Da li je malooki mlat ikada nastanjivao Sredozemno more? Ponovno vrednovanje jedinog talijanskog nalaza vrste Sphyrina tudes (Valenciennes, 1822.)

Three species of Sphyrna (S. lewini, S. mokarran and S. zygaena) are known to inhabit the present-day Mediterranean Sea, whereas uncertainties exist about the presence of S. tudes in the same basin. Indeed, the presence of this typically western Atlantic shark in the Mediterranean Sea is supported by as few as two historical specimens that were captured at Nice (southeastern France) and Leghorn (northern Tyrrhenian coast of central Italy). Here, we provide a redescription and an updated taxonomic identification of the Leghorn specimen of smalleye hammerhead, which is currently kept in the zoological collection of the Natural History Museum of the University of Pisa and is believed by some authors to represent a misidentified representative of S. lewini. Based on first-hand observations, we confirm the taxonomic identification of this specimen as belonging to S. tudes. Considering the ontogenetically young nature of both the Nice and the Leghorn specimens of S. tudes, parturition in the Mediterranean Sea is hypothesised, which in turn may evoke the occurrence of a population of smalleye hammerheads inhabiting this basin at least as recently as the early 19th century.Tri vrste roda Sphyrna (S. lewini, S. mokarran i S. zygaena) nastanjuju današnje Sredozemno more, no postoje nejasnoće oko prisutnosti vrste S. tudes u istom području. Prisutnost ovog tipično zapadno-atlantskog morskog psa u Sredozemnom moru podupiru samo dva povijesna primjerka uhvaćena kod Nice (jugoistočna Francuska) i Leghorna (sjeverna tirenska obala središnje Italije). U ovom radu iznosi se ponovni opis te ažurirana taksonomska identifikacija primjerka malookog mlata iz Leghorna, koji se trenutno čuva u zoološkoj zbirci Prirodoslovnog muzeja Sveučilišta u Pisi, a za kojeg neki autori vjeruju da predstavlja pogrešno identificiranog predstavnika vrste S. lewini. Na temelju izravnih promatranja, autori potvrđuju taksonomsku identifikaciju analiziranog primjerka kao pripadnika vrste S. tudes. S obzirom da su primjerci vrste S. tudes iz Nice i Leghorna mlade jedinke, pretpostavlja se da su okoćeni na području Sredozemog mora što može sugerirati prisutstvo populacije ove vrste na tom području barem do početka devetnaestog stoljeća

Pojava brumbuljka iz roda Chelonibia Leach, 1817, kao inkrustra na kosti sisavca u središnjem dijelu Sredozemnog mora

Among the turtle and whale barnacles (Coronuloidea: Chelonibiidae, Coronulidae, †Emersoni-idae and Platylepadidae), the members of the chelonibiid species Chelonibia testudinaria (Linnaeus, 1758) are known as epizoic barnacles that can attach to a rather wide spectrum of substrates (pri-marily sea turtles, crabs and sirenians). At present, three living morphs of C. testudinaria have been recognised; of these, the less host-specific is the patula morph, which also displays a remarkably simple, unspecialised shell architecture. Here we report on several chelonibiid shells, referred to the patula morph of C. testudinaria, encrusting a cetacean scapula collected from the floor of the Adriatic Sea facing Salento (Apulia Region, southeastern Italy) and tentatively referred to Tursiops truncatus (Montagu, 1821). This is one of the few records worldwide of a coronuloid barnacle from an inanimate substrate, as well as the second as an encruster on mammalian bone. Such an unusual occurrence is then briefly discussed in the broader framework of the coronuloid commensalism and substrate habits.Među kornjačama i kitovima (Coronuloidea: Chelonibiidae, Coronulidae, † Emersoniidae i Platylepadidae), pripadnici vrste Chelonibia testudinaria (Linnaeus, 1758) poznati su kao epizoični brumbuljci koji se mogu pričvrstiti na prilično širok spektar podloga (prvenstveno na kornjače, rakove i velike vodene sisavce koji se hrane biljkama iz reda Sirenia). Trenutno su prepoznata tri živa morfija C. testudinaria; od njih, manje specifična za domaćina je morph patula, koja također prikazuje izuzetno jednostavnu, nespecijaliziranu arhitekturu ljuske. U ovom radu izvještavamo o nekoliko ljuski helonibiida, koje se odnose na morfe patule C. tes-tudinaria, koja inkrustira lopaticu kitova sakupljenu s dna Jadranskog mora prema Salentu (regija Apulia, jugoistočna Italija) i okvirno upućenu na Tursiops truncatus (Montagu, 1821). Ovo je jedan od rijetkih zapisa u svijetu o brumbuljku iz nežive podloge, a i kao drugi slučaj inkrustriranja na kosti sisavca. Takva neobična pojava potom se ukratko raspravlja u širem kontekstu komensalizma brumbuljaka i supstrata staništa

