Search results for "fossil"
showing 10 items of 412 documents
Les Amphibiens fossiles de Bourgogne (Temnospondyles et Lissamphibiens).
2012
23 pages; National audience; L'inventaire actuel des Amphibiens fossiles des collections bourguignonnes montre que les Temnospondyles (Branchiosaures, Eryopidés), Lépospondyles (Nectridiens, Aïstopodes) et Discosauridés du Carbonifère et du Permien sont bien représentés ; ainsi que leurs traces de pas. Par contre, les Lissamphibiens n'ont pas été rencontrés dans les séries du Mésozoïque et du Cénozoïque hormis plusieurs espèces modernes qui ont été récoltées à la faveur des recherches préhistoriques dans le Quaternaire (Pléistocène, Holocène, Actuel).
First xiphosuran traceway in the middle Muschelkalk facies (Middle Triassic) of the Catalan Basin (NE Iberian Peninsula)
2021
In the last decade, the first ichnoassamblages from the middle Muschelkalk facies (upper Anisian-middle Ladinian) of the Catalan Basin (NE Iberian Peninsula) have been discovered. Herein, the first xiphosuran trace fossils are described from the locality of Penya Rubí, a newly discovered ichnosite from the Catalan Basin. The finding opens a window into peri-Tethys ecosystems with coastal influence. The traceway is referred to the ichnogenus Kouphichnium, a locomotion trace attributed to xiphosurans. The traceway preserves telson grooves and different imprint morphologies from the various appendages. The traceway pattern and arrangement of the different traces suggest a crawling locomotion s…
Systematic Position of the Fossil Burrower Bug Eocenocydnus lisi Popov, 2019 (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Cydnidae) Revealed by a Parallel/Cross-Eyed Vie…
2022
The fossil burrower bug Eocenocydnus lisi described from the Late Eocene of the Isle of Wight, UK, is analysed using a parallel, cross-eyed viewing method. The species, tentatively placed in the subfamily Sehirinae, is redescribed and its systematic position is discussed. Newly recovered morphological characteristics allow it to be placed in the tribe Cydnini of the subfamily Cydninae.
Numerical dating of the Eckfeld maar fossil site, Eifel, Germany: a calibration mark for the Eocene time scale.
2000
Sediments of the Eckfeld maar (Eifel, Germany) bear a well-preserved Eocene fauna and flora. Biostratigraphically, Eckfeld corresponds to the Middle Eocene mammal reference level MP (Mammals Paleogene) 13 of the ELMA (European Land Mammal Age) Geiseltalian. In the maar crater, basalt fragments were drilled, representing explosion crater eruption products. By 40Ar/39Ar dating of the basalt, for the first time a direct numerical calibration mark for an Eocene European mammal locality has been established. The Eckfeld basalt inverse isochron date of 44.3 +/- 0.4 Ma suggests an age for the Geiseltalian/Robiacian boundary at 44 Ma and, together with the 1995 time scale of Berggren et al., a time…
Stranded jellyfish in the lowermost Cambrian (Corduban) of Spain
2021
Ninety discoid structures of big size occurring on a bedding plane of Nemakit-Daldynian to Tommotian sandstones (i.e. Corduban in the Spanish scale of Cambrian stages) from south-western Spain are described. Cross-cutting relationships between discoid structures and associated trace fossils, as well as evidence for penecontemporaneous deformation of sediment laminae below the discoids, permit to interprete these structures as impressions of ancient, soft-bodied marine organisms. Taphonomic, biometric, and morphological studies suggest that they are outer moulds of both sides, subumbrellar and exumbrellar, of ancient jellyfish of hydrozoan coelenterates, whose canals resemble the modern genu…
To be or not to be heavier: The role of dermal bones in the buoyancy of the Late Triassic temnospondyl amphibian Metoposaurus krasiejowensis.
2022
Stereospondyli are a clade of large aquatic temnospondyls known to have evolved a large dermal pectoral girdle. Among the Stereospondyli, metoposaurids in particular possess large interclavicles and clavicles relative to the rest of the postcranial skel-eton. Because of the large size of these dermal bones, it was first proposed that they served as ballast during hydrostatic buoyancy control which assisted metoposaurids to live a bottom-dwelling mode of life. However, a large bone need not necessarily be heavy, for which determining the bone compactness becomes crucial for under-standing any such adaptation in these dermal bones. Previous studies on the evolu-tion of bone adaptations to aqu…
A hidden species becoming visible : biogeography and ecology of Rhynchotalona latens (Cladocera, Anomopoda, Chydoridae)
2019
A long hidden chydorid (Chydoridae, Cladocera) taxon, first found as fossil specimens and recently redefined as Rhynchotalona latens (Sarmaja-Korjonen et al., Hydrobiologia 436: 165-169, 2000) is investigated for its biogeography and ecology. Late Holocene sediment sequence from Lake Sylvilampi, NE Finnish Lapland, and R. latens spatial distribution in relation to limno-climatic attributes in Finland were examined. Principal component analyses of fossil cladoceran communities showed that R. latens is mostly affiliated with Alonella excisa-Alonopsis elongata-Alonella nana species pool. Generalized linear modeling of R. latens responses to limno-climatic variation indicated that it prefers ac…
Coprolites in natural traps : direct evidence of bone-eating carnivorans from the Late Miocene Batallones-3 site, Madrid, Spain
2021
We describe two carnivoran coprolites found in the pseudokarst natural carnivore trap of Batallones-3, from the Late Miocene of Spain. The larger one, comprising multiple indistinguishable fragments of broken and corroded bones, indicates that the producer of the dropping might have been highly capable of crushing the softer parts of large bones. On the other hand, the smaller one shows several relatively larger and more complete bone fragments, thus exhibiting a greater capacity to break and swallow large portions of bone. The external morphology of the large coprolite is similar to that of extant bears, whereas the smaller one more closely resembles that of the living insectivorous hyaeni…
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…