Paleontology - Science topic

Dear Colleagues, The combination of anthropological, archaeological, biological, ecological, and paleontological research focused on animal remains is a defining characteristic of the zooarchaeology. Zooarchaeological interpretations are based on the premise that there is a systemic relationship between humans and their environment, especially betw...

In Generelle Morphologie der Organismen (1866), Ernst Haeckel systematised the biological study of morphology along evolutionary lines and proposed that the ‘Anthropozoic Age’ should be considered the most recent paleontological time period. This article first examines Haeckelʼs early concept of the Anthropozoic Age in relation to his ambiguous use...

Recent geological studies conducted in the Dahra Massif located in the Lower Chelif Basin (specifically, the sections of Djebel El Abiod, Hgaf Tamda, Oued Tarhia and Sidi Brahim Telegraph) revealed the bio-sedimentary events that characterize the post-gypsum deposits (Messinian to Piacenzian periods). At Djebel El Abiod, for instance, variegated cl...

The assembly and break-up of supercontinents have been hot research topics in international earth sciences because they represent a breakthrough in reconstructing the history of continental evolution and deepening the theory of plate tectonics, which is of indispensable importance to the development of earth sciences. With the continuous enrichment...

The often beautifully preserved ichthyosaurs from the early Jurassic of Britain occupy a special place in the history of palaeontology [...]

The composition and geological evolution of pre-Cryogenian material in the Tibetan Plateau and its surrounding areas have played an important role in studying the formation and evolution of early supercontinents on Earth. This paper systematically summarizes the characteristics of pre-Cryogenian sedimentation, paleontology, magmatism, and metamorph...

Next to movies, comics are probably the most influential medium to present dinosaurs to the public in a memorable way. The easily accessible visual format offers the possibility to transmit scientific results to a broad audience (although strips involving prehistoric creatures are aimed predominately at a young readership). Comics have the advantag...

The Remigiusberg lagerstaette is an outstanding fossil site with abundant and diverse aquatic and terrestrial biota from the base of the Rotliegend in the Saar-Nahe Basin, SW Germany. It refers to an about 50 m thick succession of fluvio-lacustrine sediments of the Remigiusberg Formation (Gzhelian-Asselian, Pennsylvanian-Permian boundary) that is e...

Indus Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences (IJAPS) is an international, open access, peer-reviewed journal. It provides a platform for the publication of scholarly research in the field of animal and plant sciences. The journal publishes original research, review articles, case studies, short communications, and other types of articles related to t...

Cephalopod evolution is often summarised by a comparatively simple model: The modern Nautilus is cited as a living fossil that has remained relatively unchanged in the past 500 million years and from these “nautiloids”, other groups such as the ammonoids and coleoids (i.e., squid, cuttlefish and octopus) have evolved. A closer look at this model re...

Despite the iconic status of cephalopods in the field of Palaeontology owing to their rich fossil record, phylogenetic approaches on this group have since long been lagging behind many other taxa such as vertebrates or arthropods (Neige et al. 2007). Only recent years have shown increased interest and a rising number of phylogenetic studies focusin...

The genus name Orthoceras is widespread and well-known in the scientific literature and commonly used to refer to museum specimens and material in private collections. However, the vast majority of these identifications is likely incorrect and refers to a taxonomic concept that has been officially abandoned almost fifty years ago (Melville 1970; IC...

The topic of repatriation has gained significant attention in recent years, particularly in relation to cultural artifacts and historical items. However, it is crucial to extend this conversation to include fossil specimens, which are important components of a nation’s natural and cultural heritages. Brazil – a country renowned for its rich biodive...

Large igneous provinces (LIPs) are major magmatic events that have a significant impact on the global environment and the biosphere, for example as triggers of mass extinctions. LIPs provide an excellent sedimentological and geochemical record of short but intense periods of geological activity in the past, but their contribution towards understand...

Breu introducció al Pliocè del Baix Llobregat i el Barcelonès amb l'objectiu d'inventariar i protegir els tres principals afloraments paleontològics d'aquesta edat, ubicats a Molins de Rei.

Les comarques del Barcelonès i el Baix Llobregat han estat objectiu de diversos estudis científics des del segle XIX a causa de la seva riquesa i varietat geològica i paleontològica. Un capítol important de la història del nostre planeta relacionat amb els canvis climàtics pertany a l'època del Pliocè (fa 5 milions d'anys), i l'àrea estudiada prese...

