Virtual cranial reconstruction of Hispanomys moralesi (Rodentia, Mammalia) from Cerro de los Batallones (upper Miocene, Spain)

El Cerro de los Batallones is one of the most important fossil sites of the Miocene. The quantity and preservation of its fossil remains have allowed us to describe many new mammal species. One of these is Hispanomys moralesi, a derived species of the Tribe Cricetodontini, a wide group of rodents with great importance in the faunal assemblage during the Miocene. Unlike most fossil micromammals in this fossil site, we have obtained skull remains that preserve never recorded anatomical structures in this time interval. Due to the fragility of the material, it could only be studied in detail using X-ray micro-computed tomography (µ-CT Scan). With this technique, we obtained three-dimensional models of 12 skulls of Hispanomys moralesi, in which different osteological parts have been described. In this way, we compared the morphological variation of the skull with other fossil cricetids and concluded that Batallones’ species is an opisthodont rodent, with a relatively elongated rostrum, a robust base of zygomatic arches and big-sized tooth rows. Opisthodont incisor characterises omnivore and herbivore diets in rodents. Therefore, these new findings of Hispanomys moralesi could allow us to describe the dietary affinities of this extinct species

DigApp and TaphonomApp: Two new open-access palaeontological and archaeological mobile apps

Two new paleontological and archaeological Android applications, DigApp and TaphonomApp, are presented in this manuscript. DigApp is intended to aid data collection, storage and management in archaeological and palaeontological excavations. DigApp allows easily recording of common field information such as spatial data and fossil identification data. Online and offline versions of DigApp were developed to fit all needs, and they can be modified according to the excavation particularities. TaphonomApp was created in order to assist taphonomists while carrying out detailed taphonomical evaluations both in the field and in the laboratory, making data collection quicker, homogeneous and overall, more efficient. DigApp and TaphonomApp are free, open-access and flexible software, that can be easily modified by any user (without the need of expertise in computing or coding) as explained in this paper. An in-depth guide on how to modify the apps is provided within this paper. DigApp and TaphonomApp have been used during palaeontological excavations carried out at one of the Batallones Butte vertebrate sites (Batallones-10, Middle Miocene) in the Madrid basin (Spain)

RICORS2040 : The need for collaborative research in chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a silent and poorly known killer. The current concept of CKD is relatively young and uptake by the public, physicians and health authorities is not widespread. Physicians still confuse CKD with chronic kidney insufficiency or failure. For the wider public and health authorities, CKD evokes kidney replacement therapy (KRT). In Spain, the prevalence of KRT is 0.13%. Thus health authorities may consider CKD a non-issue: very few persons eventually need KRT and, for those in whom kidneys fail, the problem is 'solved' by dialysis or kidney transplantation. However, KRT is the tip of the iceberg in the burden of CKD. The main burden of CKD is accelerated ageing and premature death. The cut-off points for kidney function and kidney damage indexes that define CKD also mark an increased risk for all-cause premature death. CKD is the most prevalent risk factor for lethal coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the factor that most increases the risk of death in COVID-19, after old age. Men and women undergoing KRT still have an annual mortality that is 10- to 100-fold higher than similar-age peers, and life expectancy is shortened by ~40 years for young persons on dialysis and by 15 years for young persons with a functioning kidney graft. CKD is expected to become the fifth greatest global cause of death by 2040 and the second greatest cause of death in Spain before the end of the century, a time when one in four Spaniards will have CKD. However, by 2022, CKD will become the only top-15 global predicted cause of death that is not supported by a dedicated well-funded Centres for Biomedical Research (CIBER) network structure in Spain. Realizing the underestimation of the CKD burden of disease by health authorities, the Decade of the Kidney initiative for 2020-2030 was launched by the American Association of Kidney Patients and the European Kidney Health Alliance. Leading Spanish kidney researchers grouped in the kidney collaborative research network Red de Investigación Renal have now applied for the Redes de Investigación Cooperativa Orientadas a Resultados en Salud (RICORS) call for collaborative research in Spain with the support of the Spanish Society of Nephrology, Federación Nacional de Asociaciones para la Lucha Contra las Enfermedades del Riñón and ONT: RICORS2040 aims to prevent the dire predictions for the global 2040 burden of CKD from becoming true

