Palaeontologia Electronica最新文献

{"title":"Eocene planktonic foraminifera from the north Eastern Desert, Egypt: Biostratigraphic, paleoenvironmental and sequence stratigraphy implications","authors":"Y. Salama, M. Sayed, Shaban G. Saber, Ibrahim M. Abd El-Gaied","doi":"10.26879/1088","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26879/1088","url":null,"abstract":"The Eocene succession at Beni Suef -El Zaafarana District in north Eastern Desert is rich in planktonic foraminiferal assemblages. The main objectives of this work are to use the planktonic foraminifera to recognize the biostratigraphy for the Middle-Upper Eocene succession in the study area. Seventy planktonic foraminiferal species belonging to 20 genera and seven families are identified from the Eocene El Fashn and Beni Suef formations. Three planktonic foraminiferal biozones are recognized. These are from older to younger Morozovelloides crassatus Zone (late Middle Eocene) that is recorded from El Fashn Formation, Globigerinatheka semiinvoluta Zone (latest Middle Eocene -Late Eocene) and Globigerinatheka index Zone (Late Eocene age) that are recorded from the Beni Suef Formation while the Maadi Formation is found barren in planktonic foraminifera. These zones are correlated with those from nearby areas in Egypt and the Mediterranean regions. The Middle/Upper Eocene (Bartonian/Priabonian) boundary is discussed here in detail. The percentage of the planktonic foraminifera in the total foraminiferal content (P %) points to a change in water depth. There was a significant decrease in the planktonic/benthic foraminiferal ratio from the late Middle Eocene El Fashn Formation to the Late Eocene Maadi Formation at Beni Suef -El Zaafarana District. This ratio change supports a shallowing upward in paleodepth. Based on the lithology, planktonic/benthic ratio and the obtained water depth, the studied Eocene succession could be subdivided into four depositional sequences. These sequences agree with the global eustatic sea-level and the depositional sequences in nearby areas. Yasser Salama. Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Beni-Suef University, 65211, Egypt. Yasser.salama@science.bsu.edu.eg (Corresponding author) Mostafa Sayed. Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Beni-Suef University, 65211, Egypt. mostafa.sayed92@science.bsu.edu.eg Shaban Saber. Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Beni-Suef University, 65211, Egypt. shaban.saber@science.bsu.edu.eg Ibrahim Abd El-Gaied. Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Beni-Suef University, 65211, Egypt. ibrahim.mohamed@science.bsu.edu.eg SALAMA, ET AL.: EOCENE PLANKTONIC FORAMINIFERA 2","PeriodicalId":56100,"journal":{"name":"Palaeontologia Electronica","volume":"24 1","pages":"1-29"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44000137","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Testing hypothesis of skeletal unity using bone histology: The case of the sauropod remains from the Howe-Stephens and Howe Scott quarries (Morrison Formation, Wyoming, USA)","authors":"Kayleigh Wiersma-Weyand, A. Canoville, H. Siber, P. Sander","doi":"10.26879/766","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26879/766","url":null,"abstract":"Specimens of sauropod dinosaurs from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of the Western Interior of the USA are mostly found as partial and partially articulated skeletons or as isolated bones, as seen in, e.g., the Dinosaur National Monument quarry. This mode of preservation sometimes makes an assignment of specific bones to individuals difficult, especially if other partial skeletons or scattered bones of the same taxon are found nearby. In this study, a detailed assessment of skeletal unity is provided by means of paleohistology for several sauropod partial skeletons and isolated long bones from the Howe-Stephens and the Howe Scott quarries, Wyoming, USA. Using histological characters such as histological ontogenetic stages, cyclicity of growth marks, and remodeling rate, an assignment of bones to individuals was made and compared with previous hypotheses of skeletal unity that were based on field observations only. Our study indicates, based on these characters, it is possible to assign isolated bones to an existing individual, recognize isolated bones as belonging to a new individual, and test whether a specific bone belongs to the assigned individual. The histological evidence should be combined with other sources of data such as morphology and taphonomy to reassess previous hypotheses of skeletal unit. The method