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Revision of Dugastella nitida n. comb. (Crustacea: Decapoda: Atyidae), a freshwater shrimp from the Oligocene of Aix-en-Provence

Geodiversitas 46 (19)

The fossil shrimp species Caridina nitida A. Milne-Edwards, 1879 described from the Oligocene lacustrine deposits of Aix-en-Provence was considered to be a nomen dubium. Based on newly discovered specimens at the type locality, we provide an illustrated re-description of this species. The detailed morphological study leads us to place C. nitida within the extant genus Dugastella Bouvier, 1912. These new data support the hypothesis of a fresh to slightly brackish palaeoenvironment. A specimen possibly corresponding to A. Milne-Edward’s holotype was found in the collections of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle but since the fossil shrimp is not visible anymore (destroyed), a neotype is designated among the new specimens.

Mid-Pliocene hominin diversity revisited

Comptes Rendus Palevol 23 (29)

Geometric morphometric analyses are used to examine the maxillary shape of the Kenyanthropus platyops Leakey, Spoor, Brown, Gathogo, Kiarie, Leakey & McDougall, 2001 holotype KNM-WT 40000 and the Australopithecus deyiremeda Haile-Selassie, Gilbert, Melillo, Ryan, Alene, Deino, Levin, Scott & Saylor, 2015 holotype BRT-VP-3/1, expanding on the work of Spoor et al. (2010, 2016) by using more accurate data and a larger comparative sample. The main objective is to assess whether these two specimens differ from the contemporary taxon Australopithecus afarensis Johanson, White & Coppens, 1978 and more broadly from species of Australopithecus Dart, 1925 and ­Paranthropus Broom, 1938, as well as from each other.

Adult Homo naledi hand skeleton points to life before birth

Comptes Rendus Palevol 23 (28)

Morphology evolves through modifications to growth and development, yet inferences about ontogeny of extinct organisms are often limited by small and fragmentary fossil samples. The remarkable circumstances and preservation of Homo naledi Berger et al., 2015 material from Rising Star Cave, South Africa allow unique insights into the prenatal period of growth and development. We focus here on what a nearly complete adult H. naledi hand skeleton can tell us about embryonic pattern formation. On the one hand, it has been proposed that the proportional lengths of phalanges within a digit are established by a reaction-diffusion mechanism that can be described mathematically by the “inhibitory cascade” model.

Biodiversity of bathyal coral gardens – portrait of a uniserial bryozoan endemic to the South Azorean Seamount Chain: an unexpected evolutionary testbed?

Zoosystema 46 (30)

On slopes of the bathyal zone, branched scleractinian corals produce three-dimensional constructions and rubble which provide hard substrates particularly suitable for encrusting bryozoans. Samples of “cold water corals”, mainly Madrepora oculata Linnaeus, 1758, collected on six seamounts of the South Azorean Seamount Chain (SASC), allowed a close re-examination of a poorly-known uniserial encrusting cheilostome bryozoan, Harmelinius uniserialis (Harmelin, 1978), revealing unexpected morphological features. In contradistinction to the apparent simplicity of its colony shape formed by ramifying chains of autozooids and vicarious kenozooids, this species presents a great structural complexity shaped by different types of polymorphs.

A new species, Lochriea monocarinata n. sp., and its position in the morphospace of the genus Lochriea Scott, 1942 (Conodonta, Mississippian)

Geodiversitas 46 (18)

The new species of the Mississippian conodonts Lochriea monocarinata n. sp. extends the diversity of the ornamented representatives of the genus Lochriea Scott, 1942. Lochriea monocarinata n. sp. differs from its close relatives by the presence of a nodose ridge only on the inner (caudal) part of the asymmetrical basal cup. The range of the new species, restricted to the Lochriea ziegleri Zone, allows it to be used as an auxiliary biostratigraphic marker of the lower Serpukhovian.

The species in paleoanthropology

Comptes Rendus Palevol 23 (27)

The species is the basic unit of analysis in systematic paleontology. Yet, for most of its history the subfield of paleoanthropology has lacked any coherent concept of what fossil species are, using the species epithet variously at different times – most recently, with the conspicuous effect of minimizing apparent diversity among the hominins. The application of molecular systematic techniques to the analysis of high-latitude early Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 and its contemporaries thus offers a welcome opportunity to reappraise our approaches to species recognition in the rapidly expanding hominin fossil record.