Outline analysis of the genera Cricetodon and Hispanomys and its use as taxonomical criteria

Trabajo presentado en el II Iberian Symposium on Geometric Morphometrics, celebrado en Madrid (España, del 8 al 10 de junio de 2016Cricetodon and Hispanomys (Rodentia, Mammalia) include several species that illustrate the mosaic evolution. Therefore, the generic assignation of some of these species is controversial. Agustí, (1982) remarked that Ruscinomys and some species of Hispanomys present trilobed contour, whereas Cricetodon has it straight. Also, López-Guerrero et al. (2015) suggest the contour of the anterior upper molars (M1) as a discriminatory generic character. The contour can be studied by using the Fourier method. We applied Fourier method on the photographs of 56 M1s belonging to Cricetodon meini from VieuxCollonges (middle Aragonian, middle Miocene) and Hispanomys aragonensis from Pedregueras 2A, 2C, 1C and Nombrevilla 14 (early Vallesian, late Miocene). These species were used as a case study because there is no doubt in their generic assignation and they present very different contours: straight―Cricetodon—and trilobed— Hispanomys―. Our aim is to study whether the differences that are observed in the M1 contour between these two species could be statistically tested. Using Fourier methodology, we have performed a Principal Component, a cluster and a discriminant analyses. The results show differences between the two species. The PCA reveals two distinct groups that correspond to the two species. Furthermore, the cluster analysis also reveals two large, distinct groups. Finally, the discriminant analysis supports the results above with a significant pvalue<0.001. This work reveals that Fourier analysis can differentiate two types of contour: trilobed and straight. Our work will provide new criteria that could help to determinate the generic assignation of species like “Cricetodon” fandli or “Cricetodon” klariankae.Peer reviewe

First functional morphology comparison between two miocene cricetid mandibles Primera comparación de morfología funcional entre dos mandíbulas de cricétidos del mioceno

[EN] Geometric morphometric allows characterizing complex morphologies in order to quantify the geometry of the structure and facilitate comparisons. It allows performing methods analysing differentiation pattern based on variance, such as the Principal Component Analysis (PCA). For that reason, it has been chosen as the method to analyse the mandibles of two extinct species of cricetids rodents: Cricetodon aff. aureus and Megacricetodon minor from the MN6, middle Miocene from Goldberg and Steinberg (Germany). We performed a digitisation of 18 landmarks that includes the most relevant characteristics of these mandibles. We also performed a measure of the mechanical advantage and potential of the mandibles. In that way, we have been able to quantify notorious morphological differences on the angular and condylar processes and the lower masseter insertion and establish significant differences among the biomechanical behaviour of the mandibles. Later, we can relate the morphological and biomechanical information with speed and force biting.[ES] La morfometría geométrica permite caracterizar formas completas para cuantificar la geometría de la estructura y facilitar las comparaciones. Permite llevar a cabo metodologías que analizan esos patrones de diferenciación como el Análisis de Componentes Principales (ACP), a través del cual se estudia la varianza de una manera simple. Por esta razón ha sido el método elegido para analizar las mandíbulas de dos especies extintas de cricétidos: Cricetodon aff. aureus y Megacricetodon minor de la MN6, Mioceno medio de los yacimientos de Goldberg y Steinberg (Alemania). Hemos llevado a cabo la digitalización de 18 puntos de referencia (landmarks) que resumen las características más relevantes de las mandíbulas. Además hemos realizado la medición de las ventajas y potencias mecánicas de estas. De esta manera, hemos podido cuantificar diferencias morfológicas notorias en los procesos angular y condilar y en la inserción del masetero inferior y establecer diferencias significativas entre los comportamientos biomecánicos de las mandíbulas para después relacionarlo con la velocidad y la fuerza de la mordida de estos roedores.This is a contribution of the Research Group Team 910607 on Evolution of Cenozoic Mammals and Continental Palaeoenvironments of the Complutense University of Madrid. This study was also supported by the Spanish Economy and Competitiveness Ministry research project PGC2018 094955-A-100 and PGC2018-094122-B-100

Species of Hispanomys from the late Aragonian and early Vallesian (middle-late Miocene) of the Calatayud–Daroca Basin, Zaragoza, Spain

