Discovery of Late Mississippian (late Serpukhovian)-Early Pennsylvanian (earliest Bashkirian?) foraminiferal assemblages from the Sanandaj-Sirjan Zone, Iran: Biostratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental implications.

This study reports the new discovery of relatively abundant foraminiferal faunas from the upper Serpukhovian-lowermost Bashkirian? of the Ghaleh Formation in the Shahreza region of the Sanandaj-Sirjan Zone, Iran. Four successive assemblages spanning the upper Serpukhovian-lowermost Bashkirian? are proposed: (1) Assemblage with Biseriella minima and Eostaffellina paraprotvae; (2) Assemblage with Bradyina cribrostomata; (3) Assemblage with Parastaffella utkaensa and Plectostaffella spp., (4) Assemblage with Plectostaffella ex gr. varvariensis. The newly discovered foraminiferal assemblages of the Sanandaj-Sirjan Zone have some species in common with assemblages of the Russian Platform, Donets Basin, Urals, and Western Europe. Ikensieformis aff. mirifica, and Eostaffella igoi, and a new species Ikensieformis persiaensis sp. nov. are described. The microfacies analysis of the Ghaleh Formation limestones suggests a moderate to high-energy shallow marine warm environment, more likely of the inner ramp.

Zoogeographic significance of Dmanisi large mammal assemblage.

We undertake a comparative mammalian zoogeographic analysis with the aim of revealing the extent to which the Dmanisi Early Pleistocene large mammal assemblage resembles, at the genus level, African, Arabian, and Eurasian localities of similar age. The inclusion of Old World Pliocene and Pleistocene mammalian faunas provides us with insights into the provincial origins of specific mammalian taxa and permits us to assess the relative affiliation of the Dmanisi mammalian faunas to other faunas in the Old World. Our analysis also allows us to consider hypotheses about the timing and direction of zoogeographic connections between western Eurasia and Africa during the Early Pleistocene. We utilize multiple zoogeographic analytical tools as a cross-comparison of Dmanisi with 42 other Eurasian and African mammalian-bearing localities between 2.7 and 0.7 Ma. Overall, we find that Dmanisi compares most closely with a subgroup of Greek, Italian, and Spanish localities that are slightly younger than Dmanisi itself. This could suggest a progressive dispersal from East to West of the large mammal communities during the late Early Pleistocene and the first occurrence at Dmanisi, and then later in Western Europe, of some taxa such as Stephanorhinus ex gr. etruscus-hundsheimensis, Equus altidens, Bison georgicus, Soergelia minor, Megantereon whitei, Canis borjgali, Canis (Xenocyon) lycaonoides. Dmanisi's habitats included drier areas, probably of open wooded savannah and grassland and by mountainous to semiarid rocky terrain. There is evidence that Dmanisi records short intervals of increased aridity in the middle part of the succession contemporaneous with the occurrence of Homo.

Sixty-six million years along the road of mammalian ecomorphological specialization.

The fossil record of the large terrestrial mammals of the North American Cenozoic has previously been quantitatively summarized in six sequential episodes of faunal associations-"evolutionary faunas"-that correspond well with previously proposed qualitative "Chronofaunas." Here, we investigate the ecological spectrum of these faunas by classifying their major taxonomic components into discrete ecomorphological categories of diet, locomotion, and body size. To specifically address the potential influence of long-term climatic shifts on the ecomorphological composition of these faunas, we analyze via contingency tables and detrended correspondence analyses the frequency distribution of ecomorph types within faunas. We show that each evolutionary fauna has a unique, nonrandom association of ecomorphs, and we identify a long-term trend toward greater ecomorphological specialization over successive faunas during the past 66 My. Major vegetation shifts induced by climatic changes appear to underlie the ecomorphological dynamics of these six temporal associations that summarize Cenozoic North American mammalian evolutionary history.

Early hominins evolved within non-analog ecosystems.

