[PaleoMammalogy• 2023] A Sabre-tooth Predator from the Neotropics: Cranial Morphology of Anachlysictis gracilis Goin, 1997 (Metatheria: Thylacosmilidae), based on New Specimens from La Venta (Middle Miocene, Colombia)

 

Reconstruction of Anachlysictis gracilis Goin, 1997 stalking some rodents (“Neoreomys” huilensis Fields, 1957) in the La Venta area during Middle Miocene.

in Suarez, Forasiepi, Babot, et al. 2023.

 sciencepress.MNHN.fr/en/periodiques/geodiversitas/45/18

 Artist: Juan Giraldo

The fossil metatherian assemblage from La Venta (Middle Miocene, Colombia) is one of the most diverse in South America, and it is critical to understand the Neogene radiation of this group in this continent. La Venta contains the northernmost record of Thylacosmilidae Riggs, 1933 (Metatheria, Sparassodonta): Anachlysictis gracilis Goin, 1997, the first thylacosmilid species named for the Neotropics. This taxon was described mostly based on mandibular remains. Recent fieldwork and work in collections led to the discovery of new materials for this species, including the most complete skeleton ever found for this Sparassodonta Ameghino, 1894. Here, we present a detailed description of the cranial osteology and dentition of A. gracilis, which elucidates anatomical aspects previously inferred but hitherto unconfirmed. We investigate the phylogeny, and ecomorphological parameters of this taxon (diet and body mass) to set the evolutionary context of the species, understand its paleobiology, and evaluate palaeoecological implications. Additionally, we revise the phylogeny of the thylacosmilids, recovering the traditional classification of the group, differentiated from the proborhyaenids and borhyaenids. This work also proposes a new reconstruction of the external morphology of the head of A. gracilis based on 3D scans of the new referred materials.

KEYWORDS: South America, La Victoria Formation, Neogene, Sparassodonta, paleobiology

The three species of the family Thylacosmilidae on the South American continent:
  Anachlysictis gracilis (left, above), Thylacosmilus atrox (right) and Patagosmilus goini (left, below)

Artwork: Jorge Blanco.

Reconstruction of Anachlysictis gracilis Goin, 1997 stalking some rodents (“Neoreomys” huilensis Fields, 1957) in the La Venta area during Middle Miocene.

Artist: Juan Giraldo

 

Catalina SUAREZ, Analia M. FORASIEPI, María Judith BABOT, Tatsuya SHINMURA, Javier LUQUE, Rubén Dario VANEGAS, Edwin-Alberto CADENA and Francisco J. GOIN. 2023. A Sabre-tooth Predator from the Neotropics: Cranial Morphology of Anachlysictis gracilis Goin, 1997 (Metatheria, Thylacosmilidae), based on New Specimens from La Venta (Middle Miocene, Colombia). GEODIVERSITAS. 45(18); 497-572. 

 sciencepress.mnhn.fr/en/periodiques/geodiversitas/45/18

This article is a part of the thematic issue Neotropical palaeontology: the Miocene La Venta biome

 stri.si.edu/story/prehistoric-predator

  phys.org/news/2023-10-extraordinary-fossil-reveals-weight-diet.html

  

[Paleontology • 2023] Podocnemis tatacoensis • A New Fossil Turtle Ends the Controversy on the Occurrence of the extant Genus Podocnemis Wagler, 1830 (Pleurodira: Podocnemididae) at the Miocene Fauna of La Venta, Colombia

Podocnemis tatacoensis 

Cadena & Vanegas, 2023

 sciencepress.MNHN.fr/en/periodiques/Geodiversitas

digital painting by Juan Giraldo Pepper 

 facebook.com/JuanGiraldoPepper1

The estimate divergence time for extant taxa based on molecules usually exceed the age of their oldest fossil evidence; a situation that turtles do not scape. An extant genus with this situation, and thus having a controversial oldest record is Podocnemis Wagler, 1830. Here we present a new fossil turtle that constitutes a new species for this genus and represents its oldest so far known record, from the Miocene (Serravallian) of La Tatacoa Desert, Colombia. The new taxon named Podocnemis tatacoensis n. sp. shares with all extant members of Podocnemis a nuchal bone wider than long; lateral musk foramina at the hyoplastron-peripherals (except P. sextuberculata Cornalia, 1849), pectoral scales do not contact mesoplastra, but do contact entoplastron and epiplastra. We explored the phylogenetic position of P. tatacoensis n. sp. finding support for its inclusion as part of Podocnemis clade, particularly in a clade composed by the extant P. unifilis Troschel, 1848, suggesting a potential closer relationship of the new fossil taxon with this taxon.

