Santiago Roth and his scientific legacy: a reappraisal of the Swiss collections

The Pampean Region in the eastern central part of Argentina is today an agricultural zone, the main national food producer, and the base for a population that holds in big cities more than half of the 46 million inhabitants of the country. A century ago, Pampean landscapes were dominated by native grasslands, gallery forests confined to riverbanks, sparse dry forests towards the west of the area, and on the horizon of the flat Pampas, occasional isolated ombú trees (Phytolacca dioica) and eucalyptuses planted by the increasing population to provide shade in hot days and protection during storms for domesticated animals and people. Native birds, reptiles, and mammals, now replaced by humans and human activities, were certainly more frequent than today. However, these same riverbanks and lowlands were places where fossil hunters such as Santiago Roth could find bizarre extinct creatures that lived hundreds of thousands of years ago. The main attractions were the bones and teeth of megamammals, such as huge ground sloths (Megatherium americanum) which weighed more than four tonnes; big armadillos, such as Panochthus tuberculatus, with the size of a small car; strange ungulates having nasal apertures on the top of the skull that likely sported a trunk, as in the case of Macrauchenia patachonica; predators with hyper-enlarged sabertooth canines like the felid Smilodon populator, all contemporaneous with local gigantic spectacled bear relatives; proboscideans; native horses; deer with elaborate antlers; and other creatures living in South America in the near past of the Pleistocene. The Pampean Region was and still is a region where the remaining of these lost species can be found. Radiocarbon dating has demonstrated that several of these megammamals coexisted with the first humans in the area around 12,000– 11,000 years ago. Did they interact? Did humans hunt them, and perhaps cause their extinction? Santiago Roth contributed to all of these topics by making new discoveries and publishing on them. Santiago Roth was a Swiss naturalist, explorer, and palaeontologist who spent most of his active life in Argentina, where he died at the age of 74 years. At the end of the nineteenth century, Santiago Roth (then 16 years) and his family moved from Switzerland to Argentina in search of better opportunities. In Argentina, he grew up in a young republic beset by war and social revolts, but ultimately accomplished a great deal in support of the scientific development of the country. In his young years, he started collecting objects of natural sciences, including fossils. Some of his palaeontological collections from the Pampean Region were sold in Europe. Six of them were associated with catalogues, in which a number identifies the specimen, taxonomic determination, material found, and provenance. Some of these collections are still kept intact in Copenhagen and Zurich. Other fossil specimens collected by Roth are today in natural history museums in Geneva and Lausanne. Santiago Roth was a multifaceted person. His contributions to science went well beyond palaeontology and embraced other disciplines, such as geology, geomorphology, and stratigraphy. Together with the founder Keywords Megafauna, Fossil, Vertebrate palaeontology, Exploration, Pampas, Argentina, Switzerlan

Papahu taitapu, gen. et sp. nov., an early Miocene stem odontocete (Cetacea) from New Zealand

The early Miocene is one of the least understood intervals in cetacean evolution. A new early Miocene dolphin described here, Papahu taitapu, gen. et sp. nov. (family incertae sedis, Cetacea, Odontoceti), is from the Kaipuke Formation (21.7–18.7 Ma) of North West Nelson, New Zealand. The holotype of Papahu taitapu includes a skull with an open mesorostral canal, a broad-based rostrum (broken anteriorly), two pairs of premaxillary foramina, a slight bilateral asymmetry at the antorbital notches, a slight intertemporal constriction exposing the temporal fossa and the lateral wall of the braincase in dorsal view, and single-rooted (and probably homodont) teeth. The periotic has an inflated, spherical pars cochlearis and an anterior process with the anterointernal sulcus and a recurved lateral sulcus well developed. The skull size indicates a body length of about 2 m. Papahu taitapu plots cladistically in a cluster of archaic dolphins variously referred to as Platanistoidea or as stem Odontoceti. It matches no family described so far, but cladistic relationships for comparable odontocetes are not yet resolved enough to justify family placement

