Remarkable multicuspid teeth in a new elusive skate (Chondrichthyes, Rajiformes) from the Mediterranean Pliocene

AbstractHere we report on four highly peculiar skate teeth from Arcille and Certaldo, two Pliocene localities of Tuscany (central Italy). While being attributable to Rajiformes and somewhat reminiscent ofDipturusandRostroraja, these specimens display an unusual multicuspid tooth design that does not match any extinct or extant skate taxon known to date. The studied teeth are thus referred to a new genus and species of Rajiformes,Nebriimimus wardigen. et sp. nov., which is here tentatively assigned to the family Rajidae. Based on pronounced morphological similarities between the rather large-sized teeth of the latter and those of extant nurse sharks, we hypothesise thatN. wardimight have been capable of actively foraging upon relatively large food items compared to other rays. This extinct skate species was likely not a common component of the Pliocene Tuscan marine vertebrate assemblages. The palaeoenvironmental scenarios thatN. wardiinhabited were marginal-marine and open shelf settings characterised by tropical climate conditions. AsN. wardiis currently known only from lower to mid-Pliocene deposits of the Mediterranean Basin, it is tempting to speculate that its speciation dates back to an earliest Pliocene phase of diversification that also contributed to the emergence of the Mediterranean endemic stock of extant skate species

Groovy and Gnarly: Surface Wrinkles as a Multifunctional Motif for Terrestrial and Marine Environments

From large ventral pleats of humpback whales to nanoscale ridges on flower petals, wrinkled structures are omnipresent, multifunctional, and found at hugely diverse scales. Depending on the particulars of the biological system—its environment, morphology, and mechanical properties—wrinkles may control adhesion, friction, wetting, or drag; promote interfacial exchange; act as flow channels; or contribute to stretching, mechanical integrity, or structural color. Undulations on natural surfaces primarily arise from stress-induced instabilities of surface layers (e.g., buckling) during growth or aging. Variation in the material properties of surface layers and in the magnitude and orientation of intrinsic stresses during growth lead to a variety of wrinkling morphologies and patterns which, in turn, reflect the wide range of biophysical challenges wrinkled surfaces can solve. Therefore, investigating how surface wrinkles vary and are implemented across biological systems is key to understanding their structure-function relationships. In this work, we synthesize the literature in a metadata analysis of surface wrinkling in various terrestrial and marine organisms to review important morphological parameters and classify functional aspects of surface wrinkles in relation to the size and ecology of organisms. Building on our previous and current experimental studies, we explore case studies on nano/micro-scale wrinkles in biofilms, plant surfaces, and basking shark filter structures to compare developmental and structure-vs-function aspects of wrinkles with vastly different size scales and environmental demands. In doing this and by contrasting wrinkle development in soft and hard biological systems, we provide a template of structure-function relationships of biological surface wrinkles and an outlook for functionalized wrinkled biomimetic surfaces

The upper Miocene Deurne Member of the Diest Formation revisited : unexpected results from the study of a large temporary outcrop near Antwerp International Airport, Belgium

A 5.50 m thick interval of fossiliferous intensely bioturbated heterogenous glauconiferous sand of the upper Miocene Diest Formation is documented from a very large temporary outcrop just southeast of Antwerp International Airport (northern Belgium), allowing to observe lateral variations over several hundreds of meters and to collect many vertebrate and invertebrate fossils. This paper documents observations on lithology, sedimentary and post-sedimentary structures, and discusses the results of the multi-proxy analyses of the sediment (granulometry, glauconite content, clay mineralogy, Fe content and Fe3+/Fe2+ ratios), the interpretation of the trace fossil assemblage and the sedimentary structures as well as of the large-scale samplings of micro-, meso- and macrofossils. We evidence that the Diest Formation in the Antwerp area consists of two different lithological entities, and that this twofold character can be extrapolated to all previously recorded Deurne Member outcrops. A revised lithostratigraphic scheme for the Diest Formation in the Antwerp area is proposed, with the new Borsbeek member at the base and a redefmed Deurne Member at the top