[EN] The cricetid genus Hispanomys has been recorded from many localities in the Iberian Peninsula, France, and central and western Europe; its stratigraphic distribution is restricted to the middle Miocene and the beginning of the late Miocene. Four species are found in the Spanish Calatayud–Daroca Basin: Hispanomys aguirrei (local biozone G3, late Aragonian), H. lavocati (local biozone G3, late Aragonian), H. nombrevillae (local biozone H, late Aragonian-early Vallesian) and H. aragonensis (local biozone I, early Vallesian). New morphological analyses of these species are presented here resulting in the emended diagnoses and new differential diagnoses of H. nombrevillae and H. aragonensis. Morphologically, these species can be clustered in two groups: Hispanomys aguirrei and H. lavocati, which display characters typical of a basal Hispanomys, and H. nombrevillae and H. aragonensis that have a homogeneous morphology and their characters are more derived than the former group. Hispanomys aragonensis is the most derived species studied herein. Both groups of species were originated in southwestern Europe and are endemic of the Iberian Peninsula, although they do not seem to be phylogenetically related. A trend towards size decreasing in time is observed within the genus, Hispanomys aguirrei and H. lavocati being older and larger than H. nombrevillae and H. aragonensis.[ES] El género de cricétido Hispanomys se ha registrado en muchas localidades de la Península Ibérica, Francia y Europa central y occidental; su distribución estratigráfica está restringida al Mioceno medio y al comienzo del Mioceno superior. En la cuenca Calatayud-Daroca (España) se han encontrado cuatro especies: Hispanomys aguirrei (biozona local G3, Aragoniense superior), H. lavocati (biozona local G3, Aragoniense superior), H. nombrevillae (biozona H local, Aragoniense superior y Vallesiense inferior) e H. aragonensis (biozona local I, Vallesiense inferior). En este trabajo se presentan nuevos análisis morfológicos de estas especies, lo que ha permitido emendar la diagnosis originales y presentar nuevas diagnosis diferen- ciales de H. nombrevillae e H. aragonensis. Morfológicamente, estas especies se pueden situar en dos grupos: Hispanomys aguirrei e H. lavocati, que muestran caracteres típicos de un Hispanomys basal por un lado, y por otro H. nombrevillae e H. aragonensis que tienen una morfología homogénea y sus caracteres son más derivados que el grupo anterior. Hispanomys aragonensis es la especie más derivada estudiada en este trabajo. Ambos grupos de especies se originaron en el sudoeste de Europa y son endémicas de la Península Ibérica, aunque no parecen estar relacionadas filogenéticamente. Se observa una tendencia hacia la disminución del tamaño en el tiempo dentro del género, siendo Hispanomys aguirrei e H. lavocati de mayor tamaño que H. nombrevillae o H. aragonensis.The Spanish MICINN/MINECO Projects CGL2015-68333 (MINECO/FEDER, UE) CGL2004-02094/BTE, CGL2007-65208, CGL2008-04200/BTE; CGL2011-28877 supports this study

Species of Hispanomys from the late Aragonian and early Vallesian (middle-late Miocene) of the Calatayud–Daroca Basin, Zaragoza, Spain

The cricetid genus Hispanomys has been recorded from many localities in the Iberian Peninsula, France, and central and western Europe; its stratigraphic distribution is restricted to the middle Miocene and the beginning of the late Miocene. Four species are found in the Spanish Calatayud–Daroca Basin: Hispanomys aguirrei (local biozone G3, late Aragonian), H. lavocati (local biozone G3, late Aragonian), H. nombrevillae (local biozone H, late Aragonian-early Vallesian) and H. aragonensis (local biozone I, early Vallesian). New morphological analyses of these species are presented here resulting in the emended diagnoses and new differential diagnoses of H. nombrevillae and H. aragonensis. Morphologically, these species can be clustered in two groups: Hispanomys aguirrei and H. lavocati, which display characters typical of a basal Hispanomys, and H. nombrevillae and H. aragonensis that have a homogeneous morphology and their characters are more derived than the former group. Hispanomys aragonensis is the most derived species studied herein. Both groups of species were originated in southwestern Europe and are endemic of the Iberian Peninsula, although they do not seem to be phylogenetically related. A trend towards size decreasing in time is observed within the genus, Hispanomys aguirrei and H. lavocati being older and larger than H. nombrevillae and H. aragonensis