scholarly journals First Record of Postcranial Bones in Devinophoca emryi (Carnivora, Phocidae, Devinophocinae)

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. J. Rahmat ◽  
I. Koretsky

Abstract The Devinophoca emryi material from the early Badenian, early Middle Miocene (16.26–14.89 Ma) presents mixed cranial and especially postcranial characters with the three extant phocid subfamilies (Cystophorinae, Monachinae and Phocinae), as well as unique postcranial characters not seen in any taxa. These distinguishing characters (i. e. well-outlined, large oval facet on greater tubercle of humerus; broader width between the head and lesser tubercle of humerus; femoral proximal epiphysis larger than distal; thin innominate ilium that is excavated on ventral surface) demonstrate that this material belongs to a recently described species (D. emryi). During ecomorphotype analyses, fossil humerus and femur bones were directly associated with their corresponding mandible to reveal associations based on Recent morphological analogues. Strong correlation between ecomorphotypes and postcranial morphology supports placement of this material to D. emryi and not its sister taxon, D. claytoni. The previously described skull, mandible and teeth and postcranial bones described herein were discovered at the same locality during excavations at the base of the Malé Karpaty Mountains (Slovakia), at the junction of the Morava and Danube rivers. The geological age of D. emryi and the presence of mixed characters strongly suggest that this species was an early relative to the ancestor of seals, possibly being a terminal branch of the phocid tree. This material allows for emended diagnoses of the species, updated assessments of geographical distribution and provides further material for clarification of controversial phylogenetic relationships in Phocidae.

2008 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 425-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Santiago Brizuela ◽  
Adriana María Albino

Abstract Remains of teiids assignable to the Tupinambinae (Tupinambis sp. or Crocodilurus sp.) are here described from the middle Miocene Collón Curá Formation at Cañadón del Tordillo, in Neuquén province, Argentina. No tupinambine species presently inhabits the region of the fossil locality. The fossils represent the westernmost distribution of fossil tupinambine teiids in Patagonia, enlarging the known geographical distribution of the teiids through the Miocene in a longitudinal range. Also, they constitute the first record of lizards from the Colloncuran SALMA, partially filling the record of tupinambine teiids for the South American Miocene.


2013 ◽  
Vol 150 (5) ◽  
pp. 767-782 ◽  
Author(s):  
MASSIMO DELFINO ◽  
TORSTEN M. SCHEYER ◽  
FRANCESCO CHESI ◽  
TAMARA FLETCHER ◽  
RICHARD GEMEL ◽  
...  

AbstractPsephophorus polygonus Meyer, 1847, the first fossil leatherback turtle to be named, was described on the basis of shell ossicles from the middle Miocene (MN6–7/8?) of Slovakia. The whereabouts of this material is uncertain but a slab on display at the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien is considered the neotype. We rediscovered further type locality ossicles in four European institutions, re-evaluated their gross morphology and described for the first time their microstructure by comparing them with Dermochelys coriacea, the only living dermochelyid turtle. The gross morphology is congruent with that already described for P. polygonus, but with two significant exceptions: the ridged ossicles of P. polygonus may have a distinctly concave ventral surface as well as a tectiform shape in cross-section. They do not develop the external keel typical of many ossicles of D. coriacea. Both ridged and non-ridged ossicles of P. polygonus are characterized by compact diploe structures with an internal cortex consisting of a coarse fibrous meshwork, whereas the proportionately thinner ossicles of D. coriacea tend to lose the internal cortex, and thus their diploe, during ontogeny. The ossicles of both P. polygonus and D. coriacea differ from those of other lineages of amniotes whose carapace is composed of polygonal ossicles or platelets, in having growth centres situated at the plate centres just interior to the external bone surface and not within the cancellous core or closer to the internal compact layer. The new diagnosis of P. polygonus allows us to preliminarily re-evaluate the taxonomy of some of the Psephophorus-like species. Despite some macro- and micromorphological differences, it seems likely that Psephophorus was as cosmopolitan as extant Dermochelys and had a broadly similar ecology, with a possible difference concerning the dive depth.


Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4504 (2) ◽  
pp. 276
Author(s):  
QING-BO HUO ◽  
YU-ZHOU DU

A species of the genus Isoperla Banks, 1906, I. oncocauda Huo & Du, sp. nov. is described as new to science and is the first record for the family Perlodidae from the Tianmu Mountain Nature Reserve, Zhejiang Province of eastern coastal China. Both sexes of the new species are characterized by tergum 10 with a developed process. The partially extruded aedeagus of the male is membranous without conspicuous larger sclerites and with the ventral surface covered with dense scale-like and nail-shaped spines. 


