scholarly journals The oldest known record of a ground sloth (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Folivora) from Hispaniola: evolutionary and paleobiogeographical implications

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Lazaro W. Viñola-Lopez ◽  
Elson E. Core Suárez ◽  
Jorge Vélez-Juarbe ◽  
Juan N. Almonte Milan ◽  
Jonathan I. Bloch
Keyword(s):  
Late Holocene ◽  
Greater Antilles ◽  
Quaternary Deposits ◽  
Biogeographic History ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Continuous Presence ◽  
Additional Support ◽  
Ground Sloth ◽  
Diverse Groups ◽  
Land Vertebrates

Abstract Sloths were among the most diverse groups of land vertebrates that inhabited the Greater Antilles until their extinction in the middle-late Holocene following the arrival of humans to the islands. Although the fossil record of the group is well known from Quaternary deposits in Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico, remains from older units are scarce, limiting our understanding of their evolution and biogeographic history. Here we report the oldest known fossil ground sloth from Hispaniola, represented by an unassociated partial tibia and scapula that are recognized as a single taxon from the late Miocene-early Pliocene of the Dominican Republic. The combination of characters observed on the tibia suggests a close relationship with Megalocnus, otherwise only known from the Pleistocene–Holocene of Cuba. These fossils fill a temporal gap between those previously known from the early Miocene of Cuba and those from Pleistocene–Holocene deposits in the region and provide additional support for a continuous presence of the group in the Greater Antilles since the Oligocene.

scholarly journals The earliest record of Caribbean frogs: a fossil coquí from Puerto Rico

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 20190947 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Blackburn ◽  
Rachel M. Keeffe ◽  
María C. Vallejo-Pareja ◽  
Jorge Vélez-Juarbe
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Indirect Evidence ◽  
Distal Humerus ◽  
Greater Antilles ◽  
Terrestrial Vertebrates ◽  
Early Arrival ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Molecular Phylogenies ◽  
Additional Support

The nearly 200 species of direct-developing frogs in the genus Eleutherodactylus (the Caribbean landfrogs, which include the coquís) comprise an important lineage for understanding the evolution and historical biogeography of the Caribbean. Time-calibrated molecular phylogenies provide indirect evidence for the processes that shaped the modern anuran fauna, but there is little direct evidence from the fossil record of Caribbean frogs about their distributions in the past. We report a distal humerus of a frog from the Oligocene (approx. 29 Ma) of Puerto Rico that represents the earliest known fossil frog from any Caribbean island. Based on its prominent rounded distal humeral head, distally projecting entepicondyle, and reduced ectepicondyle, we refer it to the genus Eleutherodactylus . This fossil provides additional support for an early arrival of some groups of terrestrial vertebrates to the Greater Antilles and corroborates previous estimates based on molecular phylogenies suggesting that this diverse Caribbean lineage was present in the islands by the mid-Cenozoic.

The Ahl-e-Hadith: From British India to Britain

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
HIRA AMIN ◽  
AZHAR MAJOTHI
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
British India ◽  
The South ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Continuous Presence ◽  
The 1960S

Abstract Studies on Salafism tend to put the spotlight on the Middle East, rendering all other movements as secondary offshoots. In the British context, research typically focuses on British Salafi groups and their close relationship with Arab Salafis; it usually locates the origins of the British Salafi movement in the 1980s with the rise of cohorts among second-generation Muslims and converts to Islam, with fleeting remarks on the South Asian Ahl-e-Hadith who migrated to Britain from the 1960s onwards. This article recentres the South Asian Ahl-e-Hadith movement within the narrative of British Salafism. Tracing its trajectory from its origins in British India to Britain, this article argues that in the 1970s the Ahl-e-Hadith played a significant role in laying the foundations for British Salafism. Furthermore, far from being eclipsed by newer cohorts, it highlights the hitherto continuous presence of the Ahl-e-Hadith in the British Muslim landscape and emphasizes its overlapping, yet distinct, position in relation to the spectrum of Arab-inspired British Salafism.

scholarly journals Hyainailourine and teratodontine cranial material from the late Eocene of Egypt and the application of parsimony and Bayesian methods to the phylogeny and biogeography of Hyaenodonta (Placentalia, Mammalia)