The San Andres Archipelago (Colombian Caribbean) is made up of a series of islands, cays, and reef banks formed after different volcanic events during the Paleogene. Old Providence, for instance, is made up of rhyolites, basaltic and andesitic lava flows, and other volcanic products. Nevertheless, toward the southern part of the island, there are t...

O presente artigo tem como objetivo analisar como o ensino da Paleontologia vem sendo aplicado nos currículos escolares da educação básica no Brasil. O estudo leva em conta a sua compreensão e a sua prática delimitada pelos Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais (PCN) e na Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional de n° 9394/1996 do Ministério da E...

Taxonomic identification of whale bones found during archaeological excavations is problematic due to their typically fragmented state. This difficulty limits understanding of both the past spatio-temporal distributions of whale populations and of possible early whaling activities. To overcome this challenge, we performed zooarchaeology by mass spe...

In 2020, the Australasian palaeontological association Australasian Palaeontologists (AAP) joined the Australian government-supported Australian National Species List (auNSL) initiative to compile the first Australian Fossil National Species List (auFNSL) for the region. The goal is to assemble comprehensive systematic data on all vertebrate, inver...

Protein dynamics form a critical bridge between protein structure and function, yet the impact of evolution on ultrafast processes inside proteins remains enigmatic. This study delves deep into nanosecond-scale protein dynamics of a structurally and functionally conserved protein across species separated by almost a billion years, investigating ten...

The Owadów-Brzezinki palaeontological site is known for its very well-preserved fossils of Late Jurassic vertebrates, such as numerous fossil fish teeth and occasional dental bones. Some of these represent well-studied taxa, including the most common large predatory fish, with notable examples of caturoids (such as Strobilodus sp.) and pachycormids...

Roth’s explorations, the resulting collections many now allocated in La Plata, Zurich, Geneva and Copenhagen, and his significant contributions in geological—especially stratigraphic—and paleontological topics, are a paradigmatic case for the global history of paleontology and for the Swiss migration history in Latin America. His work included the...

A popular science review of the finds of Rangifer tarandus in the paleontological and archaeological sites in Bulgaria.

A popular science review of the finds of Alces alces in the paleontological and archaeological sites in Bulgaria.

A popular science review of the finds of Castor fiber in the paleontological and archaeological sites in Bulgaria.

The Geologic Time Scale is an ordered hierarchical set of terms representing specific time intervals in Earth's history. The hierarchical structure is correlated to the geologic record and major geologic events in Earth’s history (Gradstein et al. 2020). In the absence of quantitative numeric age values from absolute dating methods, the relative ti...

The Santana Group, from the base to the top, comprises the Barbalha, Crato, Ipubi, and Romualdo formations. Calcareous concretions from the Romualdo Formation are found in the Araripe Basin, but the geographic extension of this sequence has evidence in the Socorro Basin on the border of the state of Pernambuco; however, these areas outside of the A...

A moderately diverse larger foraminiferal is described from the NE Iraq, Baba Formation with important stratigraphy, paleontology, microfacies, and palaeoenvironment implications. The fauna is dominated by hyaline perforated and porcellaneous forms including Nummulites, Austrotrillina, Amphistegina, Archaias, Lepidocyclina, Spiroclypeus, Operculina...

Paleogenomics focuses on the recovery, manipulation, and analysis of ancient DNA (aDNA) from historical or long-dead organisms to reconstruct and analyze their genomes. The aDNA is commonly obtained from remains found in paleontological and archaeological sites, conserved in museums and in other archival collections. Herbarium collections represent...

Measurement theory, a branch of applied mathematics, offers guiding principles for extracting meaning from empirical observations and is applicable to any science involving measurements. Measurement theory is highly relevant in paleobiology because statistical approaches assuming ratio-scaled variables are commonly used on data belonging to nominal...

Zooarchaeological and palaeontological assemblages, especially those located in karstic cavities, are usually the product of the activity of several taphonomic accumulator agents. This is also the case of the Upper Pleistocene site of Cova del Coll Verdaguer (Barcelona, Iberian Peninsula), where hyenas accumulated most of the ungulates, bears used...

This paper describes a set of paleokarst caves at Torricelle Hills near Verona (Southern Alps, Italy.) At this locality, erosional surfaces and paleokarst cavities show that sedimentation of late Paleogene neritic limestones was interrupted by subaerial exposure. Karst features developed during a phase of marine regression that started after the ea...

The Jurassic Bivalve Catalogue is the most comprehensive and complete data compilation of published Jurassic bivalve occurrences. The Catalogue has been compiled by F.F. and W.W. since the beginning of 80s to facilitate taxonomic and palaeogeographic analyses. The Catalogue is stored at the Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Geology, M...

