19 research outputs found
Hylopetes magistri, new name for Hylopetes debruijni Reumer & Van den Hoek Ostende, 2003, preoccupied
No full textIn 2003, we published a new species of Hylopetes, H. debruijni,
from the early Pleistocene locality of Tegelen, The Netherlands
(Reumer and Van den Hoek Ostende, 2003). This publication
appeared in a special volume in honor of Hans de Bruijn, which
contained the proceedings of congress in Utrecht (17–19 May
2001) on the occasion of the 70th birthday of our esteemed
colleague. While still in press, our publication was overtaken
by a paper by Mein and Ginsburg (2002), who, unaware of our
manuscript, also named a species of Hylopetes in honor of Hans
de Bruijn. The type locality of H. debruijni Mein & Ginsburg,
2002, is the middle Miocene fissure filling La Grive M in France.
The French material clearly represents a different species than
the Dutch finds. Therefore, we conclude that, unfortunately, we
published a name that was already preoccupied.
Daxner-H¨ ock (2004) tentatively assigned the Dutch species to
her new genus Neopetes, creating the new combination N. debruijni
(Reumer and Van den Hoek Ostende, 2003). This, however,
is of no consequence to the homonomy of the two species,
as the ICZN specifically defines a primary homonym as identical
species-group names for different taxa originally combined
with the same generic name. As a primary homonym, H. debruijni
Reumer & Van den Hoek Ostende, 2003, is permanently invalid
(ICZN 1999:art 57.2). Therefore, we propose Hylopetes magistri
new name for Hylopetes debruijni Reumer & Van den Hoek Ostende,
2003, preoccupied by Hylopetes debruijni Mein & Ginsburg,
2002. We consider assignation of the species magistri to the
genus Neopetesas proposed by Daxner-H¨ ock (2004) premature,
as this would first require direct comparison of the Dutch material
to the type species of that genus. The specific name (magistri
*Corresponding author.
from Latin = of the master) mirrors our original intent to name
the species after Hans de Bruijn, and stresses that the maestro
has been instrumental in shaping the career of many palaeontologists,
both in The Netherlands and abroa
A distant traveller: A Late Jurassic nerineoid gastropod (Mollusca, Heterobranchia) on the Maasvlakte 2 beach, the Netherlands
No full textA fragmentary nerineoid gastropod collected from the Maasvlakte 2 beach may be identified as Ptygmatis cf. bruntrutana (Thurmann, 1832). Probably originating from Upper Jurassic strata in north-eastern France, it must have been transported here by a forerunner of the River Meuse (Maas)
Note on the Rhaetian fish fauna from a subrosion pipe in Winterswijk (the Netherlands), with a discussion on the validity of the genus Severnichthys Storrs, 1994
No full textFossil remains of fishes found in Rhaetian (Late Triassic, c.208.5-201.3 Ma) sediments collected from a subrosion pipe in the Winterswijk quarry are described. The fauna shows great similarity to material known from the British Triassic of the Penarth Group and from other localities in Northwestern Europe. Both chondrichthyan and osteichthyan teeth and scales are present. Most abundant are the sharks Lissodus minimus and Rhomphaiodon minor and the actinopterygians Gyrolepis albertii, Saurichthys longidens and Birgeria acuminata. Isolated teeth of the latter two taxa were known under the name Severnichthys acuminatus, but the genus Severnichthys is here considered a nomen dubium; it should be suppressed in order to make the taxonomy less complicated
A distant traveller:A Late Jurassic nerineoid gastropod (Mollusca, Heterobranchia) on the Maasvlakte 2 beach, the Netherlands
No full textA fragmentary nerineoid gastropod collected from the Maasvlakte 2 beach may be identified as Ptygmatis cf. bruntrutana (Thurmann, 1832). Probably originating from Upper Jurassic strata in north-eastern France, it must have been transported here by a forerunner of the River Meuse (Maas).</p
Late Cretaceous sauropod tooth morphotypes may provide supporting evidence for faunal connections between North Africa and Southern Europe
No full textThe Cretaceous Kem Kem beds of Morocco and equivalent beds in Algeria have produced a rich fossil assemblage, yielding, amongst others, isolated sauropod teeth, which can be used in species diversity studies. These Albian-Cenomanian (∼113-93.9 Ma) strata rarely yield sauropod body fossils, therefore, isolated teeth can help to elucidate the faunal assemblages from North Africa, and their relations with those of contemporaneous beds and geographically close assemblages. Eighteen isolated sauropod teeth from three localities (Erfoud and Taouz, Morocco, and Algeria) are studied here, to assess whether the teeth can be ascribed to a specific clade, and whether different tooth morphotypes can be found in the samples. Two general morphotypes are found, based on enamel wrinkling and general tooth morphology. Morphotype I, with mainly rugose enamel wrinkling, pronounced carinae, lemon-shaped to (sub)cylindrical cross-section and mesiodistal tapering towards an apical tip, shows affinities to titanosauriforms and titanosaurs. Morphotype II, characterized by more smooth enamel, cylindrical cross-section, rectangular teeth with no apical tapering and both labial and lingual wear facets, shows similarities to rebbachisaurids. Moreover, similarities are found between these northwest African tooth morphotypes, and tooth morphotypes from titanosaurs and rebbachisaurids from both contemporaneous finds from north and central Africa, as well as from the latest Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian, 83.6 Ma-66.0 Ma) of the Ibero-Armorican Island. These results support previous hypotheses from earlier studies on faunal exchange and continental connections between North Africa and Southern Europe in the Cretaceous