A new ichnotaxonomic name for burrows in vertebrate coprolites from the Miocene Chesapeake Group of Maryland, U.S.A

AbstractA new ichnotaxonomic name, Transexcrementum cuniculus, is applied to tubular (cylindrical) tunnelings in coprolites. The type series of T. cuniculus consists of burrowed vertebrate (probably crocodilian) coprolites that originate from the Miocene Chesapeake Group of Maryland, U.S.A. These complex trace fossils exhibit the following combination of characters: burrows not lined nor backfilled; opening and transverse sections sub-circular; diameter supra-millimetric, up to ca. 20 mm, rather constant throughout; inner termination(s) rounded/conical; tunnel morphology straight or gently curved, sometimes branching; internal sculpturing sometimes present in form of short and irregularly oriented scratches and gouges. Clusters of the same kinds of gouges may also mark the outer surface of the coprolite. The tunneling tracemaker likely engaged in coprophagy; however, it is unclear what kind of organisms could have produced these burrows. Judging from the overall rarity of Transexcrementum cuniculus occurrences in the fossil record, the tracemaker responsible for the burrows might also have been rare, or fed on faeces only occasionally

JUMPING FROM TURTLES TO WHALES: A PLIOCENE FOSSIL RECORD DEPICTS AN ANCIENT DISPERSAL OF CHELONIBIA ON MYSTICETES

The barnacles included in the superfamily Coronuloidea are epizoic symbionts of various marine vertebrates (including cetaceans, sirenians, and sea turtles) and other crustaceans (crabs and horseshoe crabs). Among Coronuloidea, the so-called turtle barnacles (Chelonibiidae) are known from Paleogene times, whereas the whale barnacles (Coronulidae) likely appeared in the late Pliocene (Piacenzian). Although a derivation from the turtle barnacles (and especially from the genus Chelonibia) has been proposed, the evolutionary origin of Coronulidae remains to date obscure. In this work we reappraise a fossil record from upper Pliocene (Piacenzian) marine deposits at Casenuove (Empoli municipality, Tuscany, Italy) comprising various shells of Chelonibia testudinaria associated to a partial skeleton of a balaenid mysticete. Based on taphonomic and morpho-functional considerations, we discuss the hypothesis that the barnacles were hosted on the baleen whale, possibly on its callosities, which could have represented an analogous of the horny carapace of marine turtles. This record strongly suggests that the baleen whales can be added to the list of the possible hosts of the barnacles of the genus Chelonibia, thus hinting that the whale barnacles may have evolved from an ancient phase of dispersal of Chelonibia (or a similar ancestor) on mysticete cetaceans

LOWER PLIOCENE BARNACLE FACIES OF WESTERN LIGURIA (NW ITALY): A PEEK INTO A WARM PAST AND A GLIMPSE OF OUR INCOMING FUTURE

The lower Pliocene deposits of Pairola (Liguria, Italy) display the otherwise rare occurrence of rock-forming amounts of barnacles (mostly belonging to the extinct Euromediterranean species Concavus concavus). Three main facies are recognised in the investigated succession: a barnacle-dominated facies, which formed along a shallow (<15 m deep) nearshore environment, a foraminifera-dominated facies from relatively deeper waters (40-100 m), and an intermediate facies forming at the boundary of the other two. These facies and their relationships suggest deposition in a flooded valley – a kind of setting that was common in the Mediterranean after the Messinian Salinity Crisis. Differing from other rias, the Pairola basin was exposed to strong waves, resulting in conditions favourable to barnacles. Sedimentological and stratigraphic observations indicate that the Pairola succession formed within a timespan covering both cold and warm phases. This is relevant because the sub-tropical foraminifer Amphistegina is ubiquitous throughout the succession. Amphistegina occurs in the Pliocene and lower Pleistocene (Gelasian) of Northern Italy, but not in the remainder of the Pleistocene, not even its warm portions. This genus is currently recolonizing the Mediterranean and is projected to reach the northern coast of the basin soon, foretelling that Anthropocene temperatures are going to overcome those of the late Pleistocene warm periods and reach those of the Pliocene