Present-day African ecosystems serve as referential models for conceptualizing the environmental context of early hominin evolution, but the degree to which modern ecosystems are representative of those in the past is unclear. A growing body of evidence from eastern Africa's rich and well-dated late Cenozoic fossil record documents communities of large-bodied mammalian herbivores with ecological structures differing dramatically from those of the present day, implying that modern communities may not be suitable analogs for the ancient ecosystems of hominin evolution. To determine when and why the ecological structure of eastern Africa's herbivore faunas came to resemble those of the present, here we analyze functional trait changes in a comprehensive dataset of 305 modern and fossil herbivore communities spanning the last ∼7 Myr. We show that nearly all communities prior to ∼700 ka were functionally non-analog, largely due to a greater richness of non-ruminants and megaherbivores (species >1,000 kg). The emergence of functionally modern communities precedes that of taxonomically modern communities by 100,000s of years, and can be attributed to the combined influence of Plio-Pleistocene C4 grassland expansion and pulses of aridity after ∼1 Ma. Given the disproportionate ecological impacts of large-bodied herbivores on factors such as vegetation structure, hydrology, and fire regimes, it follows that the vast majority of early hominin evolution transpired in the context of ecosystems that functioned unlike any today. Identifying how past ecosystems differed compositionally and functionally from those today is key to conceptualizing ancient African environments and testing ecological hypotheses of hominin evolution.

Were all trilobites fully marine? Trilobite expansion into brackish water during the early Palaeozoic.

Trilobites, key components of early Palaeozoic communities, are considered to have been invariably fully marine. Through the integration of ichnological, palaeobiological, and sedimentological datasets within a sequence-stratigraphical framework, we challenge this assumption. Here, we report uncontroversial trace and body fossil evidence of their presence in brackish-water settings. Our approach allows tracking of some trilobite groups foraying into tide-dominated estuaries. These trilobites were tolerant to salinity stress and able to make use of the ecological advantages offered by marginal-marine environments migrating up-estuary, following salt wedges either reflecting amphidromy or as euryhaline marine wanderers. Our data indicate two attempts of landward exploration via brackish water: phase 1 in which the outer portion of estuaries were colonized by olenids (Furongian-early late Tremadocian) and phase 2 involving exploration of the inner to middle estuarine zones by asaphids (Dapingian-Darriwilian). This study indicates that tolerance to salinity stress arose independently among different trilobite groups.

Comparative functional morphology indicates niche partitioning among sympatric marine reptiles.

Mesozoic marine ecosystems were dominated by diverse lineages of aquatic tetrapods. For over 50 Ma in the Jurassic until the Early Cretaceous, plesiosaurians, ichthyosaurians and thalattosuchian crocodylomorphs coexisted at the top levels of trophic food webs. We created a functional dataset of continuous craniomandibular and dental characters known from neontological studies to be functionally significant in modern aquatic tetrapods. We analysed this dataset with multivariate ordination and inferential statistics to assess functional similarities and differences in the marine reptile faunas of two well-sampled Jurassic ecosystems deposited in the same seaway: the Oxford Clay Formation (OCF, Callovian-early Oxfordian, Middle-Late Jurassic) and the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (KCF, Kimmeridgian-Tithonian, Late Jurassic) of the UK. Lower jaw-based macroevolutionary trends are similar to those of tooth-based diversity studies. Closely related species cluster together, with minimal overlaps in the morphospace. Marine reptile lineages were characterized by the distinctive combinations of features, but we reveal multiple instances of morphofunctional convergence among different groups. We quantitatively corroborate previous observations that the ecosystems in the OCF and KCF were markedly distinct in faunal composition and structure. Morphofunctional differentiation may have enabled specialization and was an important factor facilitating the coexistence of diverse marine reptile assemblages in deep time.

New data on the mammalian fauna from the late middle Eocene (MP 15-16) of Mazaterón (Soria, Spain): The youngest presence of the genus Prodissopsalis (Hyaenodonta, Hyaenodontidae) in Europe.

