1,721,152 research outputs found
The whale barnacle Cryptolepas rhachianecti (Cirripedia: Coronulidae), a phoront of the grey whale Eschrichtius robustus (Cetacea: Eschrichtiidae), from a sandy beach in The Netherlands
No full textBosselaers, Mark, Collareta, Alberto (2016): The whale barnacle Cryptolepas rhachianecti (Cirripedia: Coronulidae), a phoront of the grey whale Eschrichtius robustus (Cetacea: Eschrichtiidae), from a sandy beach in The Netherlands. Zootaxa 4154 (3): 331-338, DOI: http://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4154.3.
Fossil turtle and whale barnacles (Crustacea: Cirripedia: Coronuloidea) kept at the Natural History Museum of Pisa University: An annotated catalogue
No full textIn this short paper the collection of fossil coronuloid barnacles kept at the Natural History Museum of Pisa University is presented and briefly commented. It consists of one hundred and twenty-seven catalogued specimens and features one species of turtle barnacle (Chelonibia testudinaria) and three species of whale barnacles (†Cetopirus fragilis, represented in this collection by the holotype and only known specimen, †Coronula bifida, and Coronula diadema). The paleontological collection of fossil turtle and whale barnacles kept at the Natural History Museum of Pisa University stands out as one of the most important collections of coronuloid barnacles in Italy and all over Europe
A new record of Triassic dinosaur footprint from Monte Pisano (Northern Apennines, Italy): true or false?
No full textThe Upper Triassic continental deposits of Monte Pisano (Northern Apennines) preserve a high number of tetrapod tracks: some of them are among the most ancient italian records of dinosaurs. In this work we describe a putative, isolated ichnite (the “Agnano track”) from the top member of the Monte Serra Quartzites Formation consisting of a small-sized, tridactyl possible pes impression. Being concave and lying on the sole of a fine-grained arenaceous bed, this feature poses some serious difficulties in order to fully embrace its tetrapod-related origin, although concave hyporeliefs have been recently pointed out (but not investigated) by some authors. If the observed concave hyporelief is not an artefact, it could have been formed during the early phases of the diagenesis by differential compaction of the sandy layer immediately overlying a well-indurated undertrack. After having tentatively interpreted the “Agnano track” as a sort of “second generation” imprint, we emphasize its similarities with the Anomoepus-like group of vertebrate ichnites, thus proposing it could testify the passage of a basal ornitischian dinosaur
The porbeagle shark, Lamna nasus (Elasmobranchii: Lamniformes), from the late Pliocene of the central Mediterranean Basin
No full textThe porbeagle shark, Lamna nasus, is an extant species of mackerel shark characterized by a tuna-shaped body, high swimming velocities, regional endothermy, and a predilection for sub-polar and cold-temperate waters below 18 °C. Porbeagle sharks inhabit a broad variety of mid- and high-latitude coastal and open-ocean environments, ranging across the northern Atlantic Ocean and in a continuous band in the Southern Hemisphere. We report on a fossil tooth, identified as belonging to Lamna nasus, discovered in late Pliocene (i.e., Piacenzian) upper bathyal mudstones exposed at Castelnuovo Berardenga Scalo (Siena Basin, Tuscany, Italy), a site which has also provided a well-diversified deep-water elasmobranch assemblage rich in forms such as Chlamydoselachus lawleyi and Centrophorus granulosus. To our knowledge, this specimen represents the first fossil record of L. nasus in the Mediterranean Basin; as such, it expands our knowledge on the late Pliocene central Mediterranean biodiversity and contributes to the still fragmentary fossil history of the genus Lamna. Our finding suggests that, at least at times, seawater temperatures suitable for cold-temperate coastal-pelagic organisms were present along the coasts of Tuscany during deposition of the mudstones exposed at Castelnuovo Berardenga Scalo. Since these deposits are believed to postdate the so-called Mid Piacenzian Warm Period (3.264-3.025 Ma), the occurrence of a tooth L. nasus could be regarded as an early marker of the long-lasting cooling trend which affected the Mediterranean waters starting from around 3 Ma. The porbeagle shark, therefore, might have been one of the earliest Atlantic cold-water fish taxa to enter the Mediterranean realm in Plio-Pleistocene times
A pristid sawfish from the lower Pliocene of Lucciolabella (Radicofani basin, Tuscany, central Italy)
Full text linkIn this paper we report on a partially preserved rostral spine attributed to Anoxypristis? sp. from lower Pliocene (Zanclean) marine deposits exposed at Lucciolabella (Province of Siena, Tuscany, central Italy). This finding represents the first unambiguous record of pristids in lower Pliocene deposits of Italy, corroborating the persistence of sawfish in the Mediterranean basin after the so-called Messinian Salinity Crisis. Our finding supports the hypothesis of the persistence of climatic and ecological conditions propitious to warm-water marine vertebrates along the early Pliocene coasts of Tuscany and suggests that, after centuries of scientific study, the Pliocene elasmobranch palaeocommunities of Tuscany can still bring surprises