A NEW RECORD OF PHYSETEROIDEA FROM THE UPPER MIOCENE OF THE PIETRA LECCESE (SOUTHERN ITALY): SYSTEMATICS, PALEOECOLOGY AND TAPHONOMY OF A FOSSIL MACRORAPTORIAL SPERM WHALE

We report on a partial skeleton of sperm whale (Cetacea, Odontoceti, Physeteroidea) from the Pietra leccese, a Miocene limestone widely exposed in the Salento Peninsula (southern Italy). This specimen was found in Tortonian strata cropping out at the Cisterna quarry, not far from the holotype of the stem physeteroid Zygophyster varolai. The presence of a deep and rectilinear groove medial to the tympanosquamosal recess of the squamosal, the bowed mandibles, and some dental features suggest that this specimen belongs to a still undescribed new genus and species of macroraptorial sperm whale that displays some affinities with the late Miocene Acrophyseter from Peru. Nevertheless, due to the incompleteness and poor preservation state of the skull, we abstain from creating a new taxon. The teeth exhibit both apical wear and deep occlusal facets, and three teeth even lost their crowns. These dental modifications suggest that the studied specimen used a raptorial feeding strategy for preying upon food items such as large-sized bony fishes or diminutive marine mammals. The bones are mostly disarticulated and broken, and some of them preserve traces hinting at the action of macro-scavengers, possibly including both sharks and bony fishes. Furthermore, the skull is pervasively encrusted by oysters, which suggests that it laid on the seafloor for a long time before being buried. This find provides new clues about the composition of the Miocene vertebrate assemblage of the Pietra leccese and indicates that various macroraptorial sperm whale species inhabited the Mediterranean Basin during the Tortonian

A PLIOCENE GRAY WHALE (ESCHRICHTIUS SP.) FROM THE EASTERN NORTH ATLANTIC

The gray whale Eschrichtius robustus, the only living member of the eschrichtiid lineage, currently inhabits only the North Pacific. Interestingly, however, the holotypes of both E. robustus and the late Miocene Archaeschrichtius ruggieroi (the oldest known eschrichtiid species) come from the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean, respectively. Here we describe a partial mysticete mandible from the Pliocene (3.71–2.76 Ma) of Belgium (Eastern North Atlantic). This new fossil displays a combination of morphological features that makes it nearly identical to modern E. robustus. Nevertheless, given its incomplete nature, the studied specimen is here identified in open nomenclature as belonging to Eschrichtius sp. The recognition of such an early record of Eschrichtius in the North Atlantic suggests that this genus developed a circum-Northern Hemisphere distribution not later than in Pliocene times, thus complicating our understanding of its origin, evolutionary history, and palaeobiogeographic patterns

A kogiid sperm whale from the lower Pliocene of the Northern Apennines (Italy)

We report on a new specimen of Kogiidae from S. Andrea Bagni, a Zanclean fossiliferous site of northern Italy. • This specimen consists of a partially complete cranium, one vertebra, one fragment of rib, and one tooth. • The S. Andrea Bagni kogiid is recognized as representative of a new taxon in the subfamily Kogiinae. • Association of this specimen with teeth of deep-water squaloids provides interesting palaeoecological hints

First record of Monodontidae (Cetacea, Odontoceti) in the Mediterranean Basin from the Pliocene sands of Arcille (Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy)

• MSNUP I17602 represents one of the few monodontid skull of early Pliocene age worldwide. • This discovery testifies the presence of a monodontid taxon in the Mediterranean Basin. • The fossil skull shares several characters with the skull of both extant monodontid genera. • Past monodontid species seems to have been adapted to subtropical climate conditions