The Hyaenodonta were the most diverse carnivorous mammals in the European Eocene and were classically divided into three subfamilies: Sinopaninae, Arfianinae, and Proviverrinae, with this latter being the most successful of the three, as it exhibited a much larger geographic and temporal range. This classification is currently abandoned, as cladistic analyses of Hyaenodonta showed that several of these groups were paraphyletic. In any case, the former "proviverrines" were European endemic hyaenodontids which occupied the niche of small to medium-sized predators from the Ypresian (MP7) to the Priabonian (MP19). Recent phylogenetic proposals recognize the "Eurotherium clade" including this latter genus, besides Cartierodon and Prodissopsalis. A single species is known for Prodissopsalis, Prodissopsalis eocaenicus, previously recorded in European fossil sites of MP 12 to MP 14; nevertheless, the new material studied here, a mandible of a subadult individual from the late Middle Eocene (Bartonian, MP 15-16) site of La Solana (Mazaterón, Soria, Spain) constitutes a new species of Prodissopsalis and the youngest record of this genus up to now, extending its chronological range and remarking the shelter role of the northwestern region of the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle and Late Eocene. The new species, Prodissopsalis jimenezi provides new data not only on the eruption sequence of the genus, but also on the evolution of its dental adaptations, as the new species exhibits a more trenchant, hypercarnivorous dentition in comparison to the more primitive species P. eocaenicus, which would point toward a refining of the hunting abilities of this hyaenodont during the Middle Eocene.

The colonisation of Madagascar by land-bound vertebrates.

Despite discussions extending back almost 160 years, the means by which Madagascar's iconic land vertebrates arrived on the island remains the focus of active debate. Three options have been considered: vicariance, range expansion across land bridges, and dispersal over water. The first assumes that a group (clade/lineage) occupied the island when it was connected with the other Gondwana landmasses in the Mesozoic. Causeways to Africa do not exist today, but have been proposed by some researchers for various times in the Cenozoic. Over-water dispersal could be from rafting on floating vegetation (flotsam) or by swimming/drifting. A recent appraisal of the geological data supported the idea of vicariance, but found nothing to justify the notion of past causeways. Here we review the biological evidence for the mechanisms that explain the origins of 28 of Madagascar's land vertebrate clades [two other lineages (the geckos Geckolepis and Paragehyra) could not be included in the analysis due to phylogenetic uncertainties]. The podocnemid turtles and typhlopoid snakes are conspicuous for they appear to have arisen through a deep-time vicariance event. The two options for the remaining 26 (16 reptile, five land-bound-mammal, and five amphibian), which arrived between the latest Cretaceous and the present, are dispersal across land bridges or over water. As these would produce very different temporal influx patterns, we assembled and analysed published arrival times for each of the groups. For all, a 'colonisation interval' was generated that was bracketed by its 'stem-old' and 'crown-young' tree-node ages; in two instances, the ranges were refined using palaeontological data. The synthesis of these intervals for all clades, which we term a colonisation profile, has a distinctive shape that can be compared, statistically, to various models, including those that assume the arrivals were focused in time. The analysis leads us to reject the various land bridge models (which would show temporal concentrations) and instead supports the idea of dispersal over water (temporally random). Therefore, the biological evidence is now in agreement with the geological evidence, as well as the filtered taxonomic composition of the fauna, in supporting over-water dispersal as the mechanism that explains all but two of Madagascar's land-vertebrate groups.

A new species of African Snake-Eyed Skink (Scincidae: Panaspis) from Ethiopia.

A recent molecular phylogenetic revision of the snake-eyed skinks (genus Panaspis Cope, 1868) uncovered extensive cryptic diversity, including several new species from throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Here, we describe one of these from Ethiopia as Panaspis annettesabinae sp. nov. This description is based on a previous molecular phylogeny and morphological, scalation, and coloration data collected from the type specimen. Phylogenetic analyses place the species alone in what we term the P. annettesabinae species group from Ethiopia. This group forms the sister lineage to a large southern African radiation and suggests a potential northern origin for much of the extant diversity of Panaspis. Many new taxa have recently been discovered in the genus and region, and there are several historical records of Panaspis from elsewhere in Ethiopia. Thus, we suggest that the range of this new species (known only from a single specimen at present) may be much larger, and that additional undescribed species may exist in northern sub-Saharan Africa.

