Morphological studies ofMacaca fuscata: VI. Somatometry

Measurements of various parts of the head and body and weighing the body were carried out on about 170 adult Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata) and the results are noted with separate statistics for respective local groups. Intraspecific comparisons in the Japanese monkey and interspecific comparisons in macaques are discussed from the somatometrical point of view. Among macaques, the Japanese monkey has a comparatively large body, a very short tail, relatively wide biacromial and biiliac breadths, and markedly la ge intermembral and intercrural indices. The Japanese monkey itself shows various local variations. The most conspicuous difference is to be found between the so-called Yaku monkey living on Yaku islet (Yakushima), south of Kyushu, and the monkeys living in other parts of Japan, and, therefore, it is understandable that the Yaku monkey has been distinguished as a subspecies (M. f. yakui) of the Japanese monkey. The Yaku monkey has a somewhat small body, a relatively large head, wide hips, and slender hands and feet.     

Genetic diversification of the Kanehira bitterling Acheilognathus rhombeus inferred from mitochondrial DNA,with comments on the phylogenetic relationship with its sister species Acheilognathus barbatulus

The Kanehira bitterling, Acheilognathus rhombeus, is a freshwater fish, discontinuously distributed in western Japan and the Korean Peninsula. Unusually among bitterling it is an autumn-spawning species and shows developmental diapause. Consequently, the characterization of its evolutionary history is significant not only in the context of the fish assemblage of East Asia, but also for understanding life-history evolution. This study aimed to investigate the phylogeography of A. rhombeus and its sister species Acheilognathus barbatulus, distributed in China, using a mitochondrial analysis of the ND1 gene from 311 samples collected from 50 localities in Japan and continental Asia. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that A. barbatulus is included in A. rhombeus and genetically closer to Japanese A. rhombeus than to Korean A. rhombeus. Divergence of Korean A. rhombeus and A. barbatulus from Japanese A. rhombeus was estimated to be from the late Pliocene (3.44 Mya) and the early Pleistocene (1.98 Mya), respectively. Each event closely coincided with the time of the Japan Sea opening. Japanese A. rhombeus comprised seven lineages: three in Honshu and four in Kyushu. One lineage in central Kyushu was genetically closer to the Honshu lineages than to other lineages in northern Kyushu. Divergence of Japanese lineages was estimated to be from the early to middle Pleistocene (0.55–0.93 Mya), during a period of geological and paleoclimatic change, including volcanic activity. Population expansion in the late Pleistocene (<0.10 Ma) was suggested in many of the lineages, which accords with other freshwater fishes. Biogeographically the ancestral A. rhombeus/A. barbatulus was likely to have repeatedly colonized Japan from the continent through land bridges in the late Pliocene and the early Pleistocene. However, the close genetic relationship between Japanese A. rhombeus and A. barbatulus suggests another possibility, with the second colonization occurring in reverse, from Japan to China. The small genetic distance between them indicates that the colonization occurred later than colonization events of other freshwater fishes, including other bitterling species.     

Trachypithecus auratus sangiranensis,A New Fossil Monkey from Sangiran,Central Java,Indonesia

We describe a new extinct subspecies of the Javan lutung—Trachypithecus auratus sangiranensis—based on an isolated, tooth-bearing upper jaw. The specimen was in volcanic breccia situated between the Lower Pucangan and the Upper Kalibeng Formations 500 m south of the village of Sangiran, near Surakarta, central Java, Indonesia. The new fossil monkey bears morphological similarities to the two living species of leaf monkey from Java, Presbytis comata comata and Trachypithecus auratus auratus, and to the Middle Pleistocene form, Trachypithecus cristatus [=auratus] robustus, from Tegoean, central Java. It is significantly larger than any of these forms, and differs from them in details of dental anatomy. Because the greatest number of similarities are between the new fossil and Trachypithecus auratus subspecies, we designated the specimen as T. a. sangiranensis. The geochronological age of the breccia from which the fossil came, is 1.9± 0.05 Ma (million years), making T. a. sangiranensis one of the oldest fossil monkeys from eastern Asia.     

