Discovery of Pemphilimnadiopsis cheni (Branchiopoda: Diplostraca: Spinicaudata) from the Benxi Formation in Taiyuan, North China and its stratigraphic significance

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 578-581
Author(s):  
HUAN-YU LIAO ◽  
XIN-NENG LIAN ◽  
JIAN GAO ◽  
CHEN-YANG CAI ◽  
ZHUO FENG ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
North China ◽  
Early Evolution ◽  
Clam Shrimp ◽  
The World ◽  
Freshwater Habitats ◽  
Benxi Formation

Clam shrimp (Spinicaudata) are worldwide distributed branchiopod crustaceans specialised in ephemeral freshwater habitats. The Carboniferous is an important period for the early evolution and diversification of clam shrimp. Compared with the rare and geographically confined fossil record of the Devonian, clam shrimp in the Carboniferous have a much wider geographical distribution and higher biodiversity. Over 20 genera of clam shrimp have been recorded in the Carboniferous all over the world, but they are sparse in China. To date, five records of Carboniferous clam shrimp have been reported from China (Pruvost, 1927; Zhang et al., 1976; Wang, 1987; Zheng et al., 1988; Liu & Fan, 1995; Liao et al., 2019). Among them, four species Lioestheria? mathieui Pruvost, 1927, Protomonocarina huixianensis Wang, 1987, Retrofractus lingyuanensis Liu & Fan, 1995, and Pemphilimnadiopsis cheni Liao, Shen & Huang, 2019, are found in the Pennsylvanian Benxi Formation in North China (Pruvost, 1927; Zhang et al., 1976; Wang, 1987; Liu & Fan, 1995; Liao et al., 2019).

scholarly journals A Giant Ostrich from the Lower Pleistocene Nihewan Formation of North China, with a Review of the Fossil Ostriches of China

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
Eric Buffetaut ◽  
Delphine Angst
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
North China ◽  
Hebei Province ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Wide Geographical Distribution ◽  
Lower Pleistocene ◽  
The Crimea

A large incomplete ostrich femur from the Lower Pleistocene of North China, kept at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris), is described. It was found by Father Emile Licent in 1925 in the Nihewan Formation (dated at about 1.8 Ma) of Hebei Province. On the basis of the minimum circumference of the shaft, a mass of 300 kg, twice that of a modern ostrich, was obtained. The bone is remarkably robust, more so than the femur of the more recent, Late Pleistocene, Struthio anderssoni from China, and resembles in that regard Pachystruthio Kretzoi, 1954, a genus known from the Lower Pleistocene of Hungary, Georgia and the Crimea, to which the Nihewan specimen is referred, as Pachystruthio indet. This find testifies to the wide geographical distribution of very massive ostriches in the Early Pleistocene of Eurasia. The giant ostrich from Nihewan was contemporaneous with the early hominins who inhabited that region in the Early Pleistocene.

scholarly journals Human Q Fever on the Guiana Shield and Brazil: Recent Findings and Remaining Questions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loïc Epelboin ◽  
Carole Eldin ◽  
Pauline Thill ◽  
Vincent Pommier de Santi ◽  
Philippe Abboud ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
Coxiella Burnetii ◽  
French Guiana ◽  
Q Fever ◽  
Guiana Shield ◽  
Animal Reservoir ◽  
The World ◽  
Unique Strain ◽  
Amazonian Region

Abstract Purpose of Review In this review, we report on the state of knowledge about human Q fever in Brazil and on the Guiana Shield, an Amazonian region located in northeastern South America. There is a contrast between French Guiana, where the incidence of this disease is the highest in the world, and other countries where this disease is practically non-existent. Recent Findings Recent findings are essentially in French Guiana where a unique strain MST17 has been identified; it is probably more virulent than those usually found with a particularly marked pulmonary tropism, a mysterious animal reservoir, a geographical distribution that raises questions. Summary Q fever is a bacterial zoonosis due to Coxiella burnetii that has been reported worldwide. On the Guiana Shield, a region mostly covered by Amazonian forest, which encompasses the Venezuelan State of Bolivar, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and the Brazilian State of Amapá, the situation is very heterogeneous. While French Guiana is the region reporting the highest incidence of this disease in the world, with a single infecting clone (MST 117) and a unique epidemiological cycle, it has hardly ever been reported in other countries in the region. This absence of cases raises many questions and is probably due to massive under-diagnosis. Studies should estimate comprehensively the true burden of this disease in the region.