Monitorage de la biodiversité urbaine par l’établissement d’un bilan évolutif du capital naturel existant dans les projets

Naturae 2024 (16)

With the general observation of massive and recent disappearance of biodiversity caused essentially by human activities of transformation and exploitation of natural terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, the establishment of a general concept of ecosystem restoration becomes essential at the scale planetary. Publications proposing ecosystem approach strategies aimed at restoring biodiversity in all environments exploited by man are multiplying but most often use strongly anthropocentric visions of nature’s ecosystem services. With the need for nature in the city, recognized for a good ten years, green city projects are multiplying and encouraging many developers to follow ecological labeling concepts.

Notes on the taxonomy of Frevillea A. Milne-Edwards, 1880 (Crustacea, Brachyura, Goneplacoidea), with the description of a new genus for F. sigsbei A. Milne-Edwards, 1880

Zoosystema 46 (29)

The identities of the Western Atlantic brachyuran crabs Frevillea barbata A. Milne-Edwards, 1880, F. rosaea A. Milne-Edwards, 1880, F. tridentata A. Milne-Edwards, 1880, and F. sigsbei A. Milne-Edwards, 1880, originally placed in Goneplacidae MacLeay, 1838, are clarified on the basis of the examination of type material as well as of additional specimens. The correct identity of the type material of the four species is resolved. A new genus, Diuplax n. gen., is described for F. sigsbei, which had previously been transferred to Goneplax Leach, 1814 (family Goneplacidae).

Typification of Alopecurus laguriformis Schur ex Griseb. & Schenk (Poaceae) with comments on its supposed occurrence in Ukraine

Adansonia 46 (19)

The article unravels the issue of the supposed occurrence of a narrow-range species Alopecurus laguriformis Schur ex Griseb. & Schenk in Ukraine. The study shows that this information originated from Zapałowicz’s (1889, 1906) publications based on wrongly determined specimens of A. pratensis. Revision of literature and herbarium data as well as field surveys indicate that in fact A. laguriformis does not occur in the Ukrainian part of the Carpathians and its range is limited to Romania. Confusion in the circumscription of the species is clarified and its historical background is described. The name Alopecurus laguriformis is lectotypified here from the specimen stored at GOET.

The youngest known South American dyrosaurid (Late Paleocene of Colombia), and evolution of Dyrosauridae (Crocodyliformes: Tethysuchia)

Geodiversitas 46 (17)

Here we describe a dyrosaurid vertebra recovered from the late Paleocene Cuervos Formation in the Llanos Foothills (Colombia), which was previously unknown to yield vertebrates. This is the third locality in Colombia with records of dyrosaurids. Until now, they were described in South America possibly from the Maastrichtian, but mainly from the Danian and the Selandian. The present specimen, dated from the Thanetian, is the youngest record of dyrosaurid remains on this continent, suggesting an incomplete knowledge on the history of this group in South America. Dyrosaurids diversified during the Maastrichtian, reached their golden age during the Paleocene, and declined from the lower Eocene.

A review of the Asian Semigenetta Helbing, 1927 (Viverridae, Feliformia, Carnivora) with a description of two new species, Semigenetta qiae n. sp. from South China and Semigenetta thailandica n. sp. from Thailand

Comptes Rendus Palevol 23 (26)

Semigenetta Helbing, 1927 is a small genet-like carnivoran in the family Viverridae Gray, 1821. The genus has a modest diversity in the Miocene of Eurasia. With its first documentation going back to 1850s, the European records are relatively continuous with five currently recognized species. Asian records have a much shorter history of studies with its first record, S. huaiheensis Qiu & Gu, being published in 1986. In the present paper, we review the Asian records of Semigenetta from China and Thailand, which so far are represented by three species based on fragmentary jaws and teeth. We recognize two new species, S. qiae n. sp. from the late Miocene (c. 6.2-6.9 Ma) of Lufeng Basin in central Yunnan Province, South China and S.