Hemiptelea mikii sp. nov. (Ulmaceae), fossil fruits and woods from the pleistocene of central Japan

A new fossil species,Hemiptelea mikii, is described on the basis of fruits from the Pleistocene of central Japan. It is distinguished fromH. davidii, the only extant species of the genus restricted to Korea and China, in having shorter fruits. Fossil woods discovered from the same horizon differ from the extant one in some anatomical characteristics, and are assigned to the new fossil species. Taken together with earlier records of fossil fruit occurrence in the early and the middle Pleistocene of central Japan, the latest finding of fossil fruits and woods from the last glacial sediments (ca. 50,000 years ago) at Kita-egota site of Tokyo suggests thatH. mikii was widespread in central Japan throughout the Pleistocene and survived until as late as the Last Glacial age.     

Ecological analysis of benthic ostracods in the northern Japan Sea, based on water properties of modern habitats and late Cenozoic fossil records

The ecology of ostracods in the northern Japan Sea is well documented. These ostracods can be grouped in two assemblages: (1) the Tsushima Warm Current Surface Water Assemblage (TWSA, northern), which lives in an environment where summer temperatures reach up to about 20 °C, winter temperatures up to about 5 °C. Several species in this assemblage, e.g., Loxoconcha optima and Pontocythere subjaponica tolerate seasonally low temperatures, and lived in the region since the early Pleistocene; (2) the Japan Sea Intermediate Proper Water Assemblage (JSI-PA), which lives at greater depths (lower shelf to upper slope). This assemblage lives under stable conditions, with a small annual range in temperature (0–5 °C). The assemblage has a relatively low diversity, contains species such as Acanthocythereis dunelmensis and Robertsonites spp., and has been present in the area since the Pliocene. These data indicate that the presently living species either tolerate seasonally low temperatures (TWSA, northern) or tolerate stable, but very low temperatures (near 0 °C), and therefore, they could survive the Pleistocene environmental fluctuations in the Japan Sea caused by glacio-eustatic changes in sea level. Our data document the survival of ostracod species during past climate change, and thus can be used to speculate on the effect of possible future climate change on the faunas. We predict that some of the cryophilic species in the Japan Sea cannot be expected to survive global warming for more than 2 centuries.     

Une nouvelle faune de vertébrés continentaux,associée à des artefacts dans le Pléistocène inférieur de l’Hérault (Sud de la France), vers 1,57 Ma

A new vertebrate fauna associated with lithic artefacts from the Early Pleistocene of the Hérault Valley (southern France) dated around 1.57 Ma. Some lithic artefacts associated with an Early Pleistocene (Upper Villafranchian) vertebrate fossil assemblage have been found from a quarry exploited for basalt in the lower Hérault Valley (Languedoc, southern France) at the Lézignan-le-Cèbe locality. A preliminary patrimony expertise led us to identify about 20 vertebrate taxa, and the autumnal rainfalls revealed the presence of roughly 30 lithic artefacts of “pebble culture” type. A basalt layer dated at 1.57 My directly overlies the fossiliferous level, extends along the little hill (locus 2) yielding artefacts. These new promising data offer new perspectives to improve our understanding of Early Pleistocene ecosystems (and possibly ancient hominin occupation) of southern Europe.     

A fossil aphid gall from the middle Pleistocene sediment in Hyogo Prefecture,western Japan

We described the external morphology of a fossil insect gall collected from the middle Pleistocene sediment in the Osaka Group of Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan. The fossil was well preserved without major compression and was identified as a gall induced by an aphid species of the genus Nipponaphis (Nipponaphidini: Hormaphidinae: Aphididae), based on its external morphology. This is the first reliable fossil record of an Aphididae gall. This fossil provides evidence that the intimate aphid–plant association can be traced back to the middle Pleistocene, approximately 0.4 million years ago.     