presented in this study can be used not only for Morrison Formation sauropods, but to test skeletal unity for other fossil tetrapod taxa as well. Kayleigh Wiersma-Weyand. Abteilung Paläontologie, Institut für Geowissenschaften, Universität Bonn, Nussallee 8, 53115 Bonn, Germany. kayleigh.wiersma@uni-bonn.de Aurore Canoville. Paleontology, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences / Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, 11 W Jones Street, 27601 Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, and Abteilung Paläontologie, Institut für Geowissenschaften, Universität Bonn, Nussallee 8, 53115 Bonn, Germany. canoville.aurore08@gmail.com Hans-Jakob Siber. Sauriermuseum Aathal, Zürichstrasse 69, 8607 Aathal, Switzerland. aathal@sibersiber.ch P. Martin Sander. Abteilung Paläontologie, Institut für Geowissenschaften, Universität Bonn, Nussallee 8, 53115 Bonn, Germany. martin.sander@uni-bonn.de WIERSMA-WEYAND ET AL.: BONE HISTOLOGY SAUROPODS 2","PeriodicalId":56100,"journal":{"name":"Palaeontologia Electronica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46801874","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Body length estimation of Neogene macrophagous lamniform sharks (Carcharodon and Otodus) derived from associated fossil dentitions","authors":"Victor J. Perez, R. Leder, Teddy Badaut","doi":"10.26879/1140","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26879/1140","url":null,"abstract":"The megatooth shark, Otodus megalodon, is widely accepted as the largest macrophagous shark that ever lived; and yet, despite over a century of research, its size is still debated. The great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias, is regarded as the best living ecological analog to the extinct megatooth shark and has been the basis for all body length estimates to date. The most widely accepted and applied method for estimating body size of O. megalodon was based upon a linear relationship between tooth crown height and total body length in C. carcharias. However, when applying this method to an associated dentition of O. megalodon (UF-VP-311000), the estimates for this single individual ranged from 11.4 to 41.1 m. These widely variable estimates showed a distinct pattern, in which anterior teeth resulted in lower estimates than posterior teeth. Consequently, previous paleoecological analyses based on body size estimates of O. megalodon may be subject to misinterpretation. Herein, we describe a novel method based on the summed crown width of associated fossil dentitions, which mitigates the variability associated with different tooth positions. The method assumes direct proportionality between the ratio of summed crown width to body length in ecologically and taxonomically related fossil and modern species. Total body lengths were estimated from 11 individuals, representing five lamniform species: Otodus megalodon, Otodus chubutensis, Carcharodon carcharias, Carcharodon hubbelli, and Carcharodon hastalis. The method was extrapolated for the largest known isolated upper tooth of O. megalodon, resulting in a maximum body length estimate of 20 m. Victor J. Perez. Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, Florida Museum of Natural History, 1659 Museum Rd., Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Florida, 241 Williamson Hall, PO Box 112120, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA and Department of Paleontology, Calvert Marine Museum, Solomons, Maryland 20688, USA Victor.Perez@calvertcountymd.gov Ronny M. Leder. Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, Florida Museum of Natural History, 1659 Museum Rd., Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA and Natural History Museum City of Leipzig, Lortzingstraße PEREZ, LEDER, & BADAUT: ESTIMATING LAMNIFORM BODY SIZE 2 3, 04105 Leipzig, Germany. ronnymaik.leder@leipzig.de Teddy Badaut. Independent Researcher, Thoirette, France. kieffer_stirlling@hotmail.fr","PeriodicalId":56100,"journal":{"name":"Palaeontologia Electronica","volume":" ","pages":"1-28"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42627296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Neogene and early Pleistocene flora from Alaska and Arctic/Subarctic Canada: New data, intercontinental comparisons and correlations","authors":"T. Fletcher, A. Telka, N. Rybczynski, J. Matthews","doi":"10.26879/1121","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26879/1121","url":null,"abstract":"A new correlation scheme primarily concerning macroand meso-floral remains of bryophytes and vascular plants from 26 Neogene