KEYWORDS: Podocnemididae, Podocnemis, Colombia, Neogene, Turtles, new species

Podocnemis tatacoensis n. sp.

Edwin-Alberto CADENA and Rubén Dario VANEGAS. 2023. A New Fossil Turtle Ends the Controversy on the Occurrence of the extant Genus Podocnemis Wagler, 1830 at the Miocene Fauna of La Venta, Colombia.   GEODIVERSITAS. 45(3); 127-138. sciencepress.MNHN.fr/en/periodiques/Geodiversitas/45/3

[This article is a part of the thematic issue Neotropical palaeontology: the Miocene La Venta biome]

  facebook.com/JuanGiraldoPepper1/posts/6188953114501990

 twitter.com/paleoturtles/status/1628708308805734401

[Paleontology • 2021] Sindhochelys ragei • First Report of A Bothremydid Turtle (Pleurodira: Bothremydidae) from the early Paleocene of Pakistan, Systematic and Palaeobiogeographic Implications

 Sindhochelys ragei

 Lapparent De Broin, Métais, Bartolini, Brohi, Lashari, Marivaux, Merle, Warar & Solangi, 2021

 sciencepress.mnhn.fr 

We report the discovery of remains of a large chelonian from the base of the early Paleocene Khadro Formation exposed in the Ranikot Fort area (Ranikot Group, Sindh Province, Southern Pakistan). This formation already yielded the snake Gigantophis Andrews, 1901, studied by our friend Jean-Claude Rage. The chelonian specimens consist of a large carapace and a shell fragment of Bothremydidae, a family of Gondwanan origin. A new genus and species, Sindhochelys ragei n. gen., n. sp. is identified from the first specimen and named in honor of Jean-Claude Rage. It is the first report of a Bothremydidae in Southern Pakistan. Its affinities with Cretaceous and Paleocene representatives of the family are discussed. The association of characters such as the shape of the shell, anterior plastral scute pattern and strongly marked decoration characterize the taxon and, despite some similarities, allows excluding close phylogenetic affinities with Taphrosphyini and Carteremys group; other well-documented bothremydids are also excluded. The shell fragment, also strongly decorated, is left undetermined. The discovery of two new littoral bothremydid specimens in the early Paleocene of Pakistan fills a geographic and stratigraphic gap in our knowledge of the family, which is known since the continental early Cretaceous of Africa, diversifying in the world up to the Miocene deposits of the Neotethys. A particular diversification during the Maastrichtian-Paleocene is recognized along the neotethyan coasts, and occasional dispersals across this ocean were possible. Sindhochelys ragei n. gen., n. sp. may have colonized the Indian subcontinent by this time, or may represent an older diversification before the Gondwana breakup.

KEYWORDS: Bothremydidae, Southern Pakistan, geology, Pelomedusoides, Gondwana, Neotethys, new genus, new species

Sindhochelys ragei n. gen., n. sp.

 

France de Lapparent De Broin, Grégoire Métais, Annachiara Bartolini, Imdad Ali Brohi, Rafiq A. Lashari, Laurent Marivaux, Didier Merle, Mashooque Ali Warar and Sarfraz H. Solangi. 2021. First  Report of A Bothremydid Turtle, Sindhochelys ragei n. gen., n. sp., from the early Paleocene of Pakistan, Systematic and Palaeobiogeographic Implications. GEODIVERSITAS. 43(25); 1341-1363. [This article is a part of the thematic issue Memorial Jean-Claude Rage: A life of paleo-herpetologist]

 sciencepress.mnhn.fr/en/periodiques/geodiversitas/43/25

 twitter.com/plazi_species/status/1471014928639270920

[PaleoMammalogy • 2013] Balaenoptera bertae • A New Marine Vertebrate Assemblage from the Late Neogene Purisima Formation in Central California, part II: Pinnipeds and Cetaceans