Minjerribah (Diptera: Dolichopodidae), a new genus from coastal Queensland, Australia.

A monotypic new genus, Minjerribah (Diptera: Dolichopodidae), and an included new species, M. litoura, are described from North Stradbroke Island in southeastern Queensland. The genus is assigned to the subfamily Hydrophorinae based on the pair of distinct converging postvertical setae on the dorsal postcranium, out of line with the postocular setae. Other diagnostic characters in Minjerribah include the highly encapsulated and reduced male postabdomen, the antennal pedicel with a conus (visible both in lateral and median view) projecting into the postpedicel, strong setation on tibia I, and very few male secondary sexual characters. It has only been collected in August from low coastal habitat and is probably a winter flying species.

The identification of Oligo-Miocene mammalian palaeocommunities from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, Australia and an appraisal of palaeoecological techniques.

Fourteen of the best sampled Oligo-Miocene local faunas from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, north-western Queensland, Australia are analysed using classification and ordination techniques to identify potential mammalian palaeocommunities and palaeocommunity types. Abundance data for these faunas are used, for the first time, in conjunction with presence/absence data. An early Miocene Faunal Zone B and two middle Miocene Faunal Zone C palaeocommunities are recognised, as well as one palaeocommunity type. Change in palaeocommunity structure, between the early Miocene and middle Miocene, may be the result of significant climate change during the Miocene Carbon Isotope Excursion. The complexes of local faunas identified will allow researchers to use novel palaeocommunities in future analyses of Riversleigh's fossil faunas. The utility of some palaeoecological multivariate indices and techniques is examined. The Dice index is found to outperform other binary similarity/distance coefficients, while the UPGMA algorithm is more useful than neighbour joining. Evidence is equivocal for the usefulness of presence/absence data compared to abundance.

Araneae Sloveniae: a national spider species checklist.

The research of the spider fauna of Slovenia dates back to the very beginning of binomial nomenclature, and has gone through more and less prolific phases with authors concentrating on taxonomy, faunistics, ecology and zoogeographic reviews. Although the body of published works is remarkable for a small nation, the faunistic data has remained too scattered for a thorough understanding of regional biotic diversity, for comparative and ecological research, and for informed conservation purposes. A national checklist is long overdue. Here, a critical review of all published records in any language is provided. The species list currently comprises 738 species, is published online at http://www.bioportal.si/katalog/araneae.php under the title Araneae Sloveniae, and will be updated in due course. This tool will fill the void in cataloguing regional spider faunas and will facilitate further araneological research in central and southern Europe.

Whale-fall ecosystems: recent insights into ecology, paleoecology, and evolution.

Whale falls produce remarkable organic- and sulfide-rich habitat islands at the seafloor. The past decade has seen a dramatic increase in studies of modern and fossil whale remains, yielding exciting new insights into whale-fall ecosystems. Giant body sizes and especially high bone-lipid content allow great-whale carcasses to support a sequence of heterotrophic and chemosynthetic microbial assemblages in the energy-poor deep sea. Deep-sea metazoan communities at whale falls pass through a series of overlapping successional stages that vary with carcass size, water depth, and environmental conditions. These metazoan communities contain many new species and evolutionary novelties, including bone-eating worms and snails and a diversity of grazers on sulfur bacteria. Molecular and paleoecological studies suggest that whale falls have served as hot spots of adaptive radiation for a specialized fauna; they have also provided evolutionary stepping stones for vent and seep mussels and could have facilitated speciation in other vent/seep taxa.

Life beneath the surface of the central Texan Balcones Escarpment: genus Anillinus Casey, 1918 (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Bembidiini): new species, a key to the Texas species, and notes about their way of life and evolution.

