New dalmanitid trilobite taxa from the Lower Devonian of Argentina: comments on spinosity in endemic taxa from southern high paleolatitudes

Three new Lower Devonian dalmanitid trilobite taxa are recognized from the Talacasto Formation in the Precordillera Basin, Argentina, which includes two monospecific genera (Ivanites leonorae n. gen., n. sp. and Aguaditaspis mediaspina n. gen., n. sp.), and one additional new genus and species left in open nomenclature. These taxa combine characters of the subfamilies Dalmanitinae Vogdes, 1890 and Synphoriinae Delo, 1935, challenging their taxonomic distinction. Forty percent of the dalmanitids from high paleolatitudinal basins from southwestern Gondwana (Malvinokaffric) exhibit non-homologous dorsal spinosity. Aguaditaspis mediaspina n. gen., n. sp. shares similar spines with Trypaulites calypso (Hall, 1861). The unnamed new genus resembles the spinosity of endemic Malvinokaffric dalmanitids, like Dalmanitoides Delo, 1935 and Fenestraspis Braniša & Vaněk, 1973. Considered defensive, the recorded spinosity along with putative sublethal-attack marks, suggest higher predation pressure than previously thought at high paleolatitudes. This evidence is in accordance with some hypothesis on rising predation pressure in the mid-Paleozoic marine ecosystems.

Phylogenetic signal in characters from Aristotle’s History of Animals

The influential Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BCE) is almost unanimously acclaimed as the founder of zoology. There is a consensus that he was interested in attributes of animals, but whether or not he tried to develop a zoological taxonomy remains controversial. Fürst von Lieven and Humar compiled a data matrix from Aristotle’s Historia animalium and showed, through a parsimony analysis published in 2008, that these data produced a hierarchy that matched several taxa recognized by Aristotle. However, their analysis leaves some questions unanswered because random data can sometimes yield fairly resolved trees. In this study, we update the scores of many cells and add four new characters to the data matrix (147 taxa scored for 161 characters) and quote passages from Aristotle’s Historia animalium to justify these changes. We confirm the presence of a phylogenetic signal in these data through a test using skewness in length distribution of a million random trees, which shows that many of the characters discussed by Aristotle were systematically relevant. Our parsimony analyses on the updated matrix recover far more trees than reported by Fürst von Lieven and Humar, but their consensus includes many taxa that Aristotle recognized and apparently named for the first time, such as selachē (selachians) and dithyra (Bivalvia Linnaeus, 1758). This study suggests that even though taxonomy was obviously not Aristotle’s chief interest in Historia animalium, it was probably among his secondary interests. These results may pave the way for further taxonomic studies in Aristotle’s zoological writings in general. Despite being almost peripheral to Aristotle’s writings, his taxonomic contributions are clearly major achievements.

Erratum: volume 20 (45) 2021: 931-939, December 13, 2021. Hoffmanigraptus n. gen., a new retiolitine (Graptolithina), an early member of the Plectograptus lineage from the Silurian of Baltica, Poland

On page 933, the paragraph “Diagnosis” of the new genus Hoffmanigraptus n. gen. is missing. The “Diagnosis” paragraph has been reproduced here.

Hoffmanigraptus n. gen., a new retiolitine (Graptolithina), an early member of the Plectograptus lineage from the Silurian of Baltica, Poland

Most upper Homerian and Ludfordian retiolitines have a tubarium with hexagonal meshes and a zigzag pattern in the middle part of their lateral walls, a shallow ancora umbrella, and a free nema. Hoffmanigraptus varsoviensis n. gen., n. sp. is described from isolated, three-dimensional material, from the upper part of the Colonograptus praedeubeli Biozone (upper Homerian, Silurian) of Poland, Baltica, and represents one of the earliest forms with this construction. This type of tubarium is represented by the upper Homerian Doliograptus Lenz & Kozłowska-Dawidziuk, 2002 and Spinograptus Bouček & Münch, 1952, differing from Hoffmanigraptus n. gen. mainly in larger proximal lateral orifices, pattern of clathrial lists on lateral walls, as well as size and shape of tubaria. Hoffmanigraptus n. gen. has a tubarium widening medially, tapering towards the distal end and forming a finite tubarium, with a possible three-vaned nematularium. Flattened specimens Plectograptus? ovatus Kozłowska, Lenz & Štorch, 2001 and Plectograptus? karlsteinensis Kozłowska, Lenz & Štorch, 2001, preserved on a rock surface from the Barrandian area are assigned to the new genus. They are of the same upper Homerian age, and show the main features of the new form. Hoffmanigraptus n. gen. is regarded as an early member of the Plectograptus clade.

The end of the Ice Age in southern Europe: Iberian images in the Palaeolithic to Post-Palaeolithic transition

The documentation of Palaeolithic art in the open air, together with direct dates for parietal art and the study of territories marked by the last hunter groups in southern Europe, supports new interpretations of Palaeolithic art and its continuity in the early Holocene. We provide updated information about the graphic representations in that time of transition, grouped under the term Style V. We also reflect on the chronological framework of some themes and techniques for which dates are available, from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Neolithic. These topics reveal the strength of the Palaeolithic background in more recent versions of prehistoric art, especially the schematic art associated with the first farmers. These new considerations are added to the presence of ­Palaeolithic and Post-Palaeolithic art throughout Europe and all over the world, which shows how symbols are social traits of communication associated with human groups. The study of con­nections through these archaeological items, with their undeniable materiality, is a future challenge that will ­undoubtedly produce interesting results.

