Search results for "Late Miocene"

Carex sect. Rhynchocystis (Cyperaceae): a Miocene subtropical relict in the Western Palaearctic showing a dispersal‐derived Rand Flora pattern

2017

Aim To evaluate how Cenozoic climate changes shaped the evolution and distribution of Carex section Rhynchocystis. Location Western Palaearctic and Afrotropical regions (Rand Flora pattern). Methods DNA regions ITS, ETS (nuclear), matK and rpl32-trnLUAG (plastid) were amplified for 86 samples of species from section Rhynchocystis. Phylogenetic and phylogeographical relationships were inferred using maximum parsimony, Bayesian inference and coalescent-based species tree approaches. Divergence times and ancestral areas were also inferred. Results Carex section Rhynchocystis is a clade that diversified during the middle Miocene in Europe. Most cladogenesis events date to the middle and late Mi…

2019

Aim Using the extremophile genus Anabasis, which includes c. 28 succulent, xerophytic C4 species, and is widely distributed in arid regions of Northern Africa, Arabia, and Asia, we investigate biogeographical relationships between the Irano-Turanian floristic region (ITfr) and its neighboring regions. We test whether the spread of arid and semi-arid biomes in Eurasia coincides with the biogeography of this drought-adapted genus, and whether the ITfr acted as source area of floristic elements for adjacent regions. Location Deserts and semi-deserts of Northern Africa, Mediterranean, Arabia, West and Central Asia. Methods Four cpDNA markers (rpL16 intron, atpB-rbcL, trnQ-rps16, and ndhF-rpL32 …

“Into and Out of” the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau and the Himalayas: Centers of origin and diversification across five clades of Eurasian montane and alpin…

2020

Abstract Encompassing some of the major hotspots of biodiversity on Earth, large mountain systems have long held the attention of evolutionary biologists. The region of the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau (QTP) is considered a biogeographic source for multiple colonization events into adjacent areas including the northern Palearctic. The faunal exchange between the QTP and adjacent regions could thus represent a one‐way street (“out of” the QTP). However, immigration into the QTP region has so far received only little attention, despite its potential to shape faunal and floral communities of the QTP. In this study, we investigated centers of origin and dispersal routes between the QTP, its forested m…

The tangled cases of Deinogalerix (Late Miocene endemic erinaceid of Gargano) and Galericini (Eulipotyphla, Erinaceidae): a cladistic perspective.

2018

The Late Miocene giant erinaceid Deinogalerix from Scontrone and Gargano (Italy) is associated with many other vertebrates in deposits of a past island, the “Abruzzo-Apulia Platform”. At Gargano, Deinogalerix is accompanied by the moderately endemized Galericini Apulogalerix. This first extensive cladistic analysis is aimed at defining the relationships of Deinogalerix with characteristic members of the tribe Galericini. The analysis was performed on a matrix of 30 characters and 19 taxa and identified some smaller clades, nested within three major ones. The latter include: (i) a pentatomy of Galerix species, (ii) a polytomy of “transitional” Galerix–Parasorex species and (iii) a large clad…

Efficient recycling of nutrients in modern and past hypersaline environments

2019

The biogeochemistry of hypersaline environments is strongly influenced by changes in biological processes and physicochemical parameters. Although massive evaporation events have occurred repeatedly throughout Earth history, their biogeochemical cycles and global impact remain poorly understood. Here, we provide the first nitrogen isotopic data for nutrients and chloropigments from modern shallow hypersaline environments (solar salterns, Trapani, Italy) and apply the obtained insights to ¿ 15 N signatures of the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC) in the late Miocene. Concentrations and ¿ 15 N of chlorophyll a, bacteriochlorophyll a, nitrate, and ammonium in benthic microbial mats indicate that…

Major palaeohydrographic changes in Alpine foreland during the Pliocene - Pleistocene

2008

International audience; The changing palaeogeographical pattern of Alpine deposits across the European forelands can be traced by identifying mineral assemblages and establishing the chronology of Pliocene-Pleistocene deposits in Alpine foreland. In the late Miocene, the upper courses of the Rhine and the Aar flowed east from the Swiss molasse plain towards the Danube. In the early Pliocene (Brunssumian, 5-3.2 Ma), these same rivers headed north-wards towards the Rhine Graben of Alsace. In the early Reuverian, these streams were captured south of the Rhine Graben by the Doubs. They ceased their northward flow and headed west to feed the Bresse Graben. This phase is dated to the Lower and Mi…

Structural highs formation and their relationship to sedimentary basins in the north Sicily continental margin (southern Tyrrhenian Sea): implication…

2005

Two high-penetration seismic profiles across the continental margin of north Sicily (southern Tyrrhenian Sea) have been interpreted to construct a crustal section across the margin and to provide a three-dimensional perspective on the upper crustal setting of the Solunto High and its structural relationships with the adjacent Cefalù Basin. Crystalline rocks of the Kabilian-Calabrian Units (KCU) are recognized in the Solunto High region and farther to the north. The KCU body is tectonically superimposed onto sedimentary rocks pertaining to the Sicilian-Maghrebian Units (SMU) and the Solunto High corresponds to the thrust sheet culmination. Its occurrence in the Solunto High demonstrates that…

Kretzoiarctos gen. nov., the oldest member of the giant panda clade

2012

The phylogenetic position of the giant panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca (Carnivora: Ursidae: Ailuropodinae), has been one of the most hotly debated topics by mammalian biologists and paleontologists during the last century. Based on molecular data, it is currently recognized as a true ursid, sister-taxon of the remaining extant bears, from which it would have diverged by the Early Miocene. However, from a paleobiogeographic and chronological perspective, the origin of the giant panda lineage has remained elusive due to the scarcity of the available Miocene fossil record. Until recently, the genus Ailurarctos from the Late Miocene of China (ca. 8–7 mya) was recognized as the oldest undoubted me…

Late Miocene turnover in the Spanish mammal record in relation to palaeoclimate and the Messinian Salinity Crisis

2006

Abstract The latest Miocene and earliest Pliocene is a period of marked changes in geography and climate in the circum-Mediterranean area. Its geographical situation gives Spain a key position, and its fossil mammal record reflects these important geographical and climatic changes particularly well. The Spanish mammal record shows a gradual change of composition towards the typical Pleistocene and recent fauna, marked by several extinction and dispersal events. These events have the effect that northern Eurasian elements increase, while taxa that locally go extinct may live on in tropical areas. Superposed on this large scale trend, there are some events of short lived incursions of animals…

Multi-temporal tectonic evolution of Capo Granitola and Sciacca foreland transcurrent faults (Sicily channel)

2019

Highlights • Seismic reflection profiles evidence tectonic inversion and active strike-slip faults offshore SW Sicily foreland • Pliocene-Quaternary transpressional inversion of Late Miocene extensional basins • Transpressional fold growth rates were high in Latest Miocene-Pliocene and decreased during Quaternary Joint analysis of high-penetration multi-channel and high-resolution single-channel seismic reflection profiles, calibrated by deep well boreholes, allowed a detailed reconstruction of the Late Miocene to Recent tectonic history of the Capo Granitola and Sciacca fault systems offshore southwestern Sicily. These two fault arrays are part of a regional system of transcurrent faults t…