Records of palaeo‐seawater condition from oxygen‐isotope profiles of early Pleistocene fossil molluscs from the Seoguipo Formation (Korea)

Kim, J.K., Khim, B.‐K., Woo, K.S., & Yoon, S.H. 2009: Records of palaeo‐seawater condition from oxygen‐isotope profiles of early Pleistocene fossil molluscs from the Seoguipo Formation (Korea). Lethaia, Vol. 43, pp. 170–181. High‐resolution δ¹⁸O profiles of early Pleistocene fossil molluscs (Mizuhopecten tokyoensis hokurikuensis) from the shallow‐marine sedimentary Seoguipo Formation (Korea) were found to exhibit distinct annual cycles identified by their unique seasonality (δ¹⁸O amplitude). A direct comparison of fossil δ¹⁸O profiles with that of living shells (Amusium japonicum japonicumi) indicated that the palaeoseawater conditions differed from present‐day seawater. Specifically, the positive δ¹⁸O shift in the isotope profile of the fossil specimens relative to that of the living mollusc shell reflected that palaeotemperature was lower than that today. However, a comparison of the coldest palaeotemperatures (determined from the heaviest δ¹⁸O values of fossil shells), with the present‐day winter temperatures indicates that temperature variation alone cannot account for the entire positive δ¹⁸O offset. These findings indicate that variation in the seawater δ¹⁸O_w values plays a dominant role in the biogenic carbonate precipitation of fossils. Thus, the fossil shells obtained from stratigraphic units suggest different palaeoenvironmental conditions, including lower temperatures and ¹⁸O‐enriched glacial seawater, when compared with the present‐day conditions. The Seoguipo Formation records at least five cycles of relative sea‐level fluctuations, with changes in fossil δ¹⁸O amplitudes separated by sequence boundaries likely to reflect variations of unique palaeoseawater condition, although the oxygen‐isotope profile of fossil molluscs appears to provide a snap‐shot of the palaeoclimatic signature. □Early Pleistocene, mollusc fossils, oxygen isotope, palaeoenvironment, seawater temperature.     

Polline fossile di Aesculus aff. hippocastanum L. nel Bacino di Leffe (Pleistocene inferiore). Posizione sistematica e significato paleoecologico

Abstract

Fossil pollen of Aesculus aff. hippocastanum L. in the Leffe Basin (Early Pleistocene). Systematic position and palaeocology. A new pollen analysis has been undertaken in the lacustrine and palustrine deposits of Leffe (Northern Italy), in order to re-evaluate the flora, the vegetation dynamics and the climatic change at the southern margin of the Alps during the lowermost Pleistocene.

The present paper deals with the systematic position and the ecology of a fossil taxon of Aesculus discovered in the Leffe sediments. The taxonomical approach is based on a comparative investigation on the pollen morphology of all the present-living species and the fossil taxon from Leffe. Some diagnostic features of the apertures and the exine ornamentation allowed to distinguish some groups, almost coincident with the sections in which the genus is presently subdivided.

The pollen morphology of the taxa which belong to the sections living in temperate regions and in the subtropical-tropical SE-Asia (section Calothyrsus Koch) notably differ.

Among temperate groups, the Section Aesculus can be characterized by having the biggest projections on the colpus membrane. The fossil pollen from Leffe sediments can be related with this Section. Moreover, a comparison of the Japanese living species (A. turbinata Bl.), with the European one (A. hippocastanum L.), indicates that the fossil pollen grains from Leffe may be related to A. hippocastanum. This supports the hypothesis of a Neogene divergence of a pontic-european group inside the Section Aesculus in agreement with the macrofloral record of the Neogene in Europe. Afterwards the palaecology of the Leffe horse-chestnut is discussed. A comparison between fossil pollen spectra and the analogues in the modern vegetation (Colchide, Mesia, Caucasian region and Allegheny Mountains, U.S.A.) shows good relationships in the floral composition.

Finally, the extinction time of some elements of the Colchic-Hyrcanian flora in Italy during the Quaternary is discussed.     