L'histoire de la description du squale bouclé Echinorhinus brucus (Bonnaterre, 1788) (Echinorhinidae) et la redécouverte des illustrations du type perdu

Iglésias, Samuel P., Mollen, Frederik H. (2020): L'histoire de la description du squale bouclé Echinorhinus brucus (Bonnaterre, 1788) (Echinorhinidae) et la redécouverte des illustrations du type perdu. Zoosystema 42 (13): 173-193, DOI: 10.5252/zoosystema2020v42a1

APPLYING MICRO-CT IMAGING IN THE STUDY OF HISTORICALLY AND NEWLY COLLECTED SPECIMENS OF BELOSAEPIA (SEPIIDA, COLEOIDEA, CEPHALOPODA) FROM THE EARLY EOCENE (YPRESIAN) OF BELGIUM

The application of high-resolution X-ray computed tomography permits an appraisal of historically and newly collected specimens of Belosaepia (Belosaepiidae, Coleoidea, Cephalopoda) from the Ypresian (Early Eocene) of Belgium and provides resolution into the taxonomy of stem-group sepiids. The new finds are from the basal beds of the Egemkapel Clay Member (Tielt Formation) in the Ampe claypit at Egem and in the middle of the Roubaix Clay Member (Kortrijk Formation) in the Koekelberg claypit at Marke (province of West-Flanders, Belgium). Combining the historically and newly collected material allows us to conclude that only a single species can be positively identified, namely Belosaepia tricarinata (Watelet, 1851), and that all currently documented occurrences are restricted to the middle Ypresian (NP11-NP12). This seems to correspond well with the occurrence of Belosaepia tricarinata in the Paris, London, and Hampshire basins. Micro-CT imaging is an excellent, non-destructive tool in the study of the calcified remains. In the Belosaepia skeleton, this method allowed us to identify growth lines, ontogenetic changes, and resorption. Utilised in conjunction with a biostratigraphic assessment, this technology has the potential to be a major aid in taxonomic assignments and revisions. In the current study, it also highlighted stratigraphically important fossils (e.g. Nummulites) retained in the residual sediment attached to the specimens. This provides additional stratigraphic information that may otherwise be lost, or not recorded in older samples

Lamna ditropis

<i>Lamna ditropis</i> <p> <i>Fresh material</i>: 2 specimens, ERB 0 937, female, 900 mm TL, August 2009, beached south of Monterey Bay near San Luis Obispo and Cambria, northeast Pacific Ocean; ERB 0 854 (= NMFS – AFSC –09SS004), female, 2340 mm TL, 2 October 2009, northeast side of Kodiak Island, northeast Pacific Ocean.</p> <p> <i>Additional illustrations</i>: Matsubara (1955, fig. 15A–C), Compagno (1977, fig. 7Q; 1988, fig. 7.1.A; 1990, figs 5M, 6N, 7M (<i>non</i> fig. 6M, mislabelled), Glikman (1980, fig 1.1–2), and Purdy <i>et al.</i> (2001, fig. 32A).</p>Published as part of <i>Mollen, Frederik H., Wintner, Sabine P., Iglésias, Samuel P., Van, Sean R. & Jagt, John W. M., 2012, Comparative morphology of rostral cartilages in extant mackerel sharks (Chondrichthyes, Lamniformes, Lamnidae) using CT scanning, pp. 29-43 in Zootaxa 3340</i> on page 32, DOI: <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/215285">10.5281/zenodo.215285</a&gt