sites and over 50 florules in Alaska and northern Canada is presented. Flora are valuable for correlating Arctic Neogene sites, especially where absolute dating methods are not possible. These taxa clearly differentiate Neogene from Quaternary deposits in the North American Arctic. Recent age estimates provided using terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) dating provide tiepoints for these correlations and tend to confirm earlier dates achieved by relative and correlative methods. Our knowledge of North American Arctic/Subarctic palaeofloras and faunas is sufficiently detailed to allow inter-regional comparisons. This paper contains the first attempt to compare and contrast Neogene and early Pleistocene macroand meso-floras from the entire circum-Arctic region. The subfossil and fossil floras are valuable for understanding the evolution of the boreal realm, from the qualitatively different composition of the communities of the Neogene Arctic, to those of the more southerly modern boreal region. These differences may be due to the warm climate of the Neogene Arctic combined with the long dark of polar winter – a phenomenon with no modern analogue. The differences highlight the need for a comprehensive understanding of species’ ecology to predict species ranges under near-future climate conditions analogous to our Neogene past. Many sites described here present rich opportunities for future cross-disciplinary study, including research related to the role of warm-climate intervals in patterning past and present Arctic ecosystems. T.L. Fletcher. Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, Liaoning 110164, China and College of Forestry and Conservation, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana 59812, United States of America. drtlfletcher@gmail.com A. Telka. PALEOTEC Services – Quaternary and late Tertiary plant macrofossil and insect fossil analyses, 1-574 Somerset St. West, Ottawa, Ontario K1R 5K2, Canada. N. Rybczynski. Department of Palaeobiology, Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6P4, FLETCHER ET AL.: ARCTIC MACROFLORA 2 Canada. nrybczynski@nature.ca and Department of Biology and Department of Earth Sciences, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6, Canada. nrybczynski@gmail.com J.V. Matthews, Jr. 1 Cricket Lane, Hubley, Nova Scotia B3Z 1A5, Canada.","PeriodicalId":56100,"journal":{"name":"Palaeontologia Electronica","volume":" ","pages":"1-62"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49360220","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Synchrotron-radiation computed tomography uncovers ecosystem functions of fly larvae in an Eocene forest","authors":"V. Baranov, M. Engel, J. Hammel, M. Hörnig, T. V. D. Kamp, M. Zuber, J. Haug","doi":"10.26879/1129","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26879/1129","url":null,"abstract":"We report a hitherto unprecedented diversity of fly larvae (Diptera) from Eocene Baltic amber and the use of these to address palaeo-ecosystem functions and processes in the surrounding forests. Fly larvae have been considered exceptionally rare by the research community and have, like most insect larvae, been deemed of limited utility owing to challenges in identification. Herein, however, using synchrotron-x-ray radiation CT (SR-μCT) allowed us to detect and identify dozens of fly larvae from Baltic amber, and to infer their ecological interactions. One particular piece of amber contains 56 fly larvae and apparent mammalian feces. This fossil is of great interest for our understanding of carbon cycling in the Eocene forest. The occurrence of such a large number of fly larvae on the fecal remains indicates an important role of flies in recycling organic matter in the Eocene forest, much as some larvae do today. Analysis of the fly palaeo-communities also allowed us to hypothesize a mechanism by which massive, geologically relevant deposits of amber were formed in the Baltic region. Scanning allowed us to identify seven larvae closely related to the extant Syrphidae, whose larvae inhabit nests of eusocial Hymenoptera, or, sometimes, flows of sap dripping from trees damaged by other burrowing insect larvae. Viktor A. Baranov. Biology II, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg, Bayern, Germany. Correspondence author. baranow@biologie.uni-muenchen.de Michael S. Engel. Natural Sciences and Mathematics Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, KU Biodiversity Institute, Kansas, USA. msengel@ku.edu Jörg Hammel. Institute of Materials Research, Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Geesthacht, Germany. joerg.hammel@hzg.de Marie K. Hörnig. University of Greifswald, Zoological Institute and Museum,Cytology and Evolutionary Biology, Greifswald, Germany. marie.hoernig@palaeo-evo-devo.info Thomas van de Kamp. Institute for Photon Science and Synchrotron Radiation (IPS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany and BARANOV ET AL.: DIPTERA LARVAE IN BALTIC AMBER 2 Laboratory for Applications of Synchrotron Radiation (LAS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Kaiserstr. 1, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany. thomas.vandekamp@kit.edu Marcus Zuber. Institute for Photon Science and Synchrotron Radiation (IPS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany and Laboratory for Applications of Synchrotron Radiation (LAS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Kaiserstr. 1, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany. marcus.zuber@kit.edu Joachim T. Haug. Biology II, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg, Bayern, Germany and Geobio-Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, Bayern, Germany. jhaug@biologie.uni-muenchen.de","PeriodicalId":56100,"journal":{"name":"Palaeontologia Electronica","volume":" ","pages":"1-22"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42493577","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Lower Valanginian coral fauna from the South Iberian Palaeomargin (Internal Prebetic, SE Spain)","authors":"H. Löser, L. Nieto, J. M. Castro, M. Reolid","doi":"10.26879/1030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26879/1030","url":null,"abstract":"From the Lower Valanginian of the Sierra de Cazorla (Internal Prebetic, SE Spain), a coral fauna is taxonomically described. The fauna encompasses 51 species in 29 genera. One genus and three species are described as new. The most speciesrich are the superfamilies Cyclolitoidea and Stylinoidea. The faunal composition is ambivalent and encompasses typical Jurassic taxa, such as members of the families Amphiastraeidae, Rhipidogyridae, Solenocoenidae and Stylinidae, but also typical Cretaceous elements such as the genera Confusaforma, Floriastrea and Holocoenia (which also have their first occurrence in the Valanginian studied fauna). Four Jurassic genera show a range extension into the Early Valanginian: Alloiteaucoenia, Bilaterocoenia, Hykeliphyllum and Miscellosmilia. Other genera still survived into the Late Valanginian (Placogyra, Rhipidogyra and Solenocoenia) but became extinct. A palaeobiogeographic analysis shows relationships of the studied fauna to the Tithonian and the Kimmeridgian of the northern Tethys on one hand, and the Hauterivian of the Paris Basin and the Puebla Basin (Mexico) on the other. Nineteen species of the studied fauna remained in open nomenclature; the majority of them probably represent new species. Hannes Löser. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Geología, Estación Regional del Noroeste, L.D. Colosio s/n, 83000 Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. loeser@paleotax.de Luis M. Nieto. Departamento de Geología y Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Ciencias de la Tierra, Energía y Medio Ambiente (CEACTEMA), Universidad de Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain. lmnieto@ujaen.es José Manuel Castro. Departamento de Geología y Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Ciencias de la Tierra, Energía y Medio Ambiente (CEACTEMA), Universidad de Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain. jmcastro@ujaen.es Matías Reolid. Departamento de Geología y Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Ciencias de la Tierra, Energía y Medio Ambiente (CEACTEMA), Universidad de Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain. mreolid@ujaen.es","PeriodicalId":56100,"journal":{"name":"Palaeontologia Electronica","volume":"24 1","pages":"1-57"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44001311","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A new Rovno amber termite genus (Isoptera, Rhinotermitidae) from Styr river basin","authors":"E. Perkovsky, A. Nel","doi":"10.26879/1127","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26879/1127","url":null,"abstract":"Lukotermes milescaput gen. et sp. nov. is described on the basis of a dealate specimen from the Eocene amber of Vladimirets district of Rovno region (Ukraine). We provisionally attribute it to the family Rhinotermitidae, subfamily Heterotermitinae for its head shape. It is remarkable for its elongate head capsule with lateral sides parallel and