Search results for "FOSSILS"
showing 10 items of 159 documents
First record of Mesopithecus (Cercopithecidae, Colobinae) from the Miocene of the Iberian Peninsula
2015
We report dental remains of the extinct colobine monkey Mesopithecus from the Turolian (MN13, Late Miocene, ca. 6.23 Ma) locality of Venta del Moro (Valencia, Spain). They include most of the deciduous dentition and the unerupted germs of the first molars of a single infantile individual, as well as two lower left lateral incisors from two additional individuals. On the basis of morphometric comparisons, mainly based on the Ms, these remains are attributed to the Late Miocene species Mesopithecus pentelicus. They represent a significant addition to the knowledge of the deciduous dentition of this taxon, much less well-known than the permanent dentition. Although this genus was widely distri…
Short-term occupations at high elevation during the Middle Paleolithic at Kalavan 2 (Republic of Armenia).
2021
The Armenian highlands encompasses rugged and environmentally diverse landscapes and is characterized by a mosaic of distinct ecological niches and large temperature gradients. Strong seasonal fluctuations in resource availability along topographic gradients likely prompted Pleistocene hominin groups to adapt by adjusting their mobility strategies. However, the role that elevated landscapes played in hunter-gatherer settlement systems during the Late Pleistocene (Middle Palaeolithic [MP]) remains poorly understood. At 1640 m above sea level, the MP site of Kalavan 2 (Armenia) is ideally positioned for testing hypotheses involving elevation-dependent seasonal mobility and subsistence strateg…
Molecular phylogeny of the Notostraca
2012
Abstract We used a combined analysis of one nuclear (28S rDNA) and three mitochondrial markers (COI, 12S rDNA, 16S rDNA) to infer the molecular phylogeny of the Notostraca, represented by samples from the six continents that are inhabited by this group of branchiopod crustaceans. Our results confirm the monophyly of both extant notostracan genera Triops and Lepidurus with good support in model based and maximum parsimony analyses. We used branchiopod fossils as a calibration to infer divergence times among notostracan lineages and accounted for rate heterogeneity among lineages by applying relaxed-clock models. Our divergence date estimates indicate an initial diversification into the gener…
Phylogeography of lions (Panthera leossp.) reveals three distinct taxa and a late Pleistocene reduction in genetic diversity
2009
Lions were the most widespread carnivores in the late Pleistocene, ranging from southern Africa to the southern USA, but little is known about the evolutionary relationships among these Pleistocene populations or the dynamics that led to their extinction. Using ancient DNA techniques, we obtained mitochondrial sequences from 52 individuals sampled across the present and former range of lions. Phylogenetic analysis revealed three distinct clusters: (i) modern lions, Panthera leo; (ii) extinct Pleistocene cave lions, which formed a homogeneous population extending from Europe across Beringia (Siberia, Alaska and western Canada); and (iii) extinct American lions, which formed a separate popula…
Molecular phylogeny of the extinct cave lion Panthera leo spelaea.
2004
To reconstruct the phylogenetic position of the extinct cave lion (Panthera leo spelaea), we sequenced 1 kb of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene from two Pleistocene cave lion DNA samples (47 and 32 ky B.P.). Phylogenetic analysis shows that the ancient sequences form a clade that is most closely related to the extant lions from Africa and Asia; at the same time, cave lions appear to be highly distinct from their living relatives. Our data show that these cave lion sequences represent lineages that were isolated from lions in Africa and Asia since their dispersal over Europe about 600 ky B.P., as they are not found among our sample of extant populations. The cave lion lineages presented h…
A functional multivariate analysis of Mesopithecus (Primates: Colobinae) humeri from the Turolian of Greece.
2012
12 pages; International audience; The genus Mesopithecus is well represented in the late Miocene of Greece by several recognized species. The present paper investigates functional aspects of the humeri of Mesopithecus delsoni/pentelicus, M. pentelicus and M. aff. pentelicus of several Turolian sites from central and northern Greece, using multivariate approaches. For these purposes, we selected significant humeral functional features, which were represented by 23 linear dimensions and three angles on 14 fossil humeri and 104 humeri from 10 genera and 22 species of extant African and Asian Colobines. All size-adjusted measurements were examined through a principal components analysis, follow…
Three-dimensional geometric morphometrics of thorax-pelvis covariation and its potential for predicting the thorax morphology: A case study on Kebara…
2020
The skeletal torso is a complex structure of outstanding importance in understanding human body shape evolution, but reconstruction usually entails an element of subjectivity as researchers apply their own anatomical expertise to the process. Among different fossil reconstruction methods, 3D geometric morphometric techniques have been increasingly used in the last decades. Two-block partial least squares analysis has shown great potential for predicting missing elements by exploiting the covariation between two structures (blocks) in a reference sample: one block can be predicted from the other one based on the strength of covariation between blocks. The first aim of this study is to test w…
The ecomorphology of southern African rodent incisors: Potential applications to the hominin fossil record.
2018
AbstractThe taxonomic identification of mammalian fauna within fossil assemblages is a well-established component of paleoenvironmental reconstructions. However, many fragmentary specimens recovered from fossil sites are often disregarded as they can be difficult to identify with the precision required for taxonomic methods. For this reason, the large numbers of isolated rodent incisors that are often recovered from hominin fossil bearing sites have generally been seen as offering little interpretive value. Ecomorphological analysis, often referred to as a “taxon-free” method, can potentially circumvent this problem by focusing on the adaptive, rather than the taxonomic significance of rode…
Macaque remains from the early Pliocene of the Iberian Peninsula
2018
Macaques dispersed out of Africa into Eurasia in the framework of a broader intercontinental faunal exchange that coincided in time with the sea level drop associated with the Messinian Salinity Crisis. They are first recorded in Europe (Italy and Spain) by the latest Miocene, being subsequently recorded all over Europe, albeit sparsely, throughout the Pliocene and Pleistocene. These fossil European macaques are attributed to several (sub)species of the extant Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus). In Iberia, fossil macaques are best documented by Macaca sylvanus florentina from various Early Pleistocene sites, whereas their published Pliocene record is very scarce. Here we report the oldest po…
On the socio-sexual behaviour of the extinct ursid Indarctos arctoides: an approach based on its baculum size and morphology
2013
The fossil bacula, or os penis, constitutes a rare subject of study due to its scarcity in the fossil record. In the present paper we describe five bacula attributed to the bear Indarctos arctoides Depéret, 1895 from the Batallones-3 site (Madrid Basin, Spain). Both the length and morphology of this fossil bacula enabled us to make interpretative approaches to a series of ecological and ethological characters of this bear. Thus, we suggest that I. arctoides could have had prolonged periods of intromission and/or maintenance of intromission during the post-ejaculatory intervals, a multi-male mating system and large home range sizes and/or lower population density. Its size might also have he…