Isurus paucus

<i>Isurus paucus</i> <p> <i>Fresh material</i>: 1 specimen, ERB 0 935, female, 2540 mm TL, 23 July 2008, 40°24’N, 67°23’W, northwest Atlantic Ocean.</p> <p> <i>Additional illustrations</i>: Compagno (1990, figs. 5L, 6L, 7L).</p>Published as part of <i>Mollen, Frederik H., Wintner, Sabine P., Iglésias, Samuel P., Van, Sean R. & Jagt, John W. M., 2012, Comparative morphology of rostral cartilages in extant mackerel sharks (Chondrichthyes, Lamniformes, Lamnidae) using CT scanning, pp. 29-43 in Zootaxa 3340</i> on page 32, DOI: <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/215285">10.5281/zenodo.215285</a&gt

Isurus oxyrinchus

<i>Isurus oxyrinchus</i> <p> <i>Fresh material</i>: 2 specimens, ERB 0 933, female, 1940 mm TL, 20 February 2009, Algeciras fish market, Spain, 29°10’N, 15°20’W, northeast Atlantic Ocean; ERB 0 934, sex unknown (said to be male but unverified), 2300 (+/- 100) mm TL, 26 February 2009, Concarneau fish market, France, northeast Atlantic Ocean.</p> <p> <i>Additional material</i>: 3 dried chondrocrania, IRScNB 1384γ, IRScNB 2190 and IRScNB 2190β, juvenile specimens, no data, Nice, France, Mediterranean.</p> <p> <i>Additional illustrations</i>: Matsubara (1955, fig. 15D–F), Glikman (1967, figs. 8–9, 38; 1980, pls 1–4, fig. 2), Compagno (1990, figs. 5K, 6K, 7K), Muñoz-Chápuli & De Andrés (1995, fig. 1C), Compagno (2001, fig. 12A–C), Wilga (2005, fig. 3D), and Shimada <i>et al.</i> (2009, fig. 2C).</p>Published as part of <i>Mollen, Frederik H., Wintner, Sabine P., Iglésias, Samuel P., Van, Sean R. & Jagt, John W. M., 2012, Comparative morphology of rostral cartilages in extant mackerel sharks (Chondrichthyes, Lamniformes, Lamnidae) using CT scanning, pp. 29-43 in Zootaxa 3340</i> on page 31, DOI: <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/215285">10.5281/zenodo.215285</a&gt

Carcharodon carcharias

<i>Carcharodon carcharias</i> <p> <i>Fresh material</i>: 1 specimen, ERB 0 932 (= KZNSB –UMT 07015), female, 2120 mm TL, 26 November 2007, protective gill nets off Umtentweni, South Africa, southwest Indian Ocean.</p> <p> <i>Additional material</i>: one set of transverse views through rostrum based on CT scans (unpublished data, courtesy of K. Shimada) of a female, FMNH 38335, c. 2714 mm TL (based on crown height of first anterior teeth, following the method described by Shimada 2003), off southern Florida, USA, Atlantic Ocean, and 2 dried chondrocrania, IRScNB 1385γ, no data, Mediterranean; KZNSB unlabelled, female, c. 3740 mm TL (based on skeleton), date unknown, protective gill nets off KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, southwest Indian Ocean.</p> <p> <i>Additional illustrations</i>: Haswell (1884, pl. 1, figs. 1–2), Parker [1887, pl. 4, figs. 1, 3; pl. 5, unnumbered fig. (upper part of plate only); <i>non</i> pl. 8, figs. 24–25, misidentified by the author, see Francis (1996) and Mollet <i>et al.</i> (2002)], Compagno (1990, figs. 3G, 5J, 6J, 7J), Gottfried <i>et al.</i> (1996, fig. 5B), Wroe <i>et al.</i> (2008, fig. 1A–B), and Shimada <i>et al.</i> (2009, fig. 2D).</p>Published as part of <i>Mollen, Frederik H., Wintner, Sabine P., Iglésias, Samuel P., Van, Sean R. & Jagt, John W. M., 2012, Comparative morphology of rostral cartilages in extant mackerel sharks (Chondrichthyes, Lamniformes, Lamnidae) using CT scanning, pp. 29-43 in Zootaxa 3340</i> on page 31, DOI: <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/215285">10.5281/zenodo.215285</a&gt