PeerJ ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e2639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew R. Borths ◽  
Patricia A. Holroyd ◽  
Erik R. Seiffert
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Bayesian Methods ◽  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
Late Eocene ◽  
Biogeographic History ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Material ◽  
Latest Eocene

Hyaenodonta is a diverse, extinct group of carnivorous mammals that included weasel- to rhinoceros-sized species. The oldest-known hyaenodont fossils are from the middle Paleocene of North Africa and the antiquity of the group in Afro-Arabia led to the hypothesis that it originated there and dispersed to Asia, Europe, and North America. Here we describe two new hyaenodont species based on the oldest hyaenodont cranial specimens known from Afro-Arabia. The material was collected from the latest Eocene Locality 41 (L-41, ∼34 Ma) in the Fayum Depression, Egypt.Akhnatenavus nefertiticyonsp. nov. has specialized, hypercarnivorous molars and an elongate cranial vault. InA. nefertiticyonthe tallest, piercing cusp on M1–M2is the paracone.Brychotherium ephalmosgen. et sp. nov. has more generalized molars that retain the metacone and complex talonids. InB. ephalmosthe tallest, piercing cusp on M1–M2is the metacone. We incorporate this new material into a series of phylogenetic analyses using a character-taxon matrix that includes novel dental, cranial, and postcranial characters, and samples extensively from the global record of the group. The phylogenetic analysis includes the first application of Bayesian methods to hyaenodont relationships.B. ephalmosis consistently placed within Teratodontinae, an Afro-Arabian clade with several generalist and hypercarnivorous forms, andAkhnatenavusis consistently recovered in Hyainailourinae as part of an Afro-Arabian radiation. The phylogenetic results suggest that hypercarnivory evolved independently three times within Hyaenodonta: in Teratodontinae, in Hyainailourinae, and in Hyaenodontinae. Teratodontines are consistently placed in a close relationship with Hyainailouridae (Hyainailourinae + Apterodontinae) to the exclusion of “proviverrines,” hyaenodontines, and several North American clades, and we propose that the superfamily Hyainailouroidea be used to describe this relationship. Using the topologies recovered from each phylogenetic method, we reconstructed the biogeographic history of Hyaenodonta using parsimony optimization (PO), likelihood optimization (LO), and Bayesian Binary Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) to examine support for the Afro-Arabian origin of Hyaenodonta. Across all analyses, we found that Hyaenodonta most likely originated in Europe, rather than Afro-Arabia. The clade is estimated by tip-dating analysis to have undergone a rapid radiation in the Late Cretaceous and Paleocene; a radiation currently not documented by fossil evidence. During the Paleocene, lineages are reconstructed as dispersing to Asia, Afro-Arabia, and North America. The place of origin of Hyainailouroidea is likely Afro-Arabia according to the Bayesian topologies but it is ambiguous using parsimony. All topologies support the constituent clades–Hyainailourinae, Apterodontinae, and Teratodontinae–as Afro-Arabian and tip-dating estimates that each clade is established in Afro-Arabia by the middle Eocene.

scholarly journals Phylogeny of the Hawkmoth Tribe Ambulycini (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae): Mitogenomes from Museum Specimens Resolve Major Relationships

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Martijn J T N Timmermans ◽  
Sainab M Daghmoumi ◽  
Deborah Glass ◽  
Chris A Hamilton ◽  
Akito Y Kawahara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Trees ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Tropical Asia ◽  
Biogeographic History ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Dispersal Events