A new timeframe for the diversification of Japan’s mammals

Aim The main Japanese islands are land‐bridge islands divided by the biogeographic division Blakiston’s Line and represent two natural laboratories for studying land‐bridge diversification. Colonization of the current mammal fauna has been dated to the middle to late Pleistocene using fossil evidence. The purpose of this paper is to apply a molecular clock to the genetic divergences between Japanese mammalian taxa and their sister mainland taxa to test the late Pleistocene land‐bridge colonization hypothesis. Location The main Japanese islands (Kyushu, Shikoku, Honshu and Hokkaido). Methods I used mitochondrial DNA (cytochrome b) and a species tree approach to estimate the divergence times of 24 Japanese non‐volant terrestrial mammal taxa and their mainland sister taxa using the program *beast . I then tested for evidence of non‐simultaneous divergence among these taxon‐pairs by controlling for expected coalescent stochasticity using the program Ms Bayes . Results Divergence events between taxa on Japan and their mainland sister taxa were significantly older than expected under the current paradigm, which is based on fossil data. Consistent with the land‐bridge colonization hypothesis, there was evidence of multiple divergence events. Main conclusions These results implicate a colonization timeframe that is older than posited by the current paradigm based on fossil evidence. However, these results are still consistent with the land‐bridge colonization hypothesis. Multiple periods of land‐bridge connectivity may account for the current mammalian fauna in Japan. In addition, half of the divergence time estimates in the Honshu–Shikoku–Kyushu region were clumped around 2.4 Ma, which might suggest a dramatic interchange period, concordant with a period of significant global cooling, when the first land bridge may have connected Japan to the mainland.     

Fossil records of subsection Pinus (genus Pinus,Pinaceae) from the Cenozoic in Japan

Extant pines of subsection Pinus (section Pinus, genus Pinus, Pinaceae) are predominantly distributed in Eastern Asia. However, the extent of diversification in the section has yet to be fully clarified. We reviewed fossil records of subsection Pinus from Japan and collected permineralized materials, in which anatomical details are preserved for better understanding of the diversification. Our results suggest that this subsection appeared in Japan no earlier than the Middle Eocene, with extant species (i.e., Pinus densiflora and Pinus thunbergii) appearing around the beginning of the Pleistocene. Pinus fujiii (Early Miocene to Early Pleistocene) is inferred to have a close affinity to P. thunbergii based on the medial arrangement of its leaf resin canals. Additionally, P. fujiii has a similar cone morphology to those of extant species living in China, bridging the morphological gap between P. thunbergii and Chinese relatives of P. thunbergii as inferred by molecular phylogenetic analyses. Our results also suggest that taxonomic revisions of Pinus miocenica and Pinus oligolepis are required among the Japanese fossil species reported to date.     

Réévaluation de la présence humaine au Pléistocène inférieur dans le Sud de l'Espagne

The Early Pleistocene locality at Venta Micena (Orce, Guadix-Baza basin, province of Granada, Spain) has provided four fossil remains - skull fragment VM-0, and long bone diaphyses VM-1960, VM-3691, and VM-12000 - which have been tentatively attributed to the hominids. Although several methodologies have been used to ascertain the human affinities of these specimens - including anatomical, morphometric and immunological analyses - the results obtained have not been conclusive, instigating a persistent debate. A taphonomic approach is used here for estimating the probability that a taxon the size of Homo sp. (~ 50 kg) could be represented in the fossil assemblage by four bone fragments and no tooth remain. A least-squares regression analysis between the percentage of teeth and the body mass estimated for each taxon of large mammals (N = 20) predicts a raw abundance of six teeth for Homo sp. in the assemblage. Given that up to the present moment no tooth remains attributable to the hominids has been unearthed during systematic excavations in the Venta Micena quarry, which has provided more than 15,000 fossils of large mammals, this argues strongly against the possibility that the three bone specimens could belong to Homo sp. The phalanx CV-0 from the Early Pleistocene site of Cueva Victoria (Cartagena, Spain) has also been attributed to the genus Homo. The taxonomic assignment of this specimen is biased, however, because it was not compared with Theropithecus oswaldi, the only primate species actually recorded from this karstic locality. A comparative anatomical and morphometric analysis of fossil and modern specimens of Theropithecus suggests that CV-0 can be attributed to T. oswaldi. As a result, Cueva Victoria does not contribute additional information concerning the first human settlements in Europe. By these reasons, apart from the paleoanthropological and archaeological findings from Atapuerca (TD lower levels and Sima del Elefante), the rich archaeological assemblages from Barranco León and Fuente Nueva-3 in Orce, dated 1.3-1.2 Myrs, which include fourteen hundred stone tools of Oldowan technology, constitute at present the only unequivocal evidence of human presence in Southeast Spain during Early Pleistocene times.     