Balaenoptera bertae Boessenecker 2013

The newly discovered Upper Miocene to Upper Pliocene San Gregorio assemblage of the Purisima Formation in Central California has yielded a diverse collection of 34 marine vertebrate taxa, including eight sharks, two bony fish, three marine birds (described in a previous study), and 21 marine mammals. Pinnipeds include the walrus Dusignathus sp., cf. D. seftoni, the fur seal Callorhinus sp., cf. C. gilmorei, and indeterminate otariid bones. Baleen whales include dwarf mysticetes (Herpetocetus bramblei Whitmore & Barnes, 2008, Herpetocetus sp.), two right whales (cf. Eubalaena sp. 1, cf. Eubalaena sp. 2), at least three balaenopterids (“Balaenoptera” cortesi “var.” portisi Sacco, 1890, cf. Balaenoptera, Balaenopteridae gen. et sp. indet.) and a new species of rorqual (Balaenoptera bertae n. sp.) that exhibits a number of derived features that place it within the genus Balaenoptera. This new species of Balaenoptera is relatively small (estimated 61 cm bizygomatic width) and exhibits a comparatively narrow vertex, an obliquely (but precipitously) sloping frontal adjacent to vertex, anteriorly directed and short zygomatic processes, and squamosal creases. Fossil odontocetes include the lipotid “river dolphin” Parapontoporia sternbergi (Gregory & Kellogg, 1927), four true porpoises including a bizarre new genus also known from other strata (Phocoenidae indet., Phocoenidae unnamed genera 1 and 2, and cf. Phocoena), an indeterminate delphinid (Delphinidae indet.) a pilot whale-like delphinid (cf. Globicephalinae indet.), an undetermined sperm whale (cf. Physeteroidea indet.), and an indeterminate odontocete. The new record of Parapontoporia sternbergi is noteworthy as it represents the first association of any earbones (petrosal, tympanic bulla, malleus, and incus) for the extinct genus. Discovery and description of a complete marine mammal assemblage permits faunal comparisons with other published Pliocene marine mammal assemblages from around the globe. The aggregate Pliocene marine mammal assemblage from eastern North Pacific (ENP) shares little in common with the modern fauna, and is mostly composed of extinct genera; notably, phocoenids and odobenids were more diverse than in the ENP today. This indicates that the modern fauna of the ENP did not emerge until after the end of the Pliocene, and probably sometime during the Early Pleistocene. The Pliocene ENP assemblage is similar to that of Japan, and the North Pacific in general shares little with south Pacific, Mediterranean, or North Atlantic marine mammal assemblages, indicating the North Pacific hosted a provincial marine mammal fauna that evolved in isolation from the modern marine mammal fauna, which had already appeared in the North Atlantic by the Early Pliocene.

Keywords: Marine mammals, Pinnipedia, Mysticeti, Odontoceti, Pliocene, Pleistocene, Purisima Formation, new species, Mammiferes marins, Pinnipedia, Mysticeti, Odontoceti, Pliocene, Pleistocene, Formation Purisima, espece nouvelle

Robert W. Boessenecker. 2013. A New Marine Vertebrate Assemblage from the Late Neogene Purisima Formation in Central California, part II: Pinnipeds and Cetaceans. Geodiversitas. 35(4): 815-940. doi: 10.5252/g2013n4a5

Balaenoptera bertae: New Fossil Whale Species Discovered

Robert Boessenecker, a PhD student with the University of Otago, has discovered an extinct species of whale that lived during Pliocene, 3.35 – 2.5 million years ago.

http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/science-balaenoptera-bertae-new-fossil-whale-species-01750.html

[Paleontology / Invertebrate • 2009] Buziniphilus antiquus • A geophilomorph Centipede (Chilopoda) from La Buzinie amber (Late Cretaceous, Cenomanian), SW France

Abstract

The first geophilomorph centipede to be documented from Mesozoic amber and the second Mesozoic member of the order is described as Buziniphilus antiquus n. gen., n. sp. It is represented by a single, probably immature specimen from Early Cenomanian amber at La Buzinie, Champniers, Charentes, France. Buziniphilus n. gen. is most probably a member of either Schendylidae or Geophilidae, though documentation of the labrum and mandibles is required to make a definitive familial assignment. Referral of Buziniphilus n. gen. to the crown-group Adesmata, together with a reinterpretation of the structure of the forcipulae in the Jurassic Eogeophilus Schweigert & Dietl, 1997, reinforces the modern aspect of Mesozoic chilopods that had been indicated by Cretaceous scutigeromorph and scolopendromorph fossils. 

 Keywords: Europe; Western Europe; Invertebrata; Arthropoda; Mandibulata; Cenomanian; Phanerozoic ; Mesozoic; Cretaceous; Charente France; France; Myriapoda; biostratigraphy; lower Cenomanian; new taxa; Upper Cretaceous; amber

ETYMOLOGY. — For the type locality, La Buzinie, compounded with the usual geophilomorph suffix -philus; Antiquus, with reference to the age of the species, one of two known Mesozoic geophilomorphs.

Edgecombe G. D., Minelli A. & Bonato L. 2009. A geophilomorph Centipede (Chilopoda) from La Buzinie amber (Late Cretaceous, Cenomanian), SW France. Geodiversitas. 31 (1) : 29-39. 

http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=21305644

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/resources-rx/files/edgecombe-et-al-2009-buziniphilus-94072.pdf