Abstract Ambulycini are a cosmopolitan tribe of the moth family Sphingidae, comprised of 10 genera, 3 of which are found in tropical Asia, 4 in the Neotropics, 1 in Africa, 1 in the Middle East, and 1 restricted to the islands of New Caledonia. Recent phylogenetic analyses of the tribe have yielded conflicting results, and some have suggested a close relationship of the monobasic New Caledonian genus CompsulyxHolloway, 1979 to the Neotropical ones, despite being found on opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean. Here, we investigate relationships within the tribe using full mitochondrial genomes, mainly derived from dry-pinned museum collections material. Mitogenomic data were obtained for 19 species representing nine of the 10 Ambulycini genera. Phylogenetic trees are in agreement with a tropical Asian origin for the tribe. Furthermore, results indicate that the Neotropical genus Adhemarius Oiticica Filho, 1939 is paraphyletic and support the notion that OrectaRothschild & Jordan 1903 and TrogolegnumRothschild & Jordan, 1903 may need to be synonymized. Finally, in our analysis the Neotropical genera do not collectively form a monophyletic group, due to a clade comprising the New Caledonian genus Compsulyx and the African genus BatocnemaRothschild & Jordan, 1903 being placed as sister to the Neotropical genus ProtambulyxRothschild & Jordan, 1903. This finding implies a complex biogeographic history and suggests the evolution of the tribe involved at least two long-distance dispersal events.

Progres dans la connaissance du Quaternaire de Casablanca (Maroc)

1956 ◽  
Vol S6-VI (7-9) ◽  
pp. 855-866
Author(s):  
Pierre Biberson ◽  
G. Lecointre
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Quaternary Deposits ◽  
Close Relationship

Abstract Study of marine molluscan faunas from Quaternary deposits of the Casablanca region, Morocco, indicates two episodes during which the waters of the sea were cold, one during the Roman regression, the other during the Tyrrhenian transgression. The evolution of prehistoric industries exhibits a close relationship to fluctuations of the associated shore lines.

scholarly journals A case of long-term herbivory: specialized feeding trace on Parrotia (Hamamelidaceae) plant species

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 201449
Author(s):  
Benjamin Adroit ◽  
Xin Zhuang ◽  
Torsten Wappler ◽  
Jean-Frederic Terral ◽  
Bo Wang
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Insect Damage ◽  
Ecosystem Structure ◽  
Biogeographic History ◽  
Fossil Leaves ◽  
Continuous Presence ◽  
Insect Interactions

Interactions between plants and insects evolved during millions of years of coevolution and maintain the trophic balance of terrestrial ecosystems. Documenting insect damage types (DT) on fossil leaves is essential for understanding the evolution of plant–insect interactions and for understanding the effects of major environmental changes on ecosystem structure. However, research focusing on palaeoherbivory is still sparse and only a tiny fraction of fossil leaf collections have been analysed. This study documents a type of insect damage found exclusively on the leaves of Parrotia species (Hamamelidaceae). This DT was identified on Parrotia leaves from Willershausen (Germany, Pliocene) and from Shanwang (China, Miocene) and on their respective endemic modern relatives: Parrotia perisca in the Hyrcanian forests (Iran) and Parrotia subaequalis in the Yixing forest (China). Our study demonstrates that this insect DT persisted over at least 15 Myr spanning eastern Asia to western Europe. Against expectations, more examples of this type of herbivory were identified on the fossil leaves than on the modern examples. This mismatch may suggest a decline of this specialized plant–insect interaction owing to the contraction of Parrotia populations in Eurasia during the late Cenozoic. However, the continuous presence of this DT demonstrates a robust and long-term plant–herbivore association, and provides new evidence for a shared biogeographic history of the two host plants.

New Azana species from Western North America (Diptera: Mycetophilidae)

Zootaxa ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 2397 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETER H. KERR
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
New World ◽  
Western North America ◽  
World Species ◽  
Biogeographic History ◽  
Fungus Gnats ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
History Of ◽  
Dispersal Events

Two new species of fungus gnats (Diptera: Mycetophilidae), Azana malinamoena and Azana frizzelli, spp. nov., are described and figured from California. These species represent the first records of Azana for western North America. A diagnosis of the genus Azana Walker is presented and a provisional key for the New World species of the genus is given. The discovery of A. malinamoena and A. frizzelli in California and their apparently close relationship to A. nigricoxa Strobl from south-western Europe (rather than to the only other Azana species known from North America, A. sinusa Coher) implies a more complicated biogeographic history of this genus in North America, one that probably includes multiple, independent dispersal events.

scholarly journals Changing relationship between the dead and the living in Japanese prehistory

2018 ◽  
Vol 373 (1754) ◽  
pp. 20170272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naoko Matsumoto
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Essential Feature ◽  
Mortuary Practices ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Burial Practices ◽  
Kinship System ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Burial Practice ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Continuous Presence

The aim of this paper is to propose a new insight on the changing burial practice by regarding it as a part of the cognitive system for maintaining complex social relationships. Development of concentrated burials and their transformation in Japanese prehistory are examined to present a specific case of the changing relationship between the dead and the living to highlight the significance of the dead in sociocultural evolution. The essential feature of the burial practices observed at Jomon sites is the centrality of the dead and their continuous presence in the kinship system. The mortuary practices discussed in this paper represent a close relationship between the dead and the living in the non-hierarchical complex society, in which the dead were not detached from the society, but kept at its core, as a materialized reference of kin networks. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Evolutionary thanatology: impacts of the dead on the living in humans and other animals’.

scholarly journals Terrace landforms and quaternary deposit arounf Pokhara Valley, central Nepal

1982 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 113-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hidetsugu Yamanaka ◽  
Mitsuo Yoshida ◽  
Kazunori Arrita
Keyword(s):  
Large Volume ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Kathmandu Valley ◽  
Quaternary Deposits ◽  
Quaternary Deposit ◽  
River Terraces ◽  
Central Nepal ◽  
Pokhara Valley

The Pokhara Valley, a typical intramontane basin in the Nepal Himalayas, is spread around the midstream of the Seti Khola. It is filled with a large volume of gravelly deposits brought mostly from the Annapurna Himal, and  splendid river terraces are present. Thus the Pokhara Valley is endowed with excellent conditions for the Quaternary chronological study of the Himalayas. Quaternary deposits in the valley are divided into nine stratigraphic units. Among them, the Ghachok and Pokhara Formations are most prominent, forming conspicuous accumulation terraces named the Pokhara and Ghachok Terraces. So far these accumulations were cosidered to have taken  place during the glacial ages. In this study, however, the Pokhara Formation was dated by radiocarbon method to prove that the accumulation occurred in the late Holocene. Hagen (1969) considered that the Pokhara Valley, as well as the Kathmandu Valley, was once occupied by a single huge lake, and his hypothesis has many followers in spite of Gurung (1970)'s refutation. According to  the present study, however only marginal lakes were formed due to damming of tributaries, and the possibility of the existance of a single huge lake in the Pokhara Valley is ruled out.

scholarly journals Arthropod bioindicators of environmental quality

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Márcia Soares Spiller ◽  
Claiton Spiller ◽  
Juliana Garlet
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Environmental Heterogeneity ◽  
Biological Indicators ◽  
Microbial Populations ◽  
Physical Processes ◽  
Electronic Library ◽  
Soil Macrofauna ◽  
Conditioning Factors ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Diverse Groups

The phylum Arthropoda is one of the most diverse groups under the terrestrial surface comprising different classes of insects that occupy different environments. Some groups have a close relationship with the habitat they occupy, responding significantly to changes in the environment, thus indicating the level of change in the environment by their presence or absence. The present study aimed to demonstrate the importance of edaphic fauna as a bioindicator of environmental quality. This is a bibliographic review based on specialized consultation of scientific articles in the databases Google Scholar, SciELO-Scientific Electronic Library and ResearchGate. The studies found that environmental quality can be measured from the diversity and abundance of arthropods that live and perform their functions in the soil. Macrofauna influences important soil chemical and physical processes such as nutrient cycling, structuring and homogenization, and increased productivity, among others. The mesofauna, besides acting on soil properties, acts on the regulation of microbial populations, is sensitive to changes and responds promptly. The groups Acari, Collembola, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera and Araneae are indicated in several studies as potential bioindicators because they are commonly sampled in different environments. The factors identified as conditioning factors of the presence of these groups are environmental heterogeneity, type of vegetation cover and availability of litter, applied management system, seasonality, soil characteristics, and anthropic activities, among others. In short, because they respond quickly, the changes are considered to be efficient biological indicators; therefore, knowing the diversity of species and their degree of interaction with the environment allows us to analyze the effects of anthropic modifications in ecosystems.

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