Search results for " taxonomy"

Disambiguating the soils of Mars

2020

Abstract Anticipated human missions to Mars require a methodical understanding of the unconsolidated bulk sediment that mantles its surface, given its role as an accessible resource for water and as a probable substrate for food production. However, classifying martian sediment as soil has been pursued in an ad hoc fashion, despite emerging evidence from in situ missions for current and paleo-pedological processes. Here we find that in situ sediment at Gusev, Meridiani and Gale are consistent with pedogenesis related to comminuted basalts mixing with older phyllosilicates – perhaps of pluvial origin – and sulfates. Furthermore, a notable presence of hydrated amorphous phases indicates signi…

Revision of the genus Anasibirites Mojsisovics (Ammonoidea): An iconic and cosmopolitan taxon of the late Smithian (Early Triassic) extinction

2016

34 pages; International audience; The family Prionitidae Hyatt represents a major component of ammonoid faunas during the Smithian (Early Triassic), and the genus Anasibirites Mojsisovics is the most emblematic taxon of this family. Its stratigraphical range is restricted to the beginning of the late Smithian (Wasatchites distractus Zone). The genus is also characterized by an unusual cosmopolitan distribution, thus contrasting with most earlier Smithian ammonoid distributions that were typically restricted by latitude. Because the late Smithian witnessed an extinction of the nekton (e.g. ammonoids, conodonts) whose amplitude is equal to or larger than that of the end-Permian crisis, the nu…

Trilobites from the Red Fauna (latest Emsian, Devonian) of Hamar Laghdad, Morocco and their biodiversity

2018

36 pages; International audience; Trilobites are widespread in Early Devonian deposits of north Gondwana; some of the most emblematic ones were collected from the famous latest Emsian (Early Devonian) mudmound locality Hamar Laghdad in south-eastern Morocco. This locality is famous for its trilobites, especially for the conspicuous red-coloured remains of phacopid trilobites with often greenish eyes. Here, we present a taxonomic revision of the previously described trilobites from the so-called Red Fauna of Hamar Laghdad. We introduce the new taxa Harpes hamarlaghdadensis n. sp. and Morocops davidbrutoni n. sp. Phacopids dominate the trilobite assemblage from the Red Cliff at Hamar Laghdad …

Evidence of an Early Triassic age (Olenekian) in Argana Basin (High Atlas, Morocco) based on new chirotherioid traces.

2010

8 pages; International audience; New chirotherioid traces (Synaptichnium, Chirotherium, Brachychirotherium, Isochirotherium), are described in the Argana Basin (High Atlas of Morocco). Seeing that these ichnotaxa are frequent in the Triassic, their occurrence in outcrops formerly mapped as Permian (T2 Member) has required detailed sedimentological and paleontological studies of the fossiliferous site. These studies clearly show that the ichnite-bearing strata belong actually to the T3 Member of the “regional Triassic”, i.e. lower member of the Timezgadiwine Formation, the age of which was, in fact, unknown up to now. The description of these ichnospecies and their statistical comparison wit…

Radial Symmetry, the Anterior/Posterior Axis, and Echinoderm Hox Genes

2008

20 pages; International audience; The strangeness of echinoderm pentaradiality results from superposition of radial symmetry onto ancestral deuterostome bilaterality. The Extraxial- Axial Theory shows that echinoderms also have an anterior/posterior (A/P) axis developed independently and ontogenetically before radiality. The A/P axis is first established via coelomic stacking in the extraxial region, with ensuing development of the pentamerous hydrocoel in the axial region. This is strongly correlated with a variety of gene expression patterns. The echinoid Hox cluster is disordered into two different sets of genes. During embryogenesis, members of the posterior class demonstrate temporal, …

Trackways of Arthropleura from the Late Pennsylvanian of Graissessac (Hérault, southern France)

2019

International audience; The Late Pennsylvanian deposits of the Graissessac Basin (southern France) are well known for their abundant and diversified plant remains. Here we report on seven trackways of giant millipede-like arthropods recently discovered from two surfaces. These traces are ascribed to Diplichnites cuithensis. The trackways are up to 200 cm long, up to 36 cm wide, straight to curved and consist of two parallel rows of numerous and elongated appendage imprints that are oriented perpendicular to the midline. Although body fossils of giant millipede-like arthropods remain unknown in sediments from this basin, the morphology and size of the trace fossils indicate that the trails w…

Phylogenetic practices among scholars of fossil cephalopods, with special reference to cladistics.

2004

12 pages; International audience

The Italian Loci Classici Census

2012

Cryptic diversity within three South American whip spider species (Arachnida, Amblypygi)

2020

4 pages; International audience; Cryptic diversity (CD), the presence of highly divergent phylogenetic lineages within closed morphological species, has been documented for many taxa. Great arachnid orders such as Araneae or Scorpiones are well studied and many cases of CD have been described therein; to date, however, related research on smaller arachnid orders, such as whip spiders (Amblypygi), remains lacking. In the current study, we investigated CD based on cytochrome oxidase 1 (COI) in three nominal species of the genus Heterophrynus (H. alces, H. batesii, and H. longicornis), represented by 65 specimens. The sequences were compared using three different methods. All three species sho…

An integrative identification guide to the Hydrozoa (Cnidaria) of Bocas del Toro, Panama

2018

This work is the first attempt to assess the biodiversity of the Hydrozoa in the Archipiélago de Bocas del Toro (Panamá, Caribbean Sea) using morphology and molecular taxonomy, and to produce field identification tools to help future identification and monitoring efforts in the area. We sampled, identified, vouchered, and barcoded 112 specimens of Hydrozoa from shallow coastal waters (0–22 m depth) in the Archipiélago de Bocas del Toro. The specimens belong to 70 taxa, of which 53 were identified at the species level, and 17 were identified at the genus or family level. We produced 64 sequences of the large ribosomal subunit of the mitochondrial RNA (mt lsu-rRNA, 16S), the genetic marker ge…