most extant leporids but within the modern range of variability, suggesting that it was less agile than most of its modern relatives. A level of agility for Megalagus within the range of modern rabbits is consistent with the evidence from postcranial elements. The hearing sensitivity for Megalagus is in the range of extant lagomorphs for both low- and high-frequency sounds. Our data show that by the early Oligocene stem lagomorphs had already attained fundamentally rabbit-like hearing sensitivity and locomotor behavior, even though Megalagus was not a particularly agile lagomorph. This is likely because Megalagus was more of a woodland dweller than an open-habitat runner. The study of sensory evolution in Lagomorpha is practically unknown, and these results provide first advances in understanding the primitive stages for the order and how the earliest members of this clade perceived their environment.
Silcox, Mary T.; López-Torres, Sergi
Primate Origins: The Earliest Primates and Euprimates and Their Role in the Evolution of the Order Book Chapter
In: Chapter 22, pp. 365-380, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2023, ISBN: 9781119828075.
@inbook{Sergi2023,
title = {Primate Origins: The Earliest Primates and Euprimates and Their Role in the Evolution of the Order},
author = {Mary T. Silcox and Sergi López-Torres},
url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781119828075.ch22},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119828075.ch22},
isbn = {9781119828075},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-03-15},
urldate = {2023-03-15},
pages = {365-380},
publisher = {John Wiley & Sons, Ltd},
chapter = {22},
abstract = {This chapter provides an overview of the fossil record for the key early euprimate groups, and for the plesiadapiforms, and discusses how this record relates to Primate Origins and to the origins of Strepsirrhini and Anthropoidea. Adapis was the first fossil primate to be named, although the reference in its name to Apis, the sacred Egyptian bull, implies some initial confusion about its identity. Primitive adapoids and omomyoids are very similar dentally, although adapoids do possess two apparently derived features of the dentition that allows them to be distinguished. Traditionally, omomyoids have been viewed as tarsier-like, in contrast to the lemur-like adapoids. The endocasts of plesiadapiforms indicate that the brain had not yet evolved a euprimate-like expansion of the neocortex, with notably larger olfactory bulbs relative to the overall size of the brain compared to even the most primitive euprimates.},
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pubstate = {published},
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}
This chapter provides an overview of the fossil record for the key early euprimate groups, and for the plesiadapiforms, and discusses how this record relates to Primate Origins and to the origins of Strepsirrhini and Anthropoidea. Adapis was the first fossil primate to be named, although the reference in its name to Apis, the sacred Egyptian bull, implies some initial confusion about its identity. Primitive adapoids and omomyoids are very similar dentally, although adapoids do possess two apparently derived features of the dentition that allows them to be distinguished. Traditionally, omomyoids have been viewed as tarsier-like, in contrast to the lemur-like adapoids. The endocasts of plesiadapiforms indicate that the brain had not yet evolved a euprimate-like expansion of the neocortex, with notably larger olfactory bulbs relative to the overall size of the brain compared to even the most primitive euprimates.
Hsieh, Shannon; Łaska, Weronika; Uchman, Alfred
Intermittent and temporally variable bioturbation by some terrestrial invertebrates: implications for ichnology Journal Article
In: The Science of Nature, vol. 110, no. 2, pp. 11, 2023.
@article{hsieh2023intermittent,
title = {Intermittent and temporally variable bioturbation by some terrestrial invertebrates: implications for ichnology},
author = {Shannon Hsieh and Weronika Łaska and Alfred Uchman},
doi = {10.1007/s00114-023-01833-0},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-03-07},
urldate = {2023-03-07},
journal = {The Science of Nature},
volume = {110},
number = {2},
pages = {11},
publisher = {Springer},
abstract = {Bedding planes and vertical sections of many sedimentary rock formations reveal bioturbation structures, including burrows, produced by diverse animal taxa at different rates and durations. These variables are not directly measurable in the fossil record, but neoichnological observations and experiments provide informative analogues. Comparable to marine invertebrates from many phyla, a captive beetle larva burrowing over 2 weeks showed high rates of sediment disturbance within the first 100 h but slower rates afterwards. Tunnelling by earthworms and adult dung beetles is also inconstant—displacement of lithic material alternates with organic matter displacement, often driven by food availability with more locomotion when hungry. High rates of bioturbation, as with locomotion generally, result from internal and external drives, slowing down or stopping when needs are filled. Like other processes affecting sediment deposition and erosion, rates can drastically differ based on measured timescale, with short bursts of activity followed by hiatuses, concentrated in various seasons and ontogenetic stages for particular species. Assumptions of constant velocities within movement paths, left as traces afterward, may not apply in many cases. Arguments about energetic efficiency or optimal foraging based on ichnofossils have often overlooked these and related issues. Single bioturbation rates from short-term experiments in captivity may not be comparable to rates measured at an ecosystem level over a year or generalized across multiple time scales where conditions differ even for the same species. Neoichnological work, with an understanding of lifetime variabilities in bioturbation and their drivers, helps connect ichnology with behavioural biology and movement ecology.},
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tppubtype = {article}
}
Bedding planes and vertical sections of many sedimentary rock formations reveal bioturbation structures, including burrows, produced by diverse animal taxa at different rates and durations. These variables are not directly measurable in the fossil record, but neoichnological observations and experiments provide informative analogues. Comparable to marine invertebrates from many phyla, a captive beetle larva burrowing over 2 weeks showed high rates of sediment disturbance within the first 100 h but slower rates afterwards. Tunnelling by earthworms and adult dung beetles is also inconstant—displacement of lithic material alternates with organic matter displacement, often driven by food availability with more locomotion when hungry. High rates of bioturbation, as with locomotion generally, result from internal and external drives, slowing down or stopping when needs are filled. Like other processes affecting sediment deposition and erosion, rates can drastically differ based on measured timescale, with short bursts of activity followed by hiatuses, concentrated in various seasons and ontogenetic stages for particular species. Assumptions of constant velocities within movement paths, left as traces afterward, may not apply in many cases. Arguments about energetic efficiency or optimal foraging based on ichnofossils have often overlooked these and related issues. Single bioturbation rates from short-term experiments in captivity may not be comparable to rates measured at an ecosystem level over a year or generalized across multiple time scales where conditions differ even for the same species. Neoichnological work, with an understanding of lifetime variabilities in bioturbation and their drivers, helps connect ichnology with behavioural biology and movement ecology.