Fruits of icacinaceae (tribe iodeae) from the late paleocene of Western north america

The Icacinaceae occur pantropically today, but are well represented by fossil fruits of the warm Early Middle Eocene, when tropical plants that currently occupy low latitudes were more widely distributed in higher latitudes. Members of this family are first known in the Late Cretaceous; however, fossil fruits of tribe Iodeae are quite rare before the Eocene. In this paper we describe the first formally recognized Late Paleocene icacinaceous taxa from western North America. We name two new species of Icacinicarya based on anatomically preserved fruits and establish a new genus, Icacinicaryites, for impressions with a strong similarity to Icacinicarya that lack anatomical preservation. These new records from the Almont/Beicegel Creek flora in North Dakota and several localities in Wyoming, Colorado, and Montana complement records known from the Early Eocene of England and document an increased diversity of Iodeae and related forms in the Paleogene of western North America.     

Phylogenetic Systematics of Peccaries (Tayassuidae: Artiodactyla) and a Classification of South American Tayassuids

Tayassuidae is a family of pig-like Artiodactyla restricted to the New World. Despite its rich fossil history, they have received less attention from a taxonomic and phylogenetic perspective when compared to the Old World pigs, Suidae. In this study, we performed a computer assisted phylogenetic analysis using morphological and molecular data including fossil and extant Tayassuidae, using parsimony and Bayesian approaches. We recovered the monophyly of the family Tayassuidae, confirming previous proposals, as well as the monophyly of the subfamilies Hesperhyinae and Tayassuinae, and the genus Platygonus, which we placed in a new taxon of tribe level. The three living peccaries and a number of fossil species belong to a new, tribe level, monophyletic group. The genus Catagonus comes out as paraphyletic, leading us to propose to restrict the generic name to the type species, C. metropolitanus, and a new taxonomic arrangement for the remaining species previously included in it, revalidating the genera Brasiliochoerus and Parachoerus, and describing a new genus, Protherohyus, gen. nov.     

Tertiary leaves of the tribe Banksieae (Proteaceae) from south-eastern Australia

Leaves from the tribe Banksieae of the Proteaceae are well represented in Tertiary deposits in south-eastern Australia. Four new species of Banksieaephyllum are erected, taking the total to 11, and two species are described in a new genus, with leaves with architectural similarities to the tribe Banksieae but without organic preservation. The fossil species demonstrate that the tribe was diverse by the end of the Eocene, but it is difficult to determine the ancestral type from the fossil evidence at present. The vegetation associated with some of the fossil species suggests that the tribe may have had its origins in rainforest, and became adapted to the typically dry, nutrient-poor conditions of sclerophyllous vegetation during the course of the Tertiary.     

Mesozoic leaf beetles of the tribe Mesolpinini trib. nov. (Coleoptera,Chrysomelidae) from the Lower Cretaceous

This publication is based on recent studies of Lower Cretaceous leaf beetles from the Yixian Formation (Liaoning, China), which are represented by five new species of one new genus Mesolpinus gen. nov. (M. antenattus sp. nov. [type species], M. adapertilis sp. nov., M. angusticollis sp. nov., M. basicollis sp. nov., and M. trapezicollis sp. nov.) assigned to a new tribe, Mesolpinini trib. nov. of the subfamily Chrysomelinae. This tribe, which includes only species from the Jehol biota, is the oldest known group of the family in the fossil record. A key to species of the genus Mesolpinus gen. nov. is provided and the position of the new tribe is discussed. A brief overview of the Mesozoic data on the subfamily Chrysomeloidea is given.     

Macrosiagon deuvei n. sp. (Coleoptera: Ripiphoridae) from the French Eocene amber

Macrosiagon deuvei n. sp., the second fossil representative of this extant genus of Ripiphoridae: Ripiphorinae: Macrosiagonini is described from the lowermost Eocene amber of Oise (France). The new species is compared with the extant species of the genus. Taxonomic position of other two fossil representatives of the family described from France by Perrichot et al. (2004) is discussed. The genus Paleoripiphorus Perrichot et al. 2004 is tentatively transferred from Ripiphorinae to Ripidiinae.     

