1,721,101 research outputs found
First Mediterranean record of the delphinidan genus Kentriodon from a new Lower Miocene odontocete locality at Feltre (northeastern Italy)
No full textFossil odontocetes from the “Belluno Molasse” (Friulian-Venetian basin, northeastern Italy) have been mainly studied and described by Giorgio Dal Piaz in the early 20th century. These historic finds originate from outcrops in the neighborhood of Belluno where the Lower Miocene Libano Sandstone was quarried. This odontocete assemblage depicts a costal-marine (or even estuarine) fauna that includes seemingly endemic lineages such as Dalpiazinidae and Eoplatanistidae. The odontocete remains from the Belluno area are crucial to understand the diversity and richness of marine vertebrate communities in the Early Miocene, a key moment for the evolutionary radiation of many odontocete lineages. New odontocete remains have recently been found by one of the authors (P.V.) in the Colle della Croce quarry (Feltre, Belluno Province). The strata cropping out therein belong to the aforementioned Libano Sandstone (represented by a distal, fine-grained facies) and to the overlying Bolago Marl, both dating back to the Early Miocene. Most of the odontocetes from the Colle della Croce quarry (including the specimen here examined) originate from the Bolago strata, which we have preliminarily dated to the Burdigalian by means of nannoplankton biostratigraphy. In the present work, we focus on a partial cranium including associated ear bones (right petrosal, stapes, malleus and right tympanic bulla). This specimen was recovered from the Bolago Marl strata of Colle della Croce quarry and is housed at “Museo Civico Archeologico” in Feltre. Osteoanatomical considerations and comparisons with other earlybranching delphinidans kentriodontid genera allow to assign the cranium and ear bones to the kentriodontid genus Kentriodon. This is the first record of Kentriodon in the Mediterranean Basin – one that fills a palaeobiogeographical gap in the distribution of this genus, which was widespread globally during the Early and Middle Miocene
A new Lower Miocene odontocete assemblage from the Colle della Croce quarry (Feltre; Northeastern Italy), and a chronostratigraphic calibration of the Belluno Sandstone
No full textThe Lower Miocene Libàno Sandstone of Veneto is historically known for being home to abundant
finds of marine vertebrates, especially odontocetes, that have been collected and studied since the
18th century. The historical fossiliferous sites, stretching the Belluno area, expose coarse-grained
sediments that could not be dated by biostratigraphic means as they are barren, and are loosely
constrained to the Early Miocene. Here, we report an odontocete assemblage from the Colle della
Croce quarry, a newly discovered locality near Feltre. The fine-grained sediments exposed in the
quarry have been dated by calcareous nannoplankton biostratigraphy to the 20.89–19 Ma (latest
Aquitanian to early Burdigalian) time interval.
A preliminary systematic assessment of the odontocetes from the new quarry reveals an assemblage
characterized by good diversity and disparity: it includes squalodontids, a new squaloziphiid-like
dolphin, a physeteroid, eurhinodelphinids, an odontocete possibly related to Dalpiazina, and
additional material of basal delphinidans (a cranium with ear bones from this very site was described
as belonging to Kentriodon sp. by Nobile et al., 2024).
Moreover, the marine vertebrate fossils from the Colle della Croce quarry also include sea turtles
(Cheloniidae), bony fishes (Sparidae) and many different elasmobranch taxa.
The new odontocete assemblage from the Colle della Croce quarry is somewhat similar to the
historical Belluno fossil fauna due to the shared occurrence of members of squalodontids,
eurhinodelphinids, physeteroids and possibly dalpiazinids. Apparent idiosyncracies of the Colle della
Croce quarry include the occurrence of a kentriodontid and a squaloziphid-like, whose absence
from the Belluno fauna may be due to small differences in terms of age and palaeoenvironment (with
the strata exposed in the vicinity of Feltre representing distal facies compared to the Belluno
outcrops)
Some updates on the ongoing preparation of a right whale (Mysticeti: Balaenidae) skeleton from the Pliocene of Casenuove (Empoli, Florence Province) at the PaleoLab-UniPi
No full textIn the summer of 1995, an incomplete and largely disarticulated cetacean skeleton was collected in
a clay quarry near Casenuove (Empoli, FI). The finding consists of various cranial bones, the right
mandible, two ribs and other postcranial fragments belonging to a baleen-bearing whale (Cetacea:
Mysticeti) (Bianucci, 1996). Based on various osteological features (e.g., a rounded anterior outline
of the supraoccipital, a ventrolaterally projecting zygomatic process of the squamosal, and a greatly
reduced coronoid process of the mandible), this specimen was provisionally determined as belonging
to the mysticete family Balaenidae, somewhat reminiscent of the genus Eubalaena (Bianucci, 1996).
Nowadays, the Casenuove skeleton is part of the palaeontological collection of the Museo di Storia
Naturale dell’Università di Pisa (MSNUP) with catalogue number MSNUP I-16839 (Bianucci &
Sorbini, 2014). In November 2023, the preparation of this huge skeleton has finally started within
the palaeontological laboratories (PaleoLab) of the University of Pisa. At present, this ongoing effort
has led to liberating the right premaxilla and one rib of MSNUP I-16839 from the entombing
sediment. Characters of both these newly prepared bones confirm the assignment of the Casenuove
whale to the balaenids. Hopefully, the preparation of the remaining skeletal elements will soon allow
for an exhaustive description of this fossil whale as well as for its eventual musealization at the
MSNUP, some thirty years after its discovery
From conservation to dissemination: creating digital palaeontological collections at a Department of Earth Sciences and a major Natural History Museum (University of Pisa)
No full textAs many other geological departments worldwide, the Department of Earth Sciences of the
University of Pisa (=Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra dell’Università di Pisa; DSTUP) is home to
a palaeontological teaching collection. Although the specimens that comprise this collection have
no special museological relevance, their role in educating generations of students in natural and
geological sciences is invaluable. The need for creating a digital version of the DSTUP collection was
first felt strongly in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemics caused all teaching activities to move
online.