A sea of pufferfishes: how vertebrate palaeontology can shed light on the future of an iconic Mediterranean bioinvasion
No full textThe main goal of the Paris Climate Accords is to keep the rise in mean global temperature well below a maximum of 2°C above pre-industrial levels, recognizing that this would substantially temper the effects of global warming. As regards the Mediterranean Basin, mean temperatures have increased 1.4°C since the late XIX century (i.e., distinctly more than the global average of +1.1°C), and they are projected to increase by an additional 1.5°C by 2050 in case of no decarbonization. During the Pliocene, temperatures were 2–3°C higher than today, which means that the Mediterranean Pliocene palaeoenvironments may provide a much realistic example of what the Mediterranean Sea might become in a not-so-far future (would we fail the main goal of the Paris Agreement). Thus, we may turn to vertebrate palaeontology to envision how the Mediterranean fauna would look like in perspective. Pufferfishes (Tetraodontiformes: Tetraodontidae) are instructive in this respect. Until the XIX century, a single pufferfish species, Lagocephalus lagocephalus, was known to inhabit the Mediterranean for sure, being rarely reported from the waters off Sicily. Nowadays, as many as six more pufferfish species are spreading across the Mediterranean, representing some of the more striking examples of "lessepsian immigrants" that have entered the eastern portion of the basin through the Suez Canal. These include the poisonous pufferfish Lagocephalus sceleratus, which currently represents 4% of the weight of total artisan catches in the Eastern Mediterranean. Pliocene fossils of Tetraodontidae, mostly consisting of premaxillae and dentaries, are fairly common in the Mediterranean area as north as in Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna (Adriatic palaeo-area), taking their place besides thermophilic relics of the Tethys ocean and other warm-water, currently extraMediterranean taxa (e.g., the tiger shark, Galeocerdo cuvier) that may be on the cusp of re-entering the basin. The whole Mediterranean could thus become a sea of pufferfishes
A new raptorial sperm whale (Cetacea, Physeteroidea) from the late Miocene of South Italy
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Da li je malooki mlat ikada nastanjivao Sredozemno more? Ponovno vrednovanje jedinog talijanskog nalaza vrste Sphyrina tudes (Valenciennes, 1822.)
Full text linkThree species of Sphyrna (S. lewini, S. mokarran and S. zygaena) are known to inhabit the present-day Mediterranean Sea, whereas uncertainties exist about the presence of S. tudes in the same basin. Indeed, the presence of this typically western Atlantic shark in the Mediterranean Sea is supported by as few as two historical specimens that were captured at Nice (southeastern France) and Leghorn (northern Tyrrhenian coast of central Italy). Here, we provide a redescription and an updated taxonomic identification of the Leghorn specimen of smalleye hammerhead, which is currently kept in the zoological collection of the Natural History Museum of the University of Pisa and is believed by some authors to represent a misidentified representative of S. lewini. Based on first-hand observations, we confirm the taxonomic identification of this specimen as belonging to S. tudes. Considering the ontogenetically young nature of both the Nice and the Leghorn specimens of S. tudes, parturition in the Mediterranean Sea is hypothesised, which in turn may evoke the occurrence of a population of smalleye hammerheads inhabiting this basin at least as recently as the early 19th century.Tri vrste roda Sphyrna (S. lewini, S. mokarran i S. zygaena) nastanjuju današnje Sredozemno more, no postoje nejasnoće oko prisutnosti vrste S. tudes u istom području. Prisutnost ovog tipično zapadno-atlantskog morskog psa u Sredozemnom moru podupiru samo dva povijesna primjerka uhvaćena kod Nice (jugoistočna Francuska) i Leghorna (sjeverna tirenska obala središnje Italije). U ovom radu iznosi se ponovni opis te ažurirana taksonomska identifikacija primjerka malookog mlata iz Leghorna, koji se trenutno čuva u zoološkoj zbirci Prirodoslovnog muzeja Sveučilišta u Pisi, a za kojeg neki autori vjeruju da predstavlja pogrešno identificiranog predstavnika vrste S. lewini. Na temelju izravnih promatranja, autori potvrđuju taksonomsku identifikaciju analiziranog primjerka kao pripadnika vrste S. tudes. S obzirom da su primjerci vrste S. tudes iz Nice i Leghorna mlade jedinke, pretpostavlja se da su okoćeni na području Sredozemog mora što može sugerirati prisutstvo populacije ove vrste na tom području barem do početka devetnaestog stoljeća
FIGURE 1 in Cetopirus complanatus (Cirripedia: Coronulidae) from the late Middle Pleistocene human settlement of Pinnacle Point 13 B (Mossel Bay, South Africa)
No full textFIGURE 1. Location and landscape of the study area.Published as part of Collareta, Alberto, Marean, Curtis W., Jerardino, Antonieta & Bosselaers, Mark, 2017, Cetopirus complanatus (Cirripedia: Coronulidae) from the late Middle Pleistocene human settlement of Pinnacle Point 13 B (Mossel Bay, South Africa), pp. 393-400 in Zootaxa 4237 (2) on page 394, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4237.2.12, http://zenodo.org/record/34388
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