42 research outputs found
The last European varanid: demise and extinction of monitor lizards (Squamata, Varanidae) from Europe
Remains of a varanid lizard from the middle Pleistocene of the Tourkobounia 5 locality near Athens, Greece are described. The new material comprises cranial elements only (one maxilla, one dentary, and one tooth) and is attributed to Varanus, the genus to which all European Neogene varanid occurrences have been assigned. Previously, the youngest undisputed varanid from Europe had been recovered from upper Pliocene sediments. The new Greek fossils therefore constitute the youngest records of this clade from the continent. Despite being fragmentary, this new material enhances our understanding of the cranial anatomy of the last European monitor lizards and is clearly not referable to the extant Varanus griseus or Varanus niloticus, the only species that could be taken into consideration on a present-day geographic basis. However, these fossils could represent a survivor of the monitor lizards of Asian origin that inhabited Europe during the Neogene
Reconciling the stratigraphy and depositional history of the Lycian orogen-top basins, SW Anatolia
Terrestrial fossil records from the SWAnatolian basins are crucial both for regional correlations and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions.
By reassessing biostratigraphic constraints and incorporating new fossil data, we calibrated and reconstructed the late Neogene
andQuaternary palaeoenvironments within a regional palaeogeographical framework. The culmination of the Taurides inSWAnatolia
was followed by a regional crustal extension from the late Tortonian onwards that created a broad array of NE-trending orogen-top
basins with synchronic associations of alluvial fan, fluvial and lacustrine deposits. The terrestrial basins are superimposed on the upper
Burdigalian marine units with a c. 7 myr of hiatus that corresponds to a shift from regional shortening to extension. The initial infill of
these basins is documented by a transition from marginal alluvial fans and axial fluvial systems into central shallow-perennial lakes
coinciding with a climatic shift from warm/humid to arid conditions. The basal alluvial fan deposits abound in fossil macro-mammals
of an early Turolian (MN11–12; late Tortonian) age. The Pliocene epoch in the region was punctuated by subhumid/humid conditions
resulting in a rise of local base levels and expansion of lakes as evidenced by marsh-swamp deposits containing diverse fossilmammal
assemblages indicating late Ruscinian (lateMN15; late Zanclean) ageWe are grateful for the support of the international
bilateral project between The Scientific and Technological Research
Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) and The Russian Scientific Foundation
(RFBR) with grant a number of 111Y192. M.C.A. is grateful to the
Turkish Academy of Sciences (TUBA) for a GEBIP (Young Scientist
Award) grant. T.K. and S.M. are grateful to the Ege University
Scientific Research Center for the TTM/002/2016 and TTM/001/2016
projects. M.C.A., H.A., S.M. and M.B. have obtained Martin and
Temmick Fellowships at Naturalis Biodiversity Center (Leiden). F.A.D.
is supported by a Mehmet Akif Ersoy University Scientific Research
Grant. T.A.N. is supported by an Alexander-von-Humboldt
Scholarship. L.H.O. received support from TUBITAK under the 2221
program for visiting scientists
Hamartome astrocytaire parafovéolaire exsudatif associé à une sclérose tubéreuse de Bourneville: évolution spontannée [Exudative parafoveal astrocytic hamartoma associated with Bourneville tuberous sclerosis: spontaneous evolution]
The authors present an unusual case of exsudative parafoveolar astrocytic hamartome associated with tuberous sclerosis. The spontaneous regression of the serous retinal detachment and of the hard exsudates is described