The first representative Pliocene assemblages of passerine birds in Asia (Northern Mongolia and Russian Transbaikalia)

Passerine birds from two late Pliocene localities, Shaamar in northern Mongolia and Beregovaya in Transbaikalia (East Russia), represent the first known Neogene fossil assemblages of perching birds from Asia. A total of 11 families and 15 taxa are recognized, including a new genus and species of bunting, Pliocalcarius orkhonensis, apparently related to the Longspurs, and new species within the genera Hirundo and Rhodospiza, which are described. The avifauna is composed of open land and bush dwellers; it contains a few arid species, representing the oldest finds of the corresponding genera or lineages. This may indicate that the living Asian arid avian complex originated in Central Asia in the Neogene. Several genera (Rhodospiza, Paradoxornis) are documented in this paper for the first time in pre-Pleistocene deposits. Report of Calcarius is the first pre-Holocene evidence of the occurrence of this genus in Asia, which together with the remains of Synaptomys lemmings at Shaamar, illustrates faunal interchanges between North America and Asia in the Pliocene.     

The parrots (Aves: Psittaciformes) from the Middle Miocene of Sansan (Gers,Southern France)

The occurrence of Archaeopsittacus sp. (Psittaciformes) in the fossil deposits of Sansan (France) is reported, testifying to a survival of this genus in the Middle Miocene, as Archaeopsittacus verreauxi was described from the Early Miocene of Saint-Gérand-le-Puy (France) and was recorded only from its type locality. The data discussed here indicate the presence of two parrot species from Sansan, as it is the type locality of another parrot species, Pararallus dispar, only known from this locality. The differences between the humeri of these two taxa are described in detail, together with the differences from the other European fossil parrot species. The presence of more than one species of parrot in the same locality is not rare, but in Europe it is recorded in Sansan for the second time. Evidence for parrots also confirms the paleoenvironmental reconstruction of Sansan, as parrots are primarily arboreal species. Archaeopsittacus also represents one of the few common elements between the Early and Middle Miocene European bird assemblages.     

Phylogeny of the tribe Abrotrichini (Cricetidae,Sigmodontinae): integrating morphological and molecular evidence into a new classification

The tribe Abrotrichini (five genera and 14 living species) is a small clade within the speciose subfamily Sigmodontinae (Rodentia, Cricetidae), representing one of the extant successful radiations of mammals at southern high latitudes of the Neotropics. Its distribution is mostly Andean, reaching its greatest diversity in southern Argentina and Chile. We evaluate the phylogenetic relationships within this tribe through parsimony and Bayesian approaches based on 99 morphological characters (including 19 integumental characters, 38 skull characters, 31 dental characters, three postcranial skeletal characters, seven from the male accessory glands and phallus and one from the digestive system) and six molecular markers (one mitochondrial and five nuclear). We include representatives of all, except one, of the currently recognized species of living Abrotrichini plus one fossil form. Based on total evidence, we recovered a primary division between the genus Abrothrix and a group including the long‐clawed Abrotrichini, Chelemys, Geoxus, Notiomys and Pearsonomys. Both clades are recognized and named here as subtribes. The large degree of morphological variation observed within Abrothrix suggests that species in the genus fall into four groups, which we recognize as subgenera. In addition, the two known species of Chelemys do not form a monophyletic group, and Geoxus was recovered as paraphyletic with respect to Pearsonomys. To reconcile classification and phylogenetics, we describe a new genus for Chelemys macronyx and include Pearsonomys as a junior synonym of Geoxus. Our results highlight the importance of both morphology and molecules in resolving the phylogenetic relationships within this tribe. Based on biogeographical analyses, we hypothesize that Abrotrichini originated in south‐western South America by vicariance and then diversified mostly by successive dispersal events.     