Le nom Spiropora elegans Millet de la Turtaudière, 1865, introduit pour une espèce du Tortonien (Miocène Supérieur) de Sceaux-d’Anjou et de Reneauleau, Doué-en-Anjou [anciennement Brigné] (Maine-et-Loire), est nomenclaturalement invalide ; c'est en effet un homonyme primaire plus récent de Spiropora elegans Lamouroux, 1821, une espèce du Jurassique...

En Uruguay el jaguar, Panthera onca, se considera extinto desde 1901. Existen registros paleontológicos, arqueológicos y documentación histórica que dan cuenta de la presencia de la especie en distintas partes del territorio nacional. Asimismo, hay en el país numerosos accidentes geográficos que incluyen en su nombre la palabra “tigre”, que es como...

Climate tracking is a central concept which lies at the heart of many models and disciplines. It supports the use of species distribution and niches models (SDM/ENM), especially in the context of assessing conservations priorities and policies in the light of ongoing climate change. Nevertheless, estimating the robustness of this concept is a compl...

The Mesozoic Bansong Group, distributed along the NE-SW thrust fault zone of the Okcheon Fold Belt in the Danyang-Yeongwol-Jeongseon areas, contains important information on the two Mosozoic orogenic cycles in the Koran Peninsula, the Permian-Triassic Songrim Orogeny and the Jurassic Daebo Orogeny. This study aims to review previous studies on the...

The Paleobiology Database is an online, non-governmental, non-profit public resource for paleontological data. It is organized and operated by a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional, international group of paleobiological researchers. This volume is designed to be a comprehensive guide for Paleobiology Database users, both General and Contributo...

The geological record of marine animal biodiversity reflects the interplay between changing rates of speciation versus extinction. Compared to mass extinctions, background extinctions have received little attention. To disentangle the different contributions of global climate state, continental configuration, and atmospheric oxygen concentration (p...

Late Ordovician conodonts and macrofossils (corals, calcareous algae and bryozoans) were recovered from an unnamed limestone unit within the Currumburrama Volcanics, intersected in drill hole CBMD006 located in the vicinity of Quandialla and Caragabal in south-central New South Wales. The conodont assemblage from the lower part of the limestone uni...

Recent fieldwork of the Istituto Italiano di Paleontologia Umana in the Anagni basin (Latin Valley, southern Latium, central Italy) has provided new insights into the dynamics of human settlement and adaptation in this area during the Middle Pleistocene. This paper summarizes the still partially unpublished data on the chronostratigraphy of two imp...

The article briefly covers the pages of the history of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (Paris, France), which was established in 1793, inheriting the material base and collections of one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world—the Royal Garden of Medicinal Plants. Contribution to the development of the Royal Garden of Medicinal Plants...

The joining of the North and South China blocks marks the formation of the united East Asian continent, which is an integral part of Pangea. The amalgamation of these two continental blocks also resulted in the formation of the world‐class ultrahigh pressure orogenic belt, namely the Dabie–Sulu orogenic belt. Figuring out the time of the initial co...

The distribution of Silurian rocks in Lithuania is a good example of multifacial sediments with a marine deep shelf in the western part and a marine shallow shelf and lagoonal in the eastern and easternmost parts (Valiukevičius 2005). Meanwhile, the studied Milaičiai 103 well is located in the transition from open to deep shelf in the southwestern...

There are two audiences for this book, the Birds of the Mesozoic. Firstly, with those with a specialist interest in palaeontology who would like a catalogue of birds known from the Mesozoic. The second audience is people like myself, who don’t have a specific interest in palaeontology but have an informed layperson’s interest in evolution and the b...

La colección de Arte Rupestre que hoy se conserva en el Archivo del Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (AMNCN) está constituida por varios miles de ejemplares de distinta naturaleza. Es una amplia y magnífica muestra de calcos y láminas que refleja la actividad desarrollada por la Comisión de Investigaciones Paleontológicas y Prehistóricas (CIPP)...

Although Pliocene temperature and pCO2 are similar to those predicted in the IPPC RCP4.5 scenario, the distribution of coral reefs in the center of maximum coral diversity, the Coral Triangle, during this period has not been explored. We discovered a significantly lower occurrence of reefs during the Pliocene, which we refer to as the Pliocene Reef...