its tibial spur formula 2:2:2. This last character is quite infrequent in this family, also present in the closely related family Serritermitidae, questioning its phylogenetic relationships. This point will be clarified only after the discovery of other specimens showing the wing venation and the mandibular dentition. It is also a very small termite, smallest fossil rhinotermitid, and the second smallest Paleogene termite after the Ypresian genus Nanotermes Engel and Grimaldi, 2011. It was supposed that initial weight of parents was more crucial in mesothermal climates with low seasonality of Priabonian European amber forests than in tropical climate of Ypresian Cambay forest. It could be the reason why miniaturization is very strong in Cambay termites and hardly seen in Priabonian ambers, rather than taphonomic biases. Evgeny E. Perkovsky. Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev, 01030 Ukraine and 2 A.A. Borissiak Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Profsoyuznaya Str. 123, Moscow,117868 Russia. perkovsk@gmail.com; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-79594379 André Nel. Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB) Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, CP50, 57 rue Cuvier 75005 Paris, France. anel@mnhn.fr; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4241-7651","PeriodicalId":56100,"journal":{"name":"Palaeontologia Electronica","volume":"24 1","pages":"1-13"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43087960","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Taxon-specific variability of leaf traits in three long-ranging fossil-species of the Paleogene and Neogene: Responses to climate?","authors":"A. Roth-Nebelsick, Michaela Grein, C. Traiser, L. Kunzmann, J. Kvaček, Janina Wypich, J. Kovar-Eder","doi":"10.26879/1114","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26879/1114","url":null,"abstract":"Data of climate-sensitive leaf traits, which are usually collected and analyzed for entire fossil leaf assemblages, also include intraspecific responses to environmental conditions. Intraspecific correlations between climate and leaf traits represent plastic responses on the individual level as well as plasticity caused by genetic differences between disjunct populations of a species. Plasticity is taxon-specific, as documented by various studies on extant plants. Data on plasticity in fossil plants are, however, rare. In this study, the plasticity of climate-sensitive leaf traits of three long-ranging species, each covering an extended time interval from the late middle Eocene to the late Oligocene or to even the early Miocene, were tracked by using material from 16 sites located in Austria, Czech Republic and Germany. Selected taxa are Daphnogene cinnamomifolia, Eotrigonobalanus furcinervis and Platanus neptuni. Leaf size-related data (lamina size, length, width) as well as leaf shape-related data (centroid, length-to-width ratio and two parameters for “roundness”) were considered. All three considered fossilspecies show various site-specific and significant differences for leaf size-related traits as well as for leaf shape-related traits. Data from allochthonous marine deposits show the highest plasticity, probably due to the accumulation of heterogeneous plant material from different growing sites. For the Oligocene and Miocene, the results are mostly consistent with palaeo-temperature data. This is particularly the case for “roundness” data, confirming the suitability of this trait as an indicator for climate. The high variability of various traits found for the Eocene is, however, difficult to attribute to temperature alone. Rather, the considerable variability of Eocene trait data may be explained by environmental instability during climate transition, such as changing precipitation patterns. ROTH-NEBELSICK ET AL.: TAXON-SPECIFIC VARIABILITY 2 Anita Roth-Nebelsick. State Museum of Natural History, Rosenstein 1, 70191 Stuttgart, Germany. anita.rothnebelsick@smns-bw.de Michaela Grein. Übersee-Museum Bremen, Bahnhofsplatz 13, 28195 Bremen, Germany. m.grein@uebersee-museum.de Christopher Traiser. Department of Geoscience, University of Tübingen, Schnarrenbergstr. 94-96, 72076 Tübingen, Germany. christopher.traiser@uni-tuebingen.de Lutz Kunzmann. Senckenberg Natural History Collections Dresden, Königsbrücker Landstr. 