Note on the Rhaetian fish fauna from a subrosion pipe in Winterswijk (the Netherlands), with a discussion on the validity of the genus Severnichthys Storrs, 1994
No full textFossil remains of fishes found in Rhaetian (Late Triassic, c.208.5-201.3 Ma) sediments collected from a subrosion pipe in the Winterswijk quarry are described. The fauna shows great similarity to material known from the British Triassic of the Penarth Group and from other localities in Northwestern Europe. Both chondrichthyan and osteichthyan teeth and scales are present. Most abundant are the sharks Lissodus minimus and Rhomphaiodon minor and the actinopterygians Gyrolepis albertii, Saurichthys longidens and Birgeria acuminata. Isolated teeth of the latter two taxa were known under the name Severnichthys acuminatus, but the genus Severnichthys is here considered a nomen dubium; it should be suppressed in order to make the taxonomy less complicated
A Miocene sperm whale (Cetacea, Physeteroidea) tooth from Liessel (Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands)
No full textHere we report a well-preserved isolated physeteroid tooth of Late Miocene age from Liessel, the Netherlands. The presence of several morphological features allows attribution to the macroraptorial physeteroids. Size and morphology are to some extent comparable to Zygophyseter and almost identical to the primarily tooth-based Tortonian taxon Scaldicetus caretti. However, the genus Scaldicetus was declared unutilizable, which is supported here with an overview of modern classifications of Scaldicetus species and specimens. Despite the restrictions, the type species S. caretti is still valid, although the name is to be restricted to the type material. Based on its morphological resemblance, the tooth is identified as Physeteroidea indet. cf. Scaldicetus caretti
A non-marine horseshoe crab from the Middle Triassic (Anisian) of the Netherlands
No full textHorseshoe crabs (Xiphosura) have a long evolutionary history starting in the Ordovician, but they have rarely been reported from the Netherlands. We report on the first Triassic horseshoe crab from the Netherlands identifiable to the species level, a specimen of the limulid Limulitella bronnii.We provide the first diagnosis for this species and refigure the holotype. The new specimen was found in the Middle Triassic (Anisian) Muschelkalk sediments of the Vossenveld Formation, in the Illyrian part of the stratigraphic profile of the Winterswijk quarry complex. The Winterswijk specimen represents the youngest occurrence of L. bronnii. The inferred nonmarine habitat of this horseshoe crab species elsewhere in conjunction with occurrences of plant and insect remains within the same layer at Winterswijk suggest the specimen herein most probably did not live in marine conditions either. This species has previously been found in non-marine sediments in France and Germany, expanding its geographic range northward. Several faunal elements from Winterswijk including L. bronnii show resemblance to the roughly co-eval non-marine components of the Anisian Grès à Voltzia Formation in NE France, suggesting a paleobiogeographic connection between these regions in Western Europe
Fish remains from the Rhaetian (Late Triassic) of Winterswijk, the Netherlands (Pisces: Chondrichthyes and Actinopterygii)
No full textChondrichthyan and actinopterygian fish remains from Rhaetian (c. 208.05-201.36 Ma) or perhaps Late Norian deposits in the Winterswijk quarry are described. The most abundant taxon is the actinopterygian Gyrolepis albertii, followed by the chondrichthyan Lissodus minimus. Furthermore, the palaeopterygian actinopterygians Saurichthys longidens and Birgeria acuminata, and some teeth of neopterygians Sargodon tomicus, 'Lepidotes' sp. and indeterminate pycnodontiforms are recorded in addition to the chondrichthyans Rhomphaiodon minor, Parascylloides turnerae and some 'Hybodus' cf. cuspidatus (senior synonym of H. cloacinus). Chondrichthyan dermal denticles, actinopterygian scales and gill rakers, tooth plates, and some fish bones were also found. There is considerable faunal resemblance to the various localities from the Rhaetian of the British Penarth Group, although it depends on the location as to whether chondrichthyans or actinopterygians prevail in the samples. On average, there are more chondrichthyan teeth present in the British samples than actinopterygian teeth, which is opposite to the situation in Winterswijk. That might be explained by different ecological circumstances, such as lower oxygen levels in bottom waters in Winterswijk and freshwater input and/or changes in salinity in the UK
Extraordinary incidence of cervical ribs indicates vulnerable condition in Late Pleistocene mammoths
No full textThe number of cervical vertebrae in mammals is highly conserved at seven. We have shown that changes of this number are selected against due to a coupling with major congenital abnormalities (pleiotropic effects). Here we show that the incidence of abnormal cervical vertebral numbers in Late Pleistocene mammoths from the North Sea is high (33.3%) and approximately 10 times higher than that of extant elephants (3.6%). Abnormal numbers were due to the presence of large cervical ribs on the seventh vertebra, which we deduced from the presence of rib articulation facets on sixth (posterior side) and seventh (anterior side) cervical vertebrae. The incidence of abnormal cervical vertebral numbers in mammoths appears to be much higher than in other mammalian species, apart from exceptional sloths, manatees and dugongs and indicates a vulnerable condition. We argue that the increased incidence of cervical ribs in mammoths is probably caused by inbreeding and adverse conditions that impact early pregnancies in declining populations close to extinction in the Late Pleistocene