scholarly journals 7. Ancient Fossil Record and Early Evolution (ca. 3.8 to 0.5 Ga)

2006 ◽  
Vol 98 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 247-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Purificacón López-Garcia ◽  
David Moreira ◽  
Emmanuel Douzery ◽  
Patrick Forterre ◽  
Mark Van Zuilen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Early Evolution

The Latah Reaction: Its Pathodynamics and Nosological Position

1952 ◽  
Vol 98 (413) ◽  
pp. 515-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. M. Yap
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Intrinsic Interest ◽  
Common Features ◽  
Malay Archipelago ◽  
Mental Diseases ◽  
The World ◽  
The Common ◽  
Unusual Symptoms

Few mental diseases have attracted the attention of medical men working in outlandish parts of the world more than Latah. This is due, not only to its intrinsic interest, showing as it regularly does the unusual symptoms of echolalia, echopraxia, and automatic obedience, but also to its remarkable geographical distribution. This illness was described by travellers to the Malay Archipelago in the latter part of the nineteenth century, but very similar reactions were later found to exist in other lands, known to the native peoples by other names. The term “Latah,” however, is the best known, and as the common features between these various reactions became apparent, it has been used as an inclusive name for them all. It is to-day employed with much the same connotation in the French, Dutch, Italian, and English literature, but the discussion of its nature betrays inadequate understanding, attempts at its nosological classification remain unsatisfactory, and speculations as to its aetology continue to be somewhat fanciful.

scholarly journals Does Crop Rotation Enhance Groundwater Health? A Review of the Winter Wheat Fallow Policy in the North China Plain

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 2416
Author(s):  
Ming Lei ◽  
Yuqian Zhang ◽  
Yuxuan Dang ◽  
Xiangbin Kong ◽  
Jingtao Yao
Keyword(s):  
Winter Wheat ◽  
Water Consumption ◽  
North China Plain ◽  
North China ◽  
Shallow Groundwater ◽  
Agricultural Water ◽  
The North ◽  
The North China Plain ◽  
The World ◽  
Shallow Groundwater Level

Agricultural water management is a vital component of realizing the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals because of water shortages worldwide leading to a severe threat to ecological environments and global food security. As an agro-intensified irrigation area, the North China Plain (NCP) is the most important grain basket in China, which produces 30%–40% of the maize and 60%–80% of the wheat for China. However, this area has already been one of the largest groundwater funnels in the world due to long-term over-exploitation of groundwater. Due to the low precipitation during the growing period, winter wheat requires a large amount of groundwater to be pumped for irrigation, which consumes 70% of the groundwater irrigation. To alleviate the overexploitation of groundwater, the Chinese government implemented the Winter Wheat Fallow Policy (WWFP) in 2014. The evaluation and summarization of the WWFP will be beneficial for improving the groundwater overexploitation areas under high-intensity irrigation over all the world. So far, there have been few attempts at estimating the effectiveness of this policy. To fill this gap, we assessed the planting area of field crops and calculated the evapotranspiration of crops based on remote-sensed and meteorological data in the key area—Hengshui. We compared the agricultural water consumption before and after the implementation of this policy, and we analyzed the relationship between changes in crop planting structure and groundwater variations based on geographically weighted regression. Our results showed the overall classification accuracies for 2013 and 2015 were 85.56% and 82.22%, respectively. The planting area of winter wheat, as the most reduced crop, decreased from 35.71% (314,053 ha) in 2013 to 32.98% (289,986 ha) in 2015. The actual reduction in area of winter wheat reached 84% of the target (26 thousand ha) of the WWFP. The water consumption of major crops decreased from 2.98 billion m3 of water in 2013 to 2.83 billion m3 in 2015, a total reduction of 146 million m3, and 88.43% of reduced target of the WWFP (166 million m3). The planting changes of winter wheat did not directly affect the change of shallow groundwater level, but ET was positively related to shallow groundwater level and precipitation was negatively related to shallow groundwater levels. This study can provide a basis for the WWFP’s improvement and the development of sustainable agriculture in high-intensity irrigation areas.

scholarly journals Analysis of the type material of Achnanthes minutissima var. macrocephala (Bacillariophyta) and description of two new small capitate Achnanthidium species from Europe and the Himalaya