159, 01109 Dresden, Germany. lutz.kunzmann@senckenberg.de Jiří Kvaček. National Museum Prague, Václavské náměsti 68, 115 79 Prague 1, Czech Republic. jiri.kvacek@nm.cz Janina Wypich. State Museum of Natural History, Rosenstein 1, 70191 Stuttgart, Germany; Janina.wypich@smns-bw.de Johanna Kovar-Eder. State Museum of Natural History, Rosenstein 1, 70191 Stuttgart, Germany. johanna.eder@smns-bw.de","PeriodicalId":56100,"journal":{"name":"Palaeontologia Electronica","volume":"24 1","pages":"1-20"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42622169","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evaluating the ecology of Spinosaurus: shoreline generalist or aquatic pursuit specialist?","authors":"D. Hone, T. Holtz","doi":"10.26879/1110","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26879/1110","url":null,"abstract":"The giant theropod Spinosaurus was an unusual animal and highly derived in many ways, and interpretations of its ecology remain controversial. Recent papers have added considerable knowledge of the anatomy of the genus with the discovery of a new and much more complete specimen, but this has also brought new and dramatic interpretations of its ecology as a highly specialised semi-aquatic animal that actively pursued aquatic prey. Here we assess the arguments about the functional morphology of this animal and the available data on its ecology and possible habits in the light of these new finds. We conclude that based on the available data, the degree of adaptations for aquatic life are questionable, other interpretations for the tail fin and other features are supported (e.g., socio-sexual signalling), and the pursuit predation hypothesis for Spinosaurus as a “highly specialized aquatic predator” is not supported. In contrast, a ‘wading’ model for an animal that predominantly fished from shorelines or within shallow waters is not contradicted by any line of evidence and is well supported. Spinosaurus almost certainly fed primarily from the water and may have swum, but there is no evidence that it was a specialised aquatic pursuit predator. David W.E. Hone. Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS, UK. d.hone@qmul.ac.uk Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. Department of Geology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742 USA and Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC 20560 USA. tholtz@umd.edu","PeriodicalId":56100,"journal":{"name":"Palaeontologia Electronica","volume":"24 1","pages":"1-28"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41884748","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Distinguishing between three modern Ellobius species (Rodentia, Mammalia) and identification of fossil Ellobius from Kaldar Cave (Iran) using geometric morphometric analyses of the first lower molar","authors":"Iván Rey-Rodríguez, J. Arnaud, J. López-García, E. Stoetzel, C. Denys, R. Cornette, B. Bazgir","doi":"10.26879/1122","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26879/1122","url":null,"abstract":"Ellobius remains are common and often abundant in southeastern Europe, western and central Asia archaeological sites. A correct identification of species is crucial for our understanding of the evolution of species and communities through time, including biostratigraphic sequences to be established. This study applies geometric morphometric methods (GMM) to Ellobius first lower molars, with the objectives: 1) to discriminate modern species and explore morphological and size differences in reference samples; and 2) to identify fossil specimens recovered in archaeological sites, based on the aforementioned analysis. The reference dataset used in this paper includes specimens belonging to the three species that today occur in the southeastern Europe, western and central Asia: Ellobius fuscocapillus, E. lutescens and E. talpinus. The archaeological material comes from Late Pleistocene Iranian site of Kaldar Cave (Khorramabad valley, Lorestan Province, western Iran). Our study shows that the shape of the anterior cap and the arrangement of the following triangles allow discriminating the three studied extant Ellobius species. The shapes of E. fuscocapillus and E. lutescens m1 appear rather similar, whereas Ellobius talpinus is well separated from these two species. The total length and the anterior cap of m1 in E. fuscocapillus is greater than in Ellobius lutescens. The GMM analyses performed on the modern reference dataset allowed us to identify fossil specimens from Kaldar Cave as E. lutescens and some as E. fuscocapillus, and excluding E. talpinus.","PeriodicalId":56100,"journal":{"name":"Palaeontologia Electronica","volume":"24 1","pages":"1-18"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45308443","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}