2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 643-645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Demilson Rodrigues dos Santos ◽  
Adão Celestino Ferreira ◽  
Alceu Bisetto Junior

INTRODUCTION: We report the first find of Lutzomyia longipalpis in the State of Paraná, Brazil. METHODS: The specimens were captured in the urban area of the municipality of Foz do Iguaçu, with Falcão light traps, in domiciliary and peridomiciliary areas of 61 properties, on two consecutive nights from 18:00 to 06:00hs in March 2012. RESULTS: We captured 40 specimens of Lu. longipalpis and 54 specimens of other sandfly species. CONCLUSIONS: This find expands knowledge of the geographical distribution of this sandfly in Brazil.


2017 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Javier Gaudioso ◽  
Germán M. Gasparini ◽  
Rafael Herbst ◽  
Rubén Mario Barquez

The first record of the Neolicaphrium recens Frenguelli, 1921 (Mammalia, Litopterna) from Pleistocene deposits of the Río Dulce, Rio Hondo Department, Santiago del Estero Province, Argentina, is reported. The morphology and morphometry observed in the specimen MPAT073 is coincident with the diagnostic characteristics of that species. This finding represents the northernmost and westernmost record of the species, and thus extends its geographical distribution. Geological data suggest that the material comes from a still unnamed Pleistocene stratigraphic unit.


Check List ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 1746 ◽  
Author(s):  
Breno Hamdan ◽  
Claudio Machado ◽  
Nathalie Kaladinsky Citeli

We present the first record of the Dipsadidae snakes Xenopholis scalaris for the state of Rio de Janeiro and a general distribution map for this species. This record for the Brazilian Atlantic Forest expands the known geographical distribution of X. scalaris and reveals that its populations might not be isolated or disjunctive, but rather rare in this biome. We also provide some recommendations for future conservation of X. scalaris.


2020 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-251
Author(s):  
Jozef Klembara ◽  
Marika Mikudíková ◽  
Stanislav Štamberg ◽  
Miroslav Hain

The first record of the seymouriamorph stem amniote Discosauriscus from the Krkonoše Piedmont Basin (the Czech Republic) is described. The specimen is identified as D. pulcherrimus on the basis of the following features which are absent in D. austriacus: 1) the pointed tip of the ventrolateral process of the postorbital lies anteriorly to the tip of the wedge-shaped dorsomedial process of the jugal; and 2) the rows of small denticles diverge anteromedially and anterolaterally from the midwidth of the ventral surface of the palatal ramus of the pterygoid. This new record increases our knowledge of the occurrence of this seymouriamorph in the Permo-Carboniferous basins of Europe.


Zoodiversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-154
Author(s):  
I. A. Koretsky ◽  
S. J. Rahmat

Numerous Miocene terrestrial mammal fossils have been discovered at the Grytsiv locality of Ukraine, but this is the first record of a fossil marine mammal at this site. Morphological analysis of the rostral portion of this middle-late Miocene (12.3–11.8 Ma) partial skull suggests that it belongs to the subfamily Phocinae. The small size and cranial morphology of this partial skull is compared with recent and fossil representatives of the extant subfamily Phocinae and the extinct subfamily Devinophocinae. Extinct and modern representatives of the extant subfamilies Cystophorinae and Monachinae were not incorporated in this study due to their extremely large size in comparison to this new find. This newly described skull belonged to a small-sized seal (likely similar in size to the modern sea otter based on the width of the rostrum) with an extremely short rostrum and several other diagnostic characters that differ from all other fossil and extant phocines. Due to the lack of preservation and fragility of fossil seal skulls, less than 20 have been described so far. This new skull is yet another example of an ancestral seal, supporting the suggestion that modern seals have become larger over their evolutionary history. Overall, any cranial information on fossil true seals is extremely important since it allows resolving contentious phylogenetic relationships between extinct and extant representatives of this group.


Check List ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1825 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marise Silva ◽  
Brígida Souza ◽  
Renato J. P. Machado ◽  
César F. Carvalho

This note extends the geographical distribution of two rare species of Mantispidae (Neuroptera) in Minas Gerais state, Brazil. This is the first record of Gerst­aeckerella irrorata and the second record of Plega zikani for the state.


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