Search results for "FOSSILS"
showing 10 items of 159 documents
Critical appraisal of tubular putative eumetazoans from the Ediacaran Weng'an Doushantuo biota
2015
Molecular clock analyses estimate that crown-group animals began diversifying hundreds of millions of years before the start of the Cambrian period. However, the fossil record has not yielded unequivocal evidence for animals during this interval. Some of the most promising candidates for Precambrian animals occur in the Weng'an biota of South China, including a suite of tubular fossils assigned to Sinocyclocyclicus, Ramitubus, Crassitubus and Quadratitubus, that have been interpreted as soft-bodied eumetazoans comparable to tabulate corals. Here, we present new insights into the anatomy, original composition and phylogenetic affinities of these taxa based on data from synchrotron radiation …
Anthropoid versus strepsirhine status of the African Eocene primates Algeripithecus and Azibius: craniodental evidence.
2009
Recent fossil discoveries have demonstrated that Africa and Asia were epicentres for the origin and/or early diversification of the major living primate lineages, including both anthropoids (monkeys, apes and humans) and crown strepsirhine primates (lemurs, lorises and galagos). Competing hypotheses favouring either an African or Asian origin for anthropoids rank among the most hotly contested issues in paleoprimatology. The Afrocentric model for anthropoid origins rests heavily on the >45 Myr old fossil Algeripithecus minutus from Algeria, which is widely acknowledged to be one of the oldest known anthropoids. However, the phylogenetic position of Algeripithecus with respect to other p…
Estimating the dwarfing rate of an extinct Sicilian elephant.
2021
Summary Evolution on islands, together with the often extreme phenotypic changes associated with it, has attracted much interest from evolutionary biologists. However, measuring the rate of change of phenotypic traits of extinct animals can be challenging, in part due to the incompleteness of the fossil record. Here, we use combined molecular and fossil evidence to define the minimum and maximum rate of dwarfing in an extinct Mediterranean dwarf elephant from Puntali Cave (Sicily). 1 Despite the challenges associated with recovering ancient DNA from warm climates, 2 we successfully retrieved a mitogenome from a sample with an estimated age between 175,500 and 50,000 years. Our results sugge…
Screening archaeological bone for palaeogenetic and palaeoproteomic studies.
2020
Funder: FP7 Ideas: European Research Council; funder-id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100011199; Grant(s): 295729
Comparison of quantitative Holocene temperature reconstructions using multiple proxies from a northern boreal lake
2017
Four biotic proxies (plant macrofossils, pollen, chironomids and diatoms) are employed to quantitatively reconstruct variations in mean July air temperatures ( Tjul) at Lake Loitsana (northern Finland) during the Holocene. The aim is to evaluate the robustness and biases in these temperature reconstructions and to compare the timing of highest Tjul in the individual reconstructions. The reconstructed Tjul values are evaluated in relation to local-scale/site-specific processes associated with the Holocene lake development at Loitsana as these factors have been shown to significantly influence the fossil assemblages found in the Lake Loitsana sediments. While pollen-based temperatures follow…
First fossil record (Middle Miocene) of the viper shark Trigonognathus Mochizuki and Ohe, 1990, in the Mediterranean realm
2022
The genus Trigonognathus Mochizuki and Ohe, 1990, is a monospecific taxon of `lantern sharks¿ (i.e., family Etmopteridae), a group of small-sized bioluminescent deep-sea chondrichthyans, ranging in mature male specimens between 42¿47 cm total length, and at least 52 cm for females (Ebert et al., 2021). This shark inhabits the upper continental slopes as well as the uppermost slope of seamounts, often at the bottom, at depths ranging between 250¿1000 m, but has been caught at 150 m and 270 m in deep open waters (Mochizuki and Ohe, 1990; Compagno et al., 2005; Ebert et al., 2021). Only two species have been described thus far, the extant species Trigonognathus kabeyai Mochizuki and Ohe, 1990,…
Smithian (Early Triassic) ammonoid faunas from northwestern Guangxi (South China): Taxonomy and Biochronology.
2008
184 pages; International audience; The highly fossiliferous succession of Smithian (Early Triassic) ammonoids from northwestern Guangxi (South China) provides a key equatorial record, at the boundary between Tethys and Panthalassa. After the end-Permian extinction, ammonoids reached their first major diversity peak during Smithian times, coupled with a marked contrast in their latitudinal distribution. This monograph contains a part of the fundamental taxonomic and biostratigraphic data of a more comprehensive research project addressing patterns of recovery in time and space of Early Triassic ammonoids and other marine clades, in conjunction with global paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic …
New Smithian (Early Triassic) ammonoids from Crittenden Springs, Elko County, Nevada: implications for taxonomy, biostratigraphy and biogeography.
2010
41 pages; International audience
The utility of 3D medical imaging techniques for obtaining a reliable differential diagnosis of metastatic cancer in an Iron Age skull.
2018
Abstract In this report we present a case of neoplastic disease affecting an Iron Age skull that provides some of the earliest evidence of metastatic cancer (MC) in Western Europe. The cranium comes from the indigenous site of Baucina (Palermo, Sicily) and was recovered in a multiple burial context dated to the 6th–5th centuries BCE. The skull was attributed to an adult female and was characterized by numerous perforating lytic lesions. CT and 3D imaging analyses were crucial for obtaining a diagnosis of MC. Based on the morphology of the lytic lesions and the biological profile of our specimen, we can tentatively suggest breast carcinoma as the primary origin of the clinical manifestations…
Ancient DNA, Strontium isotopes, and osteological analyses shed light on social and kinship organization of the Later Stone Age.
2008
In 2005 four outstanding multiple burials were discovered near Eulau, Germany. The 4,600-year-old graves contained groups of adults and children buried facing each other. Skeletal and artifactual evidence and the simultaneous interment of the individuals suggest the supposed families fell victim to a violent event. In a multidisciplinary approach, archaeological, anthropological, geochemical (radiogenic isotopes), and molecular genetic (ancient DNA) methods were applied to these unique burials. Using autosomal, mitochondrial, and Y-chromosomal markers, we identified genetic kinship among the individuals. A direct child-parent relationship was detected in one burial, providing the oldest mol…