Another large, diverse, scientifically priceless palaeontological collection is housed in the Natural
History Museum of the University of Pisa (=Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Università di Pisa;
MSNUP). Highlights of this collection, which includes many holotypes, historical finds and otherwise
unique specimens, are the Permo-Carboniferous flora, the Triassic vertebrate footprints and the
Pleistocene terrestrial mammals from the Monti Pisani massif (Northern Apennines) as well as the
marine mammals and fishes from the marine Miocene and Pliocene of Tuscany and a huge collection
of ammonoids from central Italy (Apennines). The foremost importance of this collection has long
led us to search for ways to create digital models of its most precious elements as a means of
mitigating the corresponding palaeontological risk.
In the last few years, members of the palaeontological laboratories (PaleoLab) of the University of
Pisa have been using the 3D technologies of ‘virtual palaeontology’ to (1) digitize the most relevant
specimens from both collections, (2) create online archives, and (3) make the resulting models
accessible and shareable with the broadest audience possible through social media profiles and
internet browsers. 3D models were produced through structured-light scanning and digital
photogrammetry, and then processed for post-production through the 3D software Blender
whenever necessary. All the 3D scans were then gathered in the online repository Sketchfab, which
was chosen for its user-friendly interface and common usage among museums and teaching
institutions. The DSTUP and MSNUP Sketchfab accounts were linked to social media (Facebook
and Instagram) profiles to promote the dissemination of the corresponding palaeontological
collections. The first results of such an effort are very encouraging in terms of views and online
interactions
The body shape of Perucetus colossus, the extremely heavy basilosaurid from the middle Eocene of Peru
No full textThe basilosaurid cetacean Perucetus colossus, recently described from the middle Eocene (ca. 40-38 Ma) of
the Pisco Basin, Peru, has garnered great attention for its remarkable body mass (Bianucci et al., 2023). The
analysis of its holotype - a partial skeleton comprising 13 vertebrae, 4 ribs, and the right innominate - hints
at a staggering total skeleton mass of ca. 5–8 t, at least twice that of the largest living animal, the blue whale.
This suggests a body mass for Perucetus between 85 and 340 t, making it a contender for the title of the
heaviest animal ever.
Assuming neutral buoyancy, the estimated medial body mass of Perucetus allows its body volume to be
estimated at 180 m3
. Comparison with the 3D body shapes of extant marine mammals, scaled to Perucetus
median length estimate, points to a striking resemblance to the West Indian manatee Trichechus manatus.
This basic analysis reinforces our previous interpretation of Perucetus as a benthic feeder inhabiting
hydrodynamic coastal environments.
Newly discovered ribs from the holotype allowed to reconstruct the maximum cross-section of the ribcage
of Perucetus. The cross-sectional surface area estimated from a 3D model of a double-headed rib from the
central portion of the thorax is approximately 1.4 m2
, notably smaller than our volumetric reconstruction
above. However, it is crucial to note that this area represents only a fraction of the total cross-sectional
surface area of the body. Indeed, in the extant Tursiops truncatus, the ribcage's cross-sectional surface area
at a similar anteroposterior level accounts for only 40% of the entire body's cross-section. Moreover, it is
likely that Perucetus had a greater volume of blubber and muscle tissue around the ribcage compared to the
bottlenose dolphin. Therefore, the use of ribs to reconstruct the body shape of Perucetus requires caution
Odontometric characteristics of the European Miocene primates
No full textDuring the Miocene, primates in Europe were widely distributed and highly diverse. Since the early 19th century numerous species have been described. Due to their high potential for taphonomical conservation dental remains are among the fossil remains better used for the reconstruction of their ecology and phylogeny. The main aim of this study was to explore the differences among dental elements of Miocene primates using odontometrics. Odontometrics is a useful tool for investigating variation among primates and characterizing their possible dietary patterns. For such a purpose, dental elements belonging to a selection of Miocene primates from Europe were measured. The included taxa belong to fossil species of the families Hominidae (Dryopithecus, Oreopithecus), Pliopithecidae (Pliopithecus), and Cercopithecidae (Mesopithecus). Only unworn or nearly unworn teeth belonging to mature specimens were considered. According to previously established protocols, two measurements were taken on the crown, buccolingual width (B-L) and mesiodistal length (M- D). Although numerous species possessed specializations, they share traits like small incisors or narrow but long lower molars. The results also show differences that may be related to diverse diets among the studied taxa and to the different patterns of sexual dimorphism
3D reconstruction of the Cádiz fossil whale
No full textJournal Contribution posted on 2023-12-20, authored by Giulia Bosio, Ildefonso Bajo-Campos, Alberto Collareta, Sergio Ros Montoya, Daniel de la Torre, Giovanni Coletti, Giovanni Bianucci.3D model of the Cádiz fossil whale.Bosio G., Bajo-Campos I., Collareta A., Ros-Montoya S., de la Torre D., Coletti G., Bianucci G. 2024. Taphonomy of a mysticete whale from the Lower Pliocene of the coast of Cádiz (Spain). Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 12(1), 17. https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse12010017To correctly visualize the textured 3D model in a 3D software, the three uploaded files (.obj, .mtl and .jpg) should be downloaded and stored within a single folder without changing the corresponding file names.</p
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
- …