2019 ◽  
Vol 152 (2) ◽  
pp. 340-350
Author(s):  
Carlos E. Wetzel ◽  
Ingrid Jüttner ◽  
Smriti Gurung ◽  
Luc Ector
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Scanning Electron Microscopy ◽  
Benthic Diatom ◽  
Original Material ◽  
Diatom Species ◽  
The World ◽  
Freshwater Habitats ◽  
The Himalaya ◽  
Scanning Electron ◽  
Achnanthes Minutissima

Background and aims – Two unknown benthic diatom species belonging to the genus Achnanthidium Kütz., and found in French and Nepalese freshwater habitats, were investigated. Both species are here described as new and compared with the original material of Achnanthes minutissima var. macrocephala Hust. [≡ Achnanthidium macrocephalum (Hust.) Round & Bukht.] from Indonesia. Methods – The morphology of three small and capitate Achnanthidium species was investigated using light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Key results – Achnanthidium coxianum sp. nov. (from the Himalaya) belongs to the group of species with hooked terminal raphe endings, while Achnanthidium peetersianum sp. nov. (from France) has variable terminal raphe endings which are usually slightly bent. Achnanthidium macrocephalum is a much rarer species and illustrations concerning its identity in the literature do not conform to the type studied here. Conclusions – The three species are similar in LM but clearly distinct in SEM. The shape of the areolae and terminal raphe endings separate the species. Achnanthidium macrocephalum has often been misidentified in studies from many areas of the world. It is similar to the new species in valve outline and in its small dimensions.

The middle lower Cambrian (Ovetian)Lunagraulosn. gen. from Spain and the oldest trilobite records

2015 ◽  
Vol 152 (6) ◽  
pp. 1123-1136 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELADIO LIÑÁN ◽  
JOSÉ ANTONIO GÁMEZ VINTANED ◽  
RODOLFO GOZALO
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Lower Cambrian ◽  
New Genus ◽  
Type Locality ◽  
New Taxon ◽  
Northern Spain ◽  
Central Spain ◽  
Additional Material ◽  
The World ◽  
The Village

AbstractThe type material ofAgraulos antiquusSdzuy, 1961 from the La Herrería Formation, northern Spain, is revised together with additional material and included in the new genusLunagraulos. The stratigraphical range ofLunagraulos antiquus(Sdzuy, 1961) – occurring below that of the trilobite species of the generaLunolenus,MetadoxidesandDolerolenusin the type locality of Los Barrios de Luna in the province of León, northern Spain – and the accompanying ichnofossil assemblage demonstrate an Ovetian age (lower part of Cambrian Stage 3, currently being discussed by the International Subcommission on Cambrian Stratigraphy) for this species. Moreover, the trilobiteLunagraulos tamamensisn. gen. n. sp. is found in the Tamames Sandstone near the village of La Rinconada in the province of Salamanca, central Spain. The biostratigraphical position of this new taxon and its accompanying ichnoassemblage is also analysed and assigned to the lowermost Ovetian Stage. The genusLunagraulosis therefore the oldest agraulid found in the fossil record. The exceptional presence ofLunagraulosin a marine coarse siliciclastic succession – a facies rather typical for the ichnofossilsCruzianaandRusophycus, some of the oldest signs of trilobite activity – suggests that first trilobite representatives may have inhabited high- to middle-energy, marine environments. This hypothesis may also explain both the taxonomic and biostratigraphic heterogeneity of the first trilobite genera appearing across the world, due to preservation problems in this type of facies. Comparison of theLunagraulos biostratigraphy with other coeval Spanish fossil assemblages allows us to propose its intercontinental correlation with the oldest records of currently known trilobites.

Polysynthesis and Head Marking

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna Nichols
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
Great Majority ◽  
Pacific Rim ◽  
Historical Contingency ◽  
Closed Set ◽  
The World ◽  
Distinctive Property

Polysynthetic languages are mostly head-marking. But the great majority of polysynthetic languages come from what I will call the Greater Pacific Rim (GPR) population, where the head-marking type is extremely common compared to the rest of the world. Is head marking a genuine distinctive property of polysynthetic languages, or a conspicuous accident of geography that is equally common in non-polysynthetic languages of the GPR? A typological survey shows that polysynthesis entails open head marking: either verbal slots and/or their fillers are not a closed set. Polysynthesis is conditioned by grammar (head marking), not geography. It is an inevitable development in a population of mostly head-marking languages, but the geographical distribution of head marking is the result of historical contingency.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document