The Texas fauna of the genus Anillinus Casey, 1918 includes three previously described species (A. affabilis (Brues), 1902, A. depressus (Jeannel), 1963 and A. sinuatus (Jeannel), 1963) and four new species here described: A. acutipennis Sokolov & Reddell, sp. n. (type locality: Fort Hood area, Bell County, Texas); A. comalensis Sokolov & Kavanaugh, sp. n. (type locality: 7 miles W of New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas); A. forthoodensis Sokolov & Reddell, sp. n. (type locality: Fort Hood area, Bell County, Texas); A. wisemanensis Sokolov & Kavanaugh, sp. n. (type locality: Wiseman Sink, Hays County, Texas). A key for identification of adults of these species is provided. The fauna includes both soil- and cave-inhabiting species restricted to the Balcones Fault Zone and Lampasas Cut Plain and adjacent areas underlain by the Edwards-Trinity Aquifer. Based on morphological and distributional data, we hypothesize that four lineages of endogean Anillinus species extended their geographical ranges from a source area in the Ouachita-Ozark Mountains to the Balconian region in central Texas. There the cavernous Edwards-Trinity aquifer system provided an excellent refugium as the regional climate in the late Tertiary and early Quaternary became increasingly drier, rendering life at the surface nearly impossible for small, litter-inhabiting arthropods. Isolated within the Edwards-Trinity aquifer system, these anilline lineages subsequently differentiated, accounting for the currently known diversity. The paucity of specimens and difficulty in collecting them suggest that additional undiscovered species remain to be found in the region.

Redescription of Mymarilla Westwood, new synonymies under Cremnomymar Ogloblin (Hymenoptera, Mymaridae) and discussion of unusual wings.

The monotypic genus Mymarilla Westwood is known only from St. Helena, a remote island in the South Atlantic Ocean. The peculiar species M. wollastoni Westwood (Mymaridae) is redescribed and illustrated from non-type material. Mymarilla is compared with Cremnomymar Ogloblinspp. from the Juan Fernández Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. Stephanodes Enock is shown to be the most likely sister genus to Mymarilla. Nesopolynema Ogloblin, syn. n., Oncomymar Ogloblin, syn. n., Scolopsopteron Ogloblin, syn. n., are placed in synonymy under Cremnomymar and their species transferred as Cremnomymar caudatum (Ogloblin 1952), comb. n., C. dipteron (Ogloblin 1957), comb. n., and C. kuscheli (Ogloblin 1952), comb. n. Wing shape and wing reductions in Mymaridae are discussed in relation to biogeography, particularly with respect island faunas and to four genera, Cremnomymar, Mymarilla, Parapolynema Fidalgo, and Richteria Girault, some or all of whose species have more or less convex fore wings.

Local-scale spatial variation in diversity of social wasps in an amazonian rain forest in Caxiuanã, Pará, Brazil (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Polistinae) / Variação na diversidade de vespas sociais em escala local numa floresta pluvial amazônica em Caxiuanã, Pará, Brasil (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Polistinae)

Polistine wasps are important in Neotropical ecosystems due to their ubiquity and diversity. Inventories have not adequately considered spatial attributes of collected specimens. Spatial data on biodiversity are important for study and mitigation of anthropogenic impacts over natural ecosystems and for protecting species. We described and analyzed local-scale spatial patterns of collecting records of wasp species, as well as spatial variation of diversity descriptors in a 2500-hectare area of an Amazon forest in Brazil. Rare species comprised the largest fraction of the fauna. Close range spatial effects were detected for most of the more common species, with clustering of presence-data at short distances. Larger spatial lag effects could also be identified in some species, constituting probably cases of exogenous autocorrelation and candidates for explanations based on environmental factors. In a few cases, significant or near significant correlations were found between five species (of Agelaia, Angiopolybia, and Mischocyttarus) and three studied environmental variables: distance to nearest stream, terrain altitude, and the type of forest canopy. However, association between these factors and biodiversity variables were generally low. When used as predictors of polistine richness in a linear multiple regression, only the coefficient for the forest canopy variable resulted significant. Some level of prediction of wasp diversity variables can be attained based on environmental variables, especially vegetation structure. Large-scale landscape and regional studies should be scheduled to address this issue.