Comparative historical biogeography of Plateumaris leaf beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) in Japan: interplay between fossil and molecular data

Aim In an attempt to use molecular and fossil data interactively in historical biogeography, we studied the phylogeography of five Plateumaris leaf beetles in Japan using mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) sequence data to explore interspecific differences in phylogeographical patterns and estimate the timings of colonization and geographical differentiation. Location A total of 461 beetles from five species on Hokkaido, Honshu and Kyushu islands of Japan were analysed with 117 beetles from three conspecies and two congeners from the mainland (Russia, including Sakhalin; Korea; Mongolia; Belgium; France; hereafter, the continent). Methods Using the sequence data from a 750‐bp portion of the COI gene, we studied the phylogeny of COI haplotypes, intraspecific population differentiation using analysis of molecular variance and the Mantel test, and intraspecific phylogeography using nested clade analysis. In addition, divergence times between the continental and Japanese lineages, as well as among the various Japanese lineages, were estimated using a Bayesian approach with node constraints based on fossil records of extant species. Results Three widely distributed species showed different degrees of geographical differentiation corresponding to their different colonization history in Japan. Bayesian estimates of divergence time revealed that one of two endemic species, which originated before the late Pliocene, attained intraspecific differentiation through the Pliocene and Pleistocene, whereas another endemic species has been confined in one locality, and three non‐endemic species colonized Japan after the mid‐Pleistocene. Main conclusions Molecular analyses of an insect group with relatively abundant fossil data can contribute greatly to the understanding of diverse biogeographical histories of related species in a region. Bayesian estimates of divergence time could be used to assess the variable evolutionary rates of the COI gene, and may be applied to other related insect species.     

Plio-Pleistocene evolution of the genus Castor (Rodentia, Mammalia) in Europe: C. fiber plicidens of Pietrafitta (Perugia, Central Italy)

In the lignite sediments of Pietrafitta (Tiberino Basin, Umbria, Central Italy), a rich fossil assemblage of vertebrate, invertebrate and plant remains belonging to the Farneta Faunal Unit (Late Villafranchian, Early Pleistocene) was collected. Among them fossil beaver cranial remains are relatively abundant. Western-Central Europe Villafranchian beaver remains were assigned to C. plicidens by some authors because molar occlusal surface patterns show complex enamel crenulations. Several recent authors have classified them as C. fiber while analysing other morphological patterns. Our samples have been compared to Plio-Pleistocene fossil remains and to living European populations of the genus Castor. New morphometric parameters on molar occlusal surfaces have been defined and statistical analyses (One-Way MANOVA, Principal Component Analysis and Canonical Discriminant Analysis) have been performed on them. The results point out a subspecific separation between the Late Villafranchian beaver of Pietrafitta, Quarata and San Giovanni in Valdarno (Umbria and Tuscany) and C. fiber populations. St. Vallier (France) Late Pliocene and Mosbach 2 (Germany) Middle Pleistocene beavers classified respectively by Viret and Friant as C. plicidens, show a C. f. fiber molar teeth pattern. Therefore, C. fiber plicidens did not occur in Central-Western Europe and this subspecific name may be used only for the local populations of Valdarno and Tiberino Basin (San Giovanni in Valdarno, Quarata, Pietrafitta and a few localities of the same area), at that time peripheral populations, probably semi-isolated during the Late Villafranchian, and at the southern limit of the geographic range of C. fiber.     

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Mass extinctions in the Azores during the last glaciation: fact or myth?

Aim The influence of the last glaciation on the shallow‐water marine malacofauna of the Azores Islands is reviewed. We test, for this fauna, the ‘Pleistocene temperature theory’ of J.C. Briggs, which hypothesizes that a (supposed) lack of endemics in the older (Azorean endemic) fauna resulted from extinctions caused by a severe drop in sea surface temperatures during the Pleistocene. Location Santa Maria Island, Azores, Portugal. Methods We compare the fossil mollusc fauna of Prainha, Praia do Calhau and Lagoinhas Pleistocene outcrops with the recent mollusc fauna of the Azores Islands. We dated the fossil fauna, using shells of Patella aspera Röding, 1798, by standard U/Th methodology at the GEOTOP laboratory (Université du Québec à Montreal, Canada). Results Dating of the shells of P. aspera indicates that the deposition of the lower unit of the Prainha outcrop corresponded to Marine Oxygen Isotope Substage 5e (MISS 5e). Not a single endemic Azorean species of mollusc that is present in the Pleistocene fossil record has since become extinct, and we found no signs of ‘mass extinctions’ in the littoral marine molluscs of the Azores. The only species that were extirpated from these islands were thermophilic molluscs and littoral bivalves living in fine sand. Main conclusions Our results do not support Briggs’‘Pleistocene temperature theory’. Nor did we find evidence supporting the hypothesis that most of the marine organisms now present in the Azores recolonized the islands after the last glacial maximum.     