Cultural macroevolution of musical instruments in South America

Musical instruments provide material evidence to study the diversity and technical innovation of music in space and time. We employed a cultural evolutionary perspective to analyse organological data and their relation to language groups and population history in South America, a unique and complex geographic area for human evolution. The ethnological and archaeological native musical instrument record, documented in three newly assembled continental databases, reveals exceptionally high diversity of wind instruments. We explored similarities in the collection of instruments for each population, considering geographic patterns and focusing on groupings associated with language families. A network analysis of panpipe organological features illustrates four regional/cultural clusters: two in the Tropical Forest and two in the Andes. Twenty-five percent of the instruments in the standard organological classification are present in the archaeological, but not in the ethnographic record, suggesting extinction events. Most recent extinctions can be traced back to European contact, causing a reduction in indigenous cultural diversity

Pampean megamammals in Europe: the fossil collections from Santiago Roth

Santiago Roth was a Swiss fossil finder, naturalist, and paleontologist that emigrated to Argentina in 1866. His work largely influenced the discipline in the country at the end of the twentieth century, particularly the stratigraphy of the Pampean region. Some of his collections of Pampean fossils were sold to museums and private collectors in Europe and were accompanied by elaborated catalogues. Fossils in the Roth’s catalogues N° 2 and 3 are housed today in the Natural History Museum of Denmark, fossils from catalogues N° 4 to 6, were sold to Swiss museums, with Catalogue N° 5 currently housed at the Department of Paleontology, Universität Zürich. Here, we provide a general framework on the stratigraphy from the Roth’s Pampean fossil sites, summarize the history of the Pampean fossils in Europe originally collected by Roth, and provide historical and curatorial details of the Roth’s collection at the Department of Paleontology, Universität Zürich

Bioactive compounds, antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of propolis extracts during In vitro digestion

The objective of this research was to determine the content of total phenols, total flavonoids, and the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of the ethanolic extracts of propolis obtained by two methodologies during in vitro digestion. Ethanolic extracts of propolis were obtained by ultrasound and maceration and the yield and content of the bioactive compounds, as well as their antimicrobial and antioxidant activity, were evaluated. Yields higher than those reported in other investigations (71.6%) were obtained. The highest content of phenols and flavonoids in the ethanolic extracts was 34,406.6 mg GAE/100 g in propolis from San Pedro, obtained by maceration (SP M), and 19,523.2 mg QE/100 g in propolis from Teotitlán, obtained by ultrasound (TU), respectively, being higher than what is established in Mexican regulations. The antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of the extracts was not affected by the method of obtaining. At the end of the in vitro digestion there was an 80% loss of the phenolic content and a 90% loss of the flavonoid content. Therefore, antioxidant activity was affected. On the other hand, ultrasound improves the obtaining of bioactive compounds. In vitro digestion decreases the content of bioactive compounds; therefore, their functional properties are affected. Thus, it is important to consider technologies that allow extracts to be protected from in vitro digestion conditions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Evolutionary transformations of the malleus in pinnipeds, with emphasis on Southern Hemisphere taxa

The systematic value of the middle-ear ossicles, in particular the malleus, has been long recognized for diverse groups. We present systematic work on the characters of the middle-ear ossicles of pinnipeds, focusing on until now poorly studied Southern Hemisphere species. Mallei were extracted from 16 specimens of pinnipeds belonging to five austral and one boreal species of Phocidae and two austral species of Otariidae. Several characters used in this study have been described previously, and some were here modified. Three new characters are here defined and analysed. All characters were mapped onto the phylogeny. Our character analysis shows the transformations that have occurred in the evolution of middle ear ossicles in pinnipeds and identifies diagnostic features of many of its clades. Beyond the identification of specific changes within eachclade, our study of pinniped ossicle evolution documents the occurrence of anatomical convergences with other groups of mammals that live in an aquatic environment, as has occurred in other organsystems as well.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

Aquatic mammal fossils in Latin America – a review of records, advances and challenges in research in the last 30 years