Exploring the Formation of a Disjunctive Pattern between Eastern Asia and North America Based on Fossil Evidence from Thuja (Cupressaceae)

Thuja, a genus of Cupressaceae comprising five extant species, presently occurs in both East Asia (3 species) and North America (2 species) and has a long fossil record from Paleocene to Pleistocene in the Northern Hemisphere. Two distinct hypotheses have been proposed to account for the origin and present distribution of this genus. Here we recognize and describe T. sutchuenensis Franch., a new fossil Thuja from the late Pliocene sediments of Zhangcun, Shanxi, North China, based on detailed comparisons with all living species and other fossil ones, integrate the global fossil records of this genus plotted in a set of paleomaps from different time intervals, which show that Thuja probably first appeared at high latitudes of North America in or before the Paleocene. This genus reached Greenland in the Paleocene, then arrived in eastern Asia in the Miocene via the land connection between East Asia and western North America. In the late Pliocene, it migrated into the interior of China. With the Quaternary cooling and drying, Thuja gradually retreated southwards to form today’s disjunctive distribution between East Asia and North America.     

A new species of comb-clawed beetle (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Alleculinae) from the Lower Cretaceous of Yixian (China,Liaoning Province)

A new genus and species of comb-clawed beetles, Calcarocistela kirejtshuki gen. et sp. nov., from the Lower Cretaceous of Yixian (China) is described. The new genus is assigned to the tribe Gonoderini of the subfamily Alleculinae (family Tenebrionidae) based on the following characters: five visible abdominal ventrites, nonwidened tarsomeres without a membranous ventral lobes, and serrate antennae. The new genus differs from other members of the tribe Gonoderini in the long spurs of metatibia reaching a half of the first metatarsomere and the lamellate prosternal process. Calcarocistela kirejtshuki is the first member of Alleculinae from the Lower Cretaceous.     

The oldest Cenozoic passandrid (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea: Passandridae) from the Paleocene of Menat (France)

The new oldest representative of the subfamily Passandrinae (Passandridae) was found in materials from Menat (Puy-de-Dôme, France). It was preliminarily assigned to the genus Passandra Dalman in Schönherr, 1817, although the new species (?) Passandra plenaria sp. n., in contrast to other congeners, demonstrates an exposed labrum and an absence of preapical groove or impression on the hypopygidum. Some notes on fossil records and classification of the family Passandridae are made. The distinctiveness of the families Passandridae and Laemophloeidae in light of the new data on fossils is considered, and the attribution of Mesopassandra Jin, Ślipiński, Zhou and Pang, 2019 (type genus of Mesopassandrinae) to the family Passandridae is regarded as problematic.     

A new phylogenetic tribal classification of the grape family (Vitaceae)

Vitaceae (the grape family) consist of 16 genera and ca. 950 species primarily distributed in tropical regions. The family is well‐known for the economic importance of grapes, and is also ecologically significant with many species as dominant climbers in tropical and temperate forests. Recent phylogenetic and phylogenomic analyses of sequence data from all three genomes have supported five major clades within Vitaceae: (i) the clade of Ampelopsis, Nekemias, Rhoicissus, and Clematicissus; (ii) the Cissus clade; (iii) the clade of Cayratia, Causonis, Cyphostemma, Pseudocayratia, Tetrastigma, and an undescribed genus “Afrocayratia”; (iv) the clade of Parthenocissus and Yua; and (v) the grape genus Vitis and its close tropical relatives Ampelocissus, Pterisanthes and Nothocissus, with Nothocissus and Pterisanthes nested within Ampelocissus. Based on the phylogenetic and morphological (mostly inflorescence, floral and seed characters) evidence, the new classification places the 950 species and 16 genera into five tribes: (i) tribe Ampelopsideae J.Wen & Z.L.Nie, trib. nov. (47 species in four genera; Ampelopsis, Nekemias, Rhoicissus and Clematicissus); (ii) tribe Cisseae Rchb. (300 species in one genus; Cissus); (iii) tribe Cayratieae J.Wen & L.M.Lu, trib. nov. (370 species in seven genera; Cayratia, Causonis, “Afrocayratia”, Pseudocayratia, Acareosperma, Cyphostemma and Tetrastigma); (iv) tribe Parthenocisseae J.Wen & Z.D.Chen, trib. nov. (ca. 16 spp. in two genera; Parthenocissus and Yua); and (v) tribe Viteae Dumort. (ca. 190 species in two genera; Ampelocissus and Vitis).     

