Présence de Palaeoperdix media (Aves, Galliformes, Phasianidae) et d'autres oiseaux dans le Miocène du Portugal

A distal part of tibiotarsus from Charneca do Lumiar (Langhian, MN5) is identified as Palaeoperdix media, formerly known as Miophasianus medius. This species is thus known on a large area of the Palearctic province, from Portugal to Poland, and from the beginning of the Middle Miocene (MN 5) to the beginning of the Upper Miocene (MN9). An indeterminate, Gruid from Quinta das Pedreiras (Lower Langhian, MN4) and a few marine birds' remnants from Penedo Norte (Burdigalian) have been recognized

The mammal localities of Grand Daoui quarries, Ouled Abdoun Basin, Morroco, Ypresian : a first survey

Nos recherches de terrain permettent de restituer le contexte géologique et stratigraphique d’origine des localités à Phosphatherium escuilliei (Proboscidea) du bassin à phosphates des Ouled Abdoun au Maroc. Le matériel de P. escuilliei et de plusieurs autres mammifères provient des exploitations de Grand Daoui (NE du bassin). Nos observations montrent que leur niveau d’origine est un bone-bed situé à la base de l’Intercalaire Couche II/I daté classiquement de l’Yprésien inférieur. Ces niveaux du début de l’Eocène marquent l’installation d’une nouvelle mégaséquence dans la série phosphatée qui a partiellement remanié les niveaux sous-jacents du Thanétien. Cela explique la présence de sélaciens du Thanétien dans la gangue de P. escuilliei et sa datation initiale du Paléocène. L’étude des sélaciens associés au nouveau matériel mammalien récolté confirme l’âge éocène basal de P. escuilliei avec l’identification de plusieurs espèces de l’Yprésien inférieur. La présence exceptionnelle de mammifères dans les Ouled Abdoun dénote d’une taphonomie particulière des restes continentaux dans les dépôts phosphatés. Ceux-ci ont été transportés dans le bassin depuis l’arrière-pays continental proche dans des conditions de faible énergie hydrodynamique, probablement sous forme de cadavres flottés. Au total le matériel récolté dans les carrières de Grand Daoui documente 7 espèces de mammifères dont un créodonte, deux proboscidiens, deux « condylarthres », et deux espèces indéterminées décrites ici. L’une est un des plus anciens hyracoïdes signalés. P. escuilliei est très largement prédominant parmi ces mammifères. La faune de vertébrés qui leur est associée comprend des restes d’oiseaux signalés pour la première fois dans les bassins à phosphates d’Afrique. Ce sont les plus anciens oiseaux connus en Afrique et parmi les premiers représentants des groupes marins modernes

Presumed Symbolic Use of Diurnal Raptors by Neanderthals

In Africa and western Eurasia, occurrences of burials and utilized ocher fragments during the late Middle and early Late Pleistocene are often considered evidence for the emergence of symbolically-mediated behavior. Perhaps less controversial for the study of human cognitive evolution are finds of marine shell beads and complex designs on organic and mineral artifacts in early modern human (EMH) assemblages conservatively dated to ≈100–60 kilo-years (ka) ago. Here we show that, in France, Neanderthals used skeletal parts of large diurnal raptors presumably for symbolic purposes at Combe-Grenal in a layer dated to marine isotope stage (MIS) 5b (≈90 ka) and at Les Fieux in stratigraphic units dated to the early/middle phase of MIS 3 (60–40 ka). The presence of similar objects in other Middle Paleolithic contexts in France and Italy suggest that raptors were used as means of symbolic expression by Neanderthals in these regions

Phylogenetic Analysis of Pelecaniformes (Aves) Based on Osteological Data: Implications for Waterbird Phylogeny and Fossil Calibration Studies

) were also assessed. The antiquity of these taxa and their purported status as stem members of extant families makes them valuable for studies of higher-level avian diversification. (sister taxon to Phalacrocoracidae). These relationships are invariant when ‘backbone’ constraints based on recent avian phylogenies are imposed.Relationships of extant pelecaniforms inferred from morphology are more congruent with molecular phylogenies than previously assumed, though notable conflicts remain. The phylogenetic position of the Plotopteridae implies that wing-propelled diving evolved independently in plotopterids and penguins, representing a remarkable case of convergent evolution. Despite robust support for the placement of fossil taxa representing key calibration points, the successive outgroup relationships of several “stem fossil + crown family” clades are variable and poorly supported across recent studies of avian phylogeny. Thus, the impact these fossils have on inferred patterns of temporal diversification depends heavily on the resolution of deep nodes in avian phylogeny

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

Early Pliocene Tragulidae and Peafowls in the Rift Valley, Kenya: evidence for rainforest in East Africa.

The Early Pliocene Mabaget Formation (5.3–4.5 Ma), Tugen Hills, Kenya, has yielded remains of the African tragulid Hyemoschus aquaticus, which is today confined to rainforests of West Africa and the Congo Basin as far east as western Uganda. The same unit has also yielded a peafowl, Pavo sp. The Mabaget Formation has yielded early hominid fossils variously attributed to Australopithecus praegens or Ardipithecus ramidus. This sedimentary deposit joins the list of very early hominid units that preserve evidence of forest in the vicinity of the basin at the time of deposition. This discovery adds weight to the suggestion that the earliest hominids inhabited well wooded to forested regions rather than open country. It now seems more likely that bipedalism evolved in wooded to forested ecosystems and was, for several million years, linked to arborealism and that only after it was perfected did hominids spread into more open environments as fully functional bipeds. If so, then there is no reason to postulate a quadrupedal ‘knuckle-walking’ stage in the evolution of hominid