Records of aquatic mammal fossils (e.g. cetaceans, pinnipeds, sirenians, mustelids, and desmostylians) from Latin America (Mexico to Tierra del Fuego, including Antartica) span since the mid-1800s. Aquatic mammal fossils received little attention from the scientific community, with most of the first studies conducted by Northern Hemisphere researchers. Over the last 30 years, paleontological research in Latin America has increased considerably, with descriptions of several new species and revisions of published original records. The Latin American fossil record of marine mammals spans from the Eocene to the Pleistocene, with formations and specimens of global significance. All three main groups of cetaceans are represented in the continent (Archaeoceti, Mysticeti, and Odontoceti). Pinnipedia are represented by the families Otariidae and Phocidae, with records starting in the Middle Miocene. Both living families of Sirenia (Trichechidae and Dugongidae) are recorded. While less common, but still relevant, records of desmostylians and mustelids are known from Oligocene and Miocene deposits. This review provides a summary of the aquatic mammals known to date, with a special focus on the advances and developments of the last 30 years, since Cozzuol’s (1996) review of the South American fossil record. An up-to-date complete list of species based on the literature and unpublished data is also provided. The study also provides future directions for paleontological research in Latin America, and discusses the challenges and opportunities in the field, including the emergence of a strong new generation of Latin American researchers, many of whom are women. Keywords: Cetacea, Pinnipedia, Sirenia, Southern Hemispher

Graph based study of allergen cross-reactivity of plant lipid transfer proteins (LTPs) using microarray in a multicenter study.

The study of cross-reactivity in allergy is key to both understanding. the allergic response of many patients and providing them with a rational treatment In the present study, protein microarrays and a co-sensitization graph approach were used in conjunction with an allergen microarray immunoassay. This enabled us to include a wide number of proteins and a large number of patients, and to study sensitization profiles among members of the LTP family. Fourteen LTPs from the most frequent plant food-induced allergies in the geographical area studied were printed into a microarray specifically designed for this research. 212 patients with fruit allergy and 117 food-tolerant pollen allergic subjects were recruited from seven regions of Spain with different pollen profiles, and their sera were tested with allergen microarray. This approach has proven itself to be a good tool to study cross-reactivity between members of LTP family, and could become a useful strategy to analyze other families of allergens

The involvement of thaumatin-like proteins in plant food cross-reactivity: a multicenter study using a specific protein microarray.

Cross-reactivity of plant foods is an important phenomenon in allergy, with geographical variations with respect to the number and prevalence of the allergens involved in this process, whose complexity requires detailed studies. We have addressed the role of thaumatin-like proteins (TLPs) in cross-reactivity between fruit and pollen allergies. A representative panel of 16 purified TLPs was printed onto an allergen microarray. The proteins selected belonged to the sources most frequently associated with peach allergy in representative regions of Spain. Sera from two groups of well characterized patients, one with allergy to Rosaceae fruit (FAG) and another against pollens but tolerant to food-plant allergens (PAG), were obtained from seven geographical areas with different environmental pollen profiles. Cross-reactivity between members of this family was demonstrated by inhibition assays. Only 6 out of 16 purified TLPs showed noticeable allergenic activity in the studied populations. Pru p 2.0201, the peach TLP (41%), chestnut TLP (24%) and plane pollen TLP (22%) proved to be allergens of probable relevance to fruit allergy, being mainly associated with pollen sensitization, and strongly linked to specific geographical areas such as Barcelona, Bilbao, the Canary Islands and Madrid. The patients exhibited mayor que50% positive response to Pru p 2.0201 and to chestnut TLP in these specific areas. Therefore, their recognition patterns were associated with the geographical area, suggesting a role for pollen in the sensitization of these allergens. Finally, the co-sensitizations of patients considering pairs of TLP allergens were analyzed by using the co-sensitization graph associated with an allergen microarray immunoassay. Our data indicate that TLPs are significant allergens in plant food allergy and should be considered when diagnosing and treating pollen-food allergy