Complete Primate Skeleton from the Middle Eocene of Messel in Germany: Morphology and Paleobiology

The best European locality for complete Eocene mammal skeletons is Grube Messel, near Darmstadt, Germany. Although the site was surrounded by a para-tropical rain forest in the Eocene, primates are remarkably rare there, and only eight fragmentary specimens were known until now. Messel has now yielded a full primate skeleton. The specimen has an unusual history: it was privately collected and sold in two parts, with only the lesser part previously known. The second part, which has just come to light, shows the skeleton to be the most complete primate known in the fossil record.We describe the morphology and investigate the paleobiology of the skeleton. The specimen is described as Darwinius masillae n.gen. n.sp. belonging to the Cercamoniinae. Because the skeleton is lightly crushed and bones cannot be handled individually, imaging studies are of particular importance. Skull radiography shows a host of teeth developing within the juvenile face. Investigation of growth and proportion suggest that the individual was a weaned and independent-feeding female that died in her first year of life, and might have attained a body weight of 650-900 g had she lived to adulthood. She was an agile, nail-bearing, generalized arboreal quadruped living above the floor of the Messel rain forest.Darwinius masillae represents the most complete fossil primate ever found, including both skeleton, soft body outline and contents of the digestive tract. Study of all these features allows a fairly complete reconstruction of life history, locomotion, and diet. Any future study of Eocene-Oligocene primates should benefit from information preserved in the Darwinius holotype. Of particular importance to phylogenetic studies, the absence of a toilet claw and a toothcomb demonstrates that Darwinius masillae is not simply a fossil lemur, but part of a larger group of primates, Adapoidea, representative of the early haplorhine diversification

Notes and memoranda

Vernacular names of common British fishes Netherlands Zoological Statio

Tubulanus tamias sp. nov. (Nemertea: Palaeonemertea) with Two Different Types of Epidermal Eyes

Based on specimens collected subtidally (similar to 10 m in depth) in Tomioka Bay, Japan, we describe the palaeonemertean Tubulanus tamias sp. nov., which differs from all its congeners in body coloration. In molecular phylogenetic analyses based on partial sequences of the nuclear 18S and 28S rRNA genes and histone H3, as well as the mitochondrial 16S rRNA and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I genes, among selected palaeonemerteans, T. tamias nested with part of the congeners in Tubulanus, while the genus as currently diagnosed appears to be non-monophyletic. Molecular cloning detected polymorphism in 28S rDNA sequences in a single individual of T. tamias, indicating incomplete concerted evolution of multiple copies. Tubulanus tamias is peculiar among tubulanids in having 9-10 pigment-cup eyes in the epidermis on either side of the head anterior to the cerebral sensory organs, and remarkably there are two types of eyes. The anterior 8-9 pairs of eyes, becoming larger from anterior to posterior, are completely embedded in the epidermis and proximally abutting the basement membrane; each pigment cup contains bundle of up to seven, rod-shaped structure that resemble a rhabdomeric photoreceptor cell. In contrast, the posterior-most pair of eyes, larger than most of the anterior ones, have an optical cavity filled with long cilia and opening to the exterior, thus appearing to have ciliary-type photoreceptor cells. The size and arrangement of the eyes indicate that the posterior-most pair of eyes are the remnant of the larval (or juvenile) eyes