On the thirtieth anniversary of the discovery of the Lamalunga Cave and the well-known Neanderthal Man of Altamura (BA), the Soprintendenza Archeologia, belle arti e paesaggio per la città metropolitana di Bari is organizing a congress and educational event with an international character, which will take place in the municipality of Altamura on 3...

Stratigraphic and palaeontological analyses of the Middle Triassic (latest Anisian–Ladinian) in Muschelkalk facies are performed here to further unravel the palaeogeographic evolution of Sardinia in this time-frame. These shallow marine successions reveal a significant palaeontological record comprising facies and marker fossils (ammonoids, bivalve...

In recent years, researchers in the field of natural heritage have intensified their efforts to develop new ways to enhance the promotion and accessibility of natural content in order to attract more audiences using virtual representations of physical objects (digital twins). Therefore, they are increasingly incorporating new technologies and digit...

Detailed description of the holotype skeleton of Delorhynchus cifellii , made possible through the use of neutron tomography, has yielded important new information about the cranial and postcranial anatomy of this early Permian acleistorhinid parareptile. Hitherto unknown features of the skull include a sphenethmoid, paired epipterygoids and a comp...

A l'occasion du rangement des collections de paléontologie, un moulage d'Allodaposuchus offert au Muséum d'histoire naturelle de Marseille par le baron Nopcsa (1877-1933) a été retrouvé dans la collection du comte de Gerin-Ricard, parmi d'autres fossiles de crocodiliens. Ce don du baron Nopcsa est la seconde contribution de ce célèbre et fantasque...

Museums featuring dinosaur fossils have always attracted the attention of the crowd. However, sustaining public interest in science becomes more challenging year after year, even for popular attractions, calling for changes in how exhibits appear in the face of new technologies. To enrich the user’s experience and enhance the exhibition’s attractiv...

Palaeogenomics is contributing to refine our understanding of many major evolutionary events at an unprecedented resolution, with relevant impacts in several fields, including phylogenetics of extinct species. Few extant and extinct animal species from Mediterranean regions have been characterised at the DNA level thus far. The Sardinian pika, Prol...

In the last 20 years, the Dental Anthropology and Forensic Dentistry Research Group at the Universidad del Valle (Cali, Colombia) has integrated knowledge from anthropology, dentistry, biology, paleontology and paleopathology to characterize the dental morphology of living populations in southwestern Colombia. This has been done by studying the fre...

In this study we show, for the first time, the absence of a vital effect in the clumped isotope carbonate (Δ47) fossil ostracod signal, as well as the ability of the novel ostracod-Δ47 thermometer to reconstruct past hydrological conditions in complex lacustrine systems. Furthermore, through the application of Δ47 analyses on the ostracod species C...

The Herto study area (geologically identified as the Herto Member of the Bouri Formation), lies in the Middle Awash, Afar Rift of Ethiopia (10.27° N; 40.52° E). Archaeological research by the Middle Awash research project began on the Bouri peninsula in 1981 (Clark et al., 1984). Project efforts were initially focused on the older deposits of the B...

Exciting new studies in human evolution are appearing rapidly, transforming scientific understanding of how the human community took form. A 2018 article by archaeologist Eleanor Scerri and colleagues, for example, identifies key debates on this topic. They ask: When and how did Homo sapiens become a species? How important were subgroups and migrat...

During the Mesozoic, non-avian theropods represented one of the most successful clades globally distributed, with a wide diversity of forms. An example is the clade Megalosauroidea, which included medium- to large-bodied forms. Here, we analyse the macroevolution of the locomotor system in early Theropoda, emphasizing the Megalosauroidea. We scored...

Microfossils are important components of sedi-mentary rocks used for palaeontological, biostratigraphic, palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic investigations. They are usually extracted from rocks using an acid solution, which might vary depending on the embedding rock lithology. Here we propose a new method using common NaOH (sodium hydroxide; so...

The timing, sequence, and scale of uplift of the Himalayan–Tibetan Orogen (HTO) are controversially debated. Many geoscientific studies assume paleoelevations close to present-day elevations and the existence of alpine environments across the HTO already in the late Paleogene, contradicting fossil data. Using molecular genetic data of ground beetle...

Scanerele micro-CT, regăsite în multe laboratoare de cercetare, oferă rezoluţii înalte (între 1–100 μm), dar sunt adesea limitate de dimensiunea specimenului de studiu, ce poate varia între câţiva milimetri şi 50 cm. Prin comparaţie, computerele tomograf medicale oferă o rezoluţie mai scăzută şi au o intensitate mai redusă, dar au avantajul că pot...