PTEROCARYOID FRUITS (JUGLANDACEAE) IN THE PALEOGENE OF NORTH AMERICA AND THEIR EVOLUTIONARY AND BIOGEOGRAPHIC SIGNIFICANCE

The Juglandaceae (walnut family) has an excellent fossil record of various organs extending back to the earliest Tertiary. Several genera which today are restricted to isolated geographic regions were widespread in the Northern Hemisphere during the Tertiary. This paper focuses upon the fossil record of the Pterocarya alliance of the subfamily Juglandoideae, tribe Juglandeae. The Pterocarya alliance includes only two modern genera, Pterocarya (five species) and Cyclocarya (one species), both restricted to Eurasia. Paleogene sediments of the Rocky Mountain Region have yielded three genera and four species referable to the Pterocarya alliance: Cyclocarya (two species), Pterocarya, and a new genus, Polyptera. Although three of the four Paleogene species described here are attributed to present day genera, each represents an extinct form, which cannot be accommodated by any single living species. These fossils, reviewed with other published reports, indicate that the Pterocarya alliance, like the Engelhardia alliance of the same family, was more diverse and much more widespread geographically in the Tertiary than it is today.     

On the taxonomic position of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Issus reticulatus</Emphasis> Bervoets, 1910 (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea: Issidae) from Baltic amber

A new genus Bolbossus gen. n. is erected in the tribe Parahiraciini for Issus bervoetsi Gnezdilov et Bourgoin, nom. n. pro Issus reticulatus Bervoets, 1910 (nom. praeocc., non Issus reticulatus Herrich-Schäffer, 1835) described from the Baltic amber of Kaliningrad Province in Russia. The genus Issites Haupt, 1956 is assigned to the nominotypical subtribe of the tribe Issini Spinola. Bolbossus bervoetsi (Gnezdilov et Bourgoin) is the first species of the Oriental tribe of the family Issidae discovered in Europe. This finding implies the dispersal of taxa from the Oriental Region to the Western Palaearctic during the Eocene. Other fossil Issidae are briefly discussed.     

Sexual and Cleaning Behavior and Related Morphology in the Genus Cerocoma (Coleoptera: Meloidae)

The study of sexual behavior has been largely utilized in phylogenetic analyses of Meloidae beetles. Sexual behavior of the tribe Cerocomini is almost unknown, even though the genus Cerocoma shows the most striking sexual dimorphism in the family. In this paper, the sexual behavior of five species, C. (Cerocoma) adamovichiana, C. (C.) graeca, C. (C.) schaefferi, C. (Metacerocoma) schreberi, and C. (M.) prevezaensis, is described. The cleaning behavior of this genus, previously unknown, is also discussed. A morphological analysis by scanning electron microscopy of sexually dimorphic anatomical features of antennae, maxillary palpi, and forelegs, involved in cleaning and sexual activities, is carried out.     

First record of fossil Mesozoic Ctenopoda (Crustacea, Cladocera)

Pre-Pleistocene representatives of the crustacean order Ctenopoda Sars, 1865 are unknown. Here we describe Mesozoic fossil specimens of ctenopods from two localities in Mongolia: Khotont (Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary, about 145 Mya) and Khutel Khara (Lower Cretaceous, about 129 Mya). All specimens apparently belonged to the tribe Latonini Korovchinsky, 1986 of the subfamily Sidinae Baird, 1850. At the Khotont site, ctenopods were the most numerous microscopic animal fossils. We assigned these cladocerans to a new genus and species Archelatona zherikhini gen. nov., sp. nov. Our findings support a pre-Cretaceous origin for cladocerans.  © 2006 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2006, 146 , 269–274.     

A report on biocompounds from palm fossil of India

The occurrence of a large number of fossil woods having resemblance in anatomical features with the modern palm genus, Phoenix L in Deccan Intertrappean fossil flora of Maastrichtian-Danian age (i. e. Late Cretaceous and Earliest Tertiary (65-67 my)) indicates the most primitive record of date palm. Present discovery of biocompounds from fossil wood of Phoenix collected from Deccan Intertrappean having affinity with the biocompounds known from modern plant further exemplify the earliest documentation of Phoenix in Indian peninsula.