The first human dispersal to Europe: Remarks on the archaeological and palaeoanthropological record from Orce (Guadix-Baza basin, southeastern Spain)

The chronology of the first arrival ofHomo in Europe is a rather controversial issue, with most scholars claiming until very recently that there were no permanent human settlements before the middle Pleistocene. However, new findings at Atapuerca, Dmanisi and Orce, as well as the re-evaluation of the evidence from Java, Israel and China indicate a protracted chronology for the arrival of hominids in Eurasia, during late Pliocene/lower Pleistocene times. The systematic study of the macrovertebrate assemblages from circummediterranean sites such as Orce and Dmanisi has shown a faunal replacement at the Plio-Pleistocene boundary, marked by the arrival in Europe of African immigrants such as the hippopotamus, an equid similar to modern grevy’s zebra, a large cercopithecoid and several carnivores, including a giant hyaena, a sabre-tooth and a wild dog. An analysis of the relative frequency of bones and teeth for those species of large mammals preserved in Venta Micena indicates the improbability thatHomo sp. is represented in the fossil assemblage by several bones and no tooth remain. Finally, new data on the stratigraphy of Barranco León are offered, with remarks on the discovery in this locality of lithic artefacts and molar tooth fragment BL5-0.     

Human evolution at the Matuyama‐Brunhes boundary

The cranial morphology of fossil hominids between the end of the Early Pleistocene and the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene provides crucial evidence to understand the distribution in time and space of the genus Homo. This evidence is critical for evaluating the competing models regarding diversity within our genus. The debate focuses on two alternative hypotheses, one basically anagenetic and the other cladogenetic. The first suggests that morphological change is so diffused, slow, and steady that it is meaningless to apply species names to segments of a single lineage. The second is that the morphological variation observed in the fossil record can best be described as a number of distinct species that are not connected in a linear ancestor‐descendant sequence. Today much more fossil evidence is available than was in the past to test these alternative hypotheses, as well as intermediate variants. Special attention must be paid to Africa because this is the most probable continental homeland for both the origin of the genus Homo (around 2.5–2 Ma), 1 as well as the site, two million or so years later, of the emergence of the species H. sapiens. 2 However, the African fossil record is very poorly represented between 1 Ma and 600 ka. Europe furnishes recent discoveries in this time range around the Matuyama‐Brunhes chron boundary (780,000 years ago), a period for which, at present, we have no noteworthy fossil evidence in Africa or the Levant. Two penecontemporaneous sources of European fossil evidence, the Ceprano calvaria (Italy) 3 and the TD6 fossil assemblage of Atapuerca (Spain) 4 are thus of great interest for testing hypotheses about human evolution in the fundamental time span bracketed between the late Early and the Middle Pleistocene. This paper is based on a phenetic approach to cranial variation aimed at reviewing the Early‐to‐Middle Pleistocene trajectories of human evolution. The focus of the paper is on neither the origin nor the end of the story of the genus Homo, but rather its chronological and phylogenetic core. Elucidation of the evolutionary events that happened around 780 ka during the transition from the Early to Middle Pleistocene is one of the new frontiers for human paleontology, and is critical for understanding the processes that ultimately led to the origin of H. sapiens.     

A fossil <Emphasis Type="Italic">Potadoma</Emphasis> (Gastropoda: Pachychilidae) from Pleistocene central Kalahari fluvio-lacustrine sediments

A shell of the gastropod Potadoma was discovered in fluvio-lacustrine sediments of the Kalahari (Botswana). A late Pleistocene age of the sediments of ca. 46,000 cal. years BP was established by radiocarbon dating. It is the first record of the freshwater genus Potadoma from southern Africa. Modern counterparts as well as other Pleistocene species of Potadoma had been reported elsewhