scholarly journals Parallels between playbacks and Pleistocene tar seeps suggest sociality in an extinct sabretooth cat, Smilodon

2008 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Carbone ◽  
Tom Maddox ◽  
Paul J Funston ◽  
Michael G.L Mills ◽  
Gregory F Grether ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Multiple Predators ◽  
Social Species ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Spotted Hyenas ◽  
Fossil Records ◽  
Canis Dirus ◽  
Dire Wolf ◽  
Rancho La Brea ◽  
Solitary Species

Inferences concerning the lives of extinct animals are difficult to obtain from the fossil record. Here we present a novel approach to the study of extinct carnivores, using a comparison between fossil records ( n =3324) found in Late Pleistocene tar seeps at Rancho La Brea in North America and counts ( n =4491) from playback experiments used to estimate carnivore abundance in Africa. Playbacks and tar seep deposits represent competitive, potentially dangerous encounters where multiple predators are lured by dying herbivores. Consequently, in both records predatory mammals and birds far outnumber herbivores. In playbacks, two large social species, lions, Panthera leo , and spotted hyenas, Crocuta crocuta , actively moved towards the sounds of distressed prey and made up 84 per cent of individuals attending. Small social species (jackals) were next most common and solitary species of all sizes were rare. In the La Brea record, two species dominated, the presumably social dire wolf Canis dirus (51%), and the sabretooth cat Smilodon fatalis (33%). As in the playbacks, a smaller social canid, the coyote Canis latrans , was third most common (8%), and known solitary species were rare (<4%). The predominance of Smilodon and other striking similarities between playbacks and the fossil record support the conclusion that Smilodon was social.

scholarly journals Hypercarnivorous teeth and healed injuries to Canis chihliensis from Early Pleistocene Nihewan beds, China, support social hunting for ancestral wolves

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e9858
Author(s):  
Haowen Tong ◽  
Xi Chen ◽  
Bei Zhang ◽  
Bruce Rothschild ◽  
Stuart White ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Body ◽  
Family Care ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
History Of ◽  
Behavioral Evidence ◽  
Displaced Fracture ◽  
Canis Dirus ◽  
Dire Wolf ◽  
Rancho La Brea

Collaborative hunting by complex social groups is a hallmark of large dogs (Mammalia: Carnivora: Canidae), whose teeth also tend to be hypercarnivorous, specialized toward increased cutting edges for meat consumption and robust p4-m1 complex for cracking bone. The deep history of canid pack hunting is, however, obscure because behavioral evidence is rarely preserved in fossils. Dated to the Early Pleistocene (>1.2 Ma), Canis chihliensis from the Nihewan Basin of northern China is one of the earliest canines to feature a large body size and hypercarnivorous dentition. We present the first known record of dental infection in C. chihliensis, likely inflicted by processing hard food, such as bone. Another individual also suffered a displaced fracture of its tibia and, despite such an incapacitating injury, survived the trauma to heal. The long period required for healing the compound fracture is consistent with social hunting and family care (food-sharing) although alternative explanations exist. Comparison with abundant paleopathological records of the putatively pack-hunting Late Pleistocene dire wolf, Canis dirus, at the Rancho La Brea asphalt seeps in southern California, U.S.A., suggests similarity in feeding behavior and sociality between Chinese and American Canis across space and time. Pack hunting in Canis may be traced back to the Early Pleistocene, well before the appearance of modern wolves, but additional evidence is needed for confirmation.

scholarly journals Heat dissipation in subterranean rodents: the role of body region and social organisation

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
František Vejmělka ◽  
Jan Okrouhlík ◽  
Matěj Lövy ◽  
Gabriel Šaffa ◽  
Eviatar Nevo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Heat Dissipation ◽  
Ventral Surface ◽  
Body Region ◽  
Subterranean Rodents ◽  
Ambient Temperatures ◽  
Social Species ◽  
Body Regions ◽  
Body Heat ◽  
Solitary Species

AbstractThe relatively warm and very humid environment of burrows presents a challenge for thermoregulation of its mammalian inhabitants. It was found that African mole-rats dissipate body heat mainly through their venter, and social mole-rats dissipate more body heat compared to solitary species at lower temperatures. In addition, the pattern of the ventral surface temperature was suggested to be homogeneous in social mole-rats compared to a heterogeneous pattern in solitary mole-rats. To investigate this for subterranean rodents generally, we measured the surface temperatures of seven species with different degrees of sociality, phylogeny, and climate using infrared thermography. In all species, heat dissipation occurred mainly through the venter and the feet. Whereas the feet dissipated body heat at higher ambient temperatures and conserved it at lower ambient temperatures, the ventral surface temperature was relatively high in all temperatures indicating that heat dissipation to the environment through this body region is regulated mainly by behavioural means. Solitary species dissipated less heat through their dorsum than social species, and a tendency for this pattern was observed for the venter. The pattern of heterogeneity of surface temperature through the venter was not related to sociality of the various species. Our results demonstrate a general pattern of body heat exchange through the three studied body regions in subterranean rodents. Besides, isolated individuals of social species are less able to defend themselves against low ambient temperatures, which may handicap them if staying alone for a longer period, such as during and after dispersal events.

scholarly journals Molecular clocks and the early evolution of metazoan nervous systems

2015 ◽  
Vol 370 (1684) ◽  
pp. 20150046 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory A. Wray
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Processing ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
Divergence Times ◽  
Molecular Clocks ◽  
Sense Organs ◽  
Animal Evolution ◽  
Nervous Systems ◽  
Nervous System Evolution ◽  
Fossil Records

The timing of early animal evolution remains poorly resolved, yet remains critical for understanding nervous system evolution. Methods for estimating divergence times from sequence data have improved considerably, providing a more refined understanding of key divergences. The best molecular estimates point to the origin of metazoans and bilaterians tens to hundreds of millions of years earlier than their first appearances in the fossil record. Both the molecular and fossil records are compatible, however, with the possibility of tiny, unskeletonized, low energy budget animals during the Proterozoic that had planktonic, benthic, or meiofaunal lifestyles. Such animals would likely have had relatively simple nervous systems equipped primarily to detect food, avoid inhospitable environments and locate mates. The appearance of the first macropredators during the Cambrian would have changed the selective landscape dramatically, likely driving the evolution of complex sense organs, sophisticated sensory processing systems, and diverse effector systems involved in capturing prey and avoiding predation.

Conclusions and Prospects

2020 ◽  
pp. 128-132
Author(s):  
Daniel Oro
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Social Group ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Information Gathering ◽  
Tipping Point ◽  
Social Species ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Animals ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Solitary Species

Throughout the book, I have been searching for empirical examples and theories dealing with how perturbations trigger behavioural feedback responses in social animals, how these responses affect the decision to disperse between patches, and the consequences of dispersal for complex, nonlinear population dynamics. What seems quite clear is that social feedbacks—and especially runaway dispersal by copying—do play an important role in those responses, compared to solitary species. Although philopatry to the patch has many benefits, perturbations may decrease the suitability of this patch. When a patch is perturbed, do social species show different responses than solitary species? Since evolution has selected for maximizing fitness prospects, individuals living either in groups or in solitary will try to avoid the detrimental effects of the perturbation, for instance by leaving the patch. The behavioural mechanisms triggered by perturbations are similar for both social and solitary species: increase of information gathering to reduce uncertainty and the use of this updated information to make optimal decisions about either staying or leaving. Thus, the answer is that solitary and social species show similar responses to perturbations. Nevertheless, the way those behavioural mechanisms operate is rather different between social and solitary species: in the former, information is shared among individuals, and decisions about when to leave the patch and where to go are made not only using private or personal information, but mostly using social information. Last but not least, there is social copying, a trend to copy in a nonrational way what others have decided before. This social copying, also called conformity, may trigger what I termed runaway dispersal: perturbations may accumulate over time, decreasing resilience of the social group until attaining a tipping point. Once this threshold is surpassed, the decision to disperse is led by a few individuals, and this decision is copied by the rest of the group in an autocatalytic way....

Late Glacial and Holocene records of tree-killing conifer bark beetles in Europe and North America: Implications for forest disturbance dynamics

The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 847-857 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Schafstall ◽  
Niina Kuosmanen ◽  
Christopher J Fettig ◽  
Miloš Knižek ◽  
Jennifer L Clear
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Bark Beetle ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Bark Beetles ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Ips Paraconfusus ◽  
Distribution Data ◽  
Dryocoetes Confusus ◽  
Combining Data ◽  
Fossil Records

Outbreaks of conifer bark beetles in Europe and North America have increased in scale and severity in recent decades. In this study, we identify existing fossil records containing bark beetle remains from the end of the Last Glacial Maximum (~14,000 cal. yr BP) to present day using the online databases Neotoma and BugsCEP and literature searches, and compare these data with modern distribution data of selected tree-killing species. Modern-day observational data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) database was used to map recorded distributions from AD 1750 to present day. A total of 53 fossil sites containing bark beetle remains, from both geological and archeological sites, were found during our searches. Fossil sites were fewer in Europe ( n = 21) than North America ( n = 32). In Europe, 29% of the samples in which remains were found were younger than 1000 cal. yr BP, while in North America, remains were mainly identified from late Glacial (~14,000–11,500 cal. yr BP) sites. In total, the fossil records contained only 8 of 20 species we consider important tree-killing bark beetles in Europe and North America based on their impacts during the last 100 years. In Europe, Ips sexdentatus was absent from the fossil record. In North America, Dendroctonus adjunctus, Dendroctonus frontalis, Dendroctonus jeffreyi, Dendroctonus pseudotsugae, Dryocoetes confusus, Ips calligraphus, Ips confusus, Ips grandicollis, Ips lecontei, Ips paraconfusus, and Scolytus ventralis were absent. Overall, preserved remains of tree-killing bark beetles are rare in the fossil record. However, by retrieving bulk material from new and existing sites and combining data from identified bark beetle remains with pollen, charcoal, tree rings, and geochemistry, the occurrence and dominance of bark beetles, their outbreaks, and other disturbance events can be reconstructed.

(Z)-3-Dodecenoic Acid Is the Main Component of Full-Body n-Hexane Extracts from Two Acacia Gall-Inducing Thrips (Thysanoptera) and May Function as an Alarm Pheromone

2014 ◽  
Vol 69 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 335-345
Author(s):  
Erik Hedenström ◽  
Erika A. Wallin ◽  
Olle Anderbrant ◽  
Monica De Facci
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Alarm Pheromone ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Social Species ◽  
Major Interest ◽  
Thrips Species ◽  
Hexane Extracts ◽  
History Of ◽  
Main Component ◽  
Solitary Species

A major interest in the gall-inducing thrips of Australia began with the discovery that some species have eusocial colonies. The origin of social castes remains one of the outstanding questions in evolutionary biology. The inference of the ancestral stage from study of solitary species is important to understanding the evolutionary history of semiochemicals in social species. Here we investigated two solitary species, Kladothrips nicolsoni and K. rugosus. Whole body extracts revealed that (Z)-3-dodecenoic acid, here reported for the first time in a thrips species, is the main component. (Z)-3-Dodecenoic acid and (E)-3-dodecenoic acid were synthesized in high stereoisomeric purity (>99:8%) and exposed to K. nicolsoni 2nd-instar larvae in a contact chemoreception bioassay to test for potential bioactivity. Both isomers decreased the average time spent in the treated area per entry suggesting repellence at the tested dose. (Z)-3-Dodecenoic acid may function as alarm pheromone. (E)-3-Dodecenoic acid increased also the absolute change in direction of larvae compared to an nhexane control and could potentially function as a repellent.

Hidden diversity of small predators: new thorny lacewings from mid-Cretaceous amber from northern Myanmar (Neuroptera: Rhachiberothidae: Paraberothinae)

2020 ◽  
Vol 157 (7) ◽  
pp. 1149-1175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroshi Nakamine ◽  
Shûhei Yamamoto ◽  
Yui Takahashi
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Morphological Variation ◽  
Phylogenetic Relationships ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Morphological Structure ◽  
Burmese Amber ◽  
Size Number ◽  
Fossil Records

AbstractThorny lacewings (Rhachiberothidae) are currently distributed only within Africa, whereas they are prevalent in the fossil record of various Cretaceous ambers across the Northern Hemisphere, with a handful of the fossil records from some Eocene European ambers. Four rhachiberothid species in four extinct genera are known from the mid-Cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar. Here, we report further examples of the remarkable palaeodiversity of this group from the same amber deposit, adding the four new fossil genera and seven new species: Acanthoberotha cuspis gen. et sp. nov., Astioberotha falcipes gen. et sp. nov., Stygioberotha siculifera gen. et sp. nov., Uranoberotha chariessa gen. et sp. nov., Creagroparaberotha cuneata sp. nov., Micromantispa galeata sp. nov. and M. spicata sp. nov. Based on a series of well-preserved specimens, we discuss the fine details of the raptorial forelegs and genital segments, which may be important for elucidating the phylogenetic relationships among genera. Our findings reveal an unexpectedly diverse assemblage of thorny lacewings in the Cretaceous System, highlighting the morphologically diverse rhachiberothids in Burmese amber. The discovery of seven additional rhachiberothid species in Myanmar amber suggests the potential for much higher diversity and abundance of the Cretaceous rhachiberothids than previously documented. Furthermore, morphological variation in the raptorial forelegs was found to be extremely diverse among the Burmese amber paraberothines, especially in terms of the size, number and shape of spines (or spine-like setae) on the inner edges of protibia, and the morphological structure of the probasitarsus.

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