Vespas sociais são importantes nos ecossistemas neotropicais pela abundância e diversidade. A maioria dos inventários recentes não têm dedicado atenção aos atributos espaciais dos espécimes coletados. Dados espaciais são importantes para estudar e mitigar impactos sobre ecossistemas naturais e proteger espécies. Este artigo descreve e analisa em escala local padrões espaciais de registros de coleta, investigando também a variação espacial de descritores de diversidade numa área de 2.500 hectares de floresta amazônica no Brasil. Espécies raras constituíram a maior parte da fauna. Efeitos espaciais de curta distância foram detectados para a maioria das espécies mais comuns, com agregação de registros em distâncias até ca. 800 metros. Hiatos espaciais maiores foram identificados para algumas espécies, constituindo provavelmente autocorrelação exógena e candidatos a explicação por fatores ambientais. Nalguns casos, foram encontradas correlações significativas (ou quase) entre cinco espécies (de Agelaia, Angiopolybia e Mischocyttarus) e três variáveis ambientais estudadas: distância ao riacho mais próximo, altitude topográfica e tipo de copa da floresta. A associação desses fatores com variáveis de biodiversidade foi geralmente baixa. Quando utilizados como preditores de riqueza de Polistinae numa regressão linear múltipla, apenas o coeficiente para tipo de dossel florestal resultou significativo. Alguma predição mostra-se possível sobre variáveis de biodiversidade com base no conhecimento de condições ambientais, especialmente estrutura da vegetação. Estudos devem ser agendados para tratar do assunto em escalas espaciais mais amplas.

Geographical patterns and partition of turnover and richness components of beta-diversity in faunas from Tocantins river valley / Padrões geográficos e desdobramento entre componentes de substituição e riqueza da diversidade-beta em faunas do Centro e do Nordeste do Brasil

There has been a resurging interest in patterns of β-diversity, especially by the mechanisms driving broad-scale, continental and global patterns, and how partitioning β-diversity into richness (or nestedness) and turnover components can be linked with such mechanisms. Here we compared two recent methodologies to find richness and turnover components of β-diversity, using a large regional scale dataset of mammal, bird, reptiles and amphibian species found in seven regions of Central, North and Northeastern Brazil. As well as a simple comparison of the metrics available, we analyzed spatial patterns (i.e., distance-decay similarity) and the effects of biome type in these components using raw and partial Mantel tests. Our analyses revealed that turnover estimated using Baselga's (2010) approach is slightly higher than the estimate using Carvalho's et al. (2012) approach, but all analyses show consistent spatial patterns in species turnover using both methods. Spatial patterns in β-diversity revealed by Mantel tests are also consistent with expectations based on differential dispersal abilities. Our results also reinforce that spatial patterns in β-diversity, mainly in the turnover components expressing faunal differentiation, are determined by a mix or broad scale environmental effects and short distance spatially-structured dispersal.

Tem havido um interesse crescente nos padrões de diversidade-β, particularmente acerca dos mecanismos subjacentes a esses padrões em escalas continentais e globais, e sobre o modo como esses mecanismos podem ser associados ao desdobramento desses padrões em componentes de riqueza e substituição (turnover) de espécies. Neste artigo, nós comparamos duas metodologias desenvolvidas recentemente para realizar esse desdobramento, utilizando conjuntos regionais de espécies de mamíferos, aves, répteis e anfíbios em sete regiões no Nordeste, Norte e no Centro do Brasil. Além de comparar os dois conjuntos de índices utilizados para o desdobramento dos componentes da diversidade-β, foram analisados os padrões espaciais e os efeitos do bioma no qual são encontradas as regiões nesses componentes por meio de testes de Mantel e testes de Mantel parciais. Embora não tenham sido encontradas diferenças na magnitude das estimativas de diversidade-β entre os grupos, foi possível detectar diferenças significativas entre os padrões espaciais, principalmente no componente de substituição, sugerindo que os padrões na variação de composição são determinados por um balanço entre efeitos ambientais em grandes escalas e por processos de dispersão espacialmente estruturados.