A comparison of aleurone cells in centenarian African and contemporary barley seeds to identify the geographic origin

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is one of the main domesticated cereals. For this reason, barley seeds have been found in numerous archaeological sites, and since the mid-19th century have been available in numerous natural museum collections. About a hundred years ago samples were collected in the African countries of Eritrea and Cyrenaica (now Libya), and have been preserved as ex-situ in the museum collection “L’Orientale” of the University of Naples. The varieties of contemporary barley selected for comparative analysis were grown in Tuscany and are used in the production of craft beer. To ascertain their vitality, the ancient and contemporary seeds were placed in Petri dishes to hydrate under a sterile hood at room temperature after a sterilization procedure. Morphological and ultrastructural observations performed on the aleurone cells of the ancient samples presented vital cells. The extraction and purification of DNA from seeds produced results while the genotype comparison of ancient and contemporary barley varieties enabled the construction of a dendrogram of similarity, useful in describing barley from museum genetic heritage collections and in providing a molecular imprint of extant varieties.

Between two worlds: Cova Eirós and the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic transition in NW Iberia

Iberia, a natural cul-de-sac peninsula, plays a major role in the study of the Neanderthals demise and its eventual relationship with the spread of Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH) in Europe. The site of Cova Eirós (Galicia, Spain), located in NW Iberia, contains Middle and Upper Palaeolithic levels, based on the cultural remains recovered at the site. No human remains directly associated with those levels were discovered yet. The available radiocarbon dates from the levels 2 (c. 35 ka cal BP, Early Upper Paleolithic) and 3 (c. 41 ka cal BP, Late Middle Paleolithic), point to a late survival of Neanderthal groups in North Iberia and to a relative quick arrival of the AMH, c. 35-36 ka cal BP, with respect to other territories of the Iberian Peninsula. The archaeological record shows clear differences between the Middle and the Upper Palaeolithic occupations, regarding raw-material acquisition, lithic technology and subsistence strategies. The location of Cova Eirós in the westernmost margin of the Cantabrian Rim and in the Atlantic Façade, makes this site a key place to understand the spread of the first AMH and the progressive demise of Neanderthal populations.

Quand la pétroarchéologie questionne la notion de site : états de surface et taphonomie des objets lithiques de La Belle-Roche (Sprimont, Prov. de Liège, Belgique)

Petro-archaeological analysis of the lithic industry of the Lower Paleolithic of La Belle-Roche cave (Sprimont, Belgium), according to the grids developed in recent years by various research programs in France, allows a new reading of this industry. Although the anthropic character of certain objects seems well-estabilished, their accumulation in the deposit remains problematic. In this respect, the taphonomic and weathering analysis of the industry raises questions about the origin of the deposit, the age of the industry and the notion of “site”: is the “La Belle-Roche site” as a prehistorian or prehistoric construction?

New sperm whale remains from the late Miocene of the North Sea and a revised family attribution for the small crown physeteroid Thalassocetus Abel, 1905

In spite of a continuously expanding physeteroid fossil record, our understanding of the origin and early radiation of the two modern sperm whale families Kogiidae Gill, 1871 (including the pygmy and dwarf sperm whales, Kogia spp.) and Physeteridae Gray, 1821 (including the great sperm whale, Physeter Linnaeus, 1758) remains limited, especially due to the poorly resolved phylogenetic relationships of a number of extinct species. Among those, based on fragmentary cranial material from the late early to middle Miocene of Antwerp (Belgium, North Sea basin), the small-sized Thalassocetus antwerpiensis Abel, 1905 has been recognized for some time as the earliest branching kogiid. The discovery of a new diminutive physeteroid cranium from the late Miocene (Tortonian) of Antwerp leads to the description and comparison of a close relative of T. antwerpiensis. Thanks to the relatively young ontogenetic stage of this new specimen, the highly modified plate-like bones making the floor of its supracranial basin could be individually removed, a fact that greatly helped deciphering their identity and geometry. Close morphological similarities with T. antwerpiensis allow for the reassessment of several facial structures in the latter; the most important reinterpretation is the one of a crest-like structure, previously identified as a sagittal facial crest, typical for kogiids, and here revised as the left posterolateral wall of the supracranial basin, comprised of the left nasal (lost in kogiids for which the postnarial region is known) and the left maxilla. Implemented in a phylogenetic analysis, the new anatomical interpretations result in the new Belgian specimen and T. antwerpiensis being recovered as sister-groups in the family Physeteridae. Consequently, the geologically oldest kogiids are now dated from the Tortonian, further extending the ghost lineage separating these early late Miocene kogiid records from the estimated latest Oligocene to earliest Miocene divergence of kogiids and physeterids.

Earliest occurrence of Embiidae: A new genus from earliest Eocene Oise amber (Insecta: Embiodea)

A new genus and species of webspinner, Galloembia raholai n. gen. et n. sp., is described from the earliest Eocene Oise amber of France. The species is currently the oldest record of the family, a taxon previously known from only as far back as the middle Eocene Baltic amber and an exceptionally dubious Eocene-Oligocene impression fossil of the central United States. The genus is diagnosed and compared with other genera of Embiidae.