Abstract Notosuchian crocodyliforms were major components of the South American Cretaceous biota and, for over 125 years, paleontological fieldwork in this continent recovered several well-preserved fossils of these animals. They are largely recognized for terrestrial life and specialized feeding habits, frequently presenting bizarre taxa such as C...

With a strong understanding of the target domain from natural language, we produce promising results in translating across large domain gaps and bringing skeletons back to life. In this work, we use text-guided latent diffusion models for zero-shot image-to-image translation (I2I) across large domain gaps (longI2I), where large amounts of new visua...

Ihree new sites ofthe upper marine Pleistocene in the South coast ofthe island ofMallorca (Balearic Islands) are described: s' Amarador des Carritx, es Morters and ses Covetes. The two last present termophilous fauna of the isotopic substage Se. Sorne cornments about the paleontological pleistocenic sites ofthe Freu de ses Covetes and d'es Irene ar...

NOW ( New and Old Worlds ) is a global database of fossil mammal occurrences, currently containing around 68,000 locality-species entries. The database spans the last 66 million years, with its primary focus on the last 23 million years. Whereas the database contains records from all continents, the main focus and coverage of the database historica...

The paleontological heritage of Santa María del Camí (Mallorca. Western Mediterranean) is catalogued, characterized and valued with a view to its possible management and conservation

THE PALEONTOLOGICAL PATRIMONY OF UPPER MARINE PLEISTOCENE OF MALLORCA ISLAND. CATALOGUING, CHARACTERISING, VALUATION AND STRATEGIES FOR USE AND CONSERVATION. The paleontological patrimony of upper marine Pleistocene of Mallorca consist of 113 known paleontological sites. In this period they have manifested themselves until 11 paleofacies correspond...

The paleontological heritage of Palma City (Mallorca. Western Mediterranean) is catalogued, characterized and valued with a view to its possible management and conservation

Many natural history collections and museums in Europe were established in the late 18th and early 19th century. Their development is inseparably linked to colonial expansion and significant parts of their collections are of colonial origin. The Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN) preserves a large natural history collection comprising zoological, p...

The most extreme environments are the most vulnerable to transformation under a rapidly changing climate. These ecosystems harbor some of the most specialized species, which will likely suffer the highest extinction rates. We document the steepest temperature increase (2010–2021) on record at altitudes of above 4,000 meters, triggering a decline of...

La finalidad absoluta de decodificar el mensaje en el Obelisco Tello pasa por la necesidad de rastrear el idioma madre del Perú, y la idea que en el Obelisco podemos ubicar estos rasgos lingüísticos, esto es solamente posible si utilizamos un enfoque multidisciplinario para así entender la ruta de nuestro idioma, su camino de expansión y actividad...

The Sangdanlin section in southern Tibet represents a geologic Rosetta stone to constrain the initiation of the India-Asia collision from its sedimentary and paleomagnetic records. However, geoscientists have arrived at fundamentally divergent interpretations surrounding the age of the strata and its paleomagnetic record. Here, we report paleontolo...

Accumulating data have led to the emergence of data-driven paleontological studies, which reveal an unprecedented picture of evolutionary history. However, the fast-growing quantity and complication of data modalities make data processing laborious and inconsistent, while also lacking clear benchmarks to evaluate data collection and generation, and...

Late Cretaceous radiolarian occurrences related with the Caribbean Large Igneous Province (CLIP) are coeval with the Coniacian-Santonian (90-83.5 Ma) Oceanic Anoxic Event 3 (OAE3). The main phase of CLIP eruption (94-89 Ma) postdates the Cenomanian-Turonian Boundary Event (CTBE, OAE2, 94 Ma). Thus, the CLIP is an unlikely cause of OAE2, but clearly...

We have generated a spatial framework for macrofossil searching based on the current knowledge of fossil localities and fossil beds reported for the Amagá Formation in the northwestern Andes in Colombia. Our results show that twenty-three fossil localities and ninety-five fossil beds are distributed along this sedimentary succession. Preservation p...

In 1980, Steven J. Gould published an essay on the emergence of paleobiology as a nomothetic discipline (Gould 1980), nomothetism referring to the search for general laws or principles. Gould contrasted this with the foundation of paleontology, the idiographic tradition of detailing the history of life from the description of new fossil taxa to the...

This paper examines the emergence of a new approach to stratigraphic complexity, first in geology and then, following its creative appropriation, in paleobiology. The approach was associated with a set of models that together transformed stratigraphic geology in the decades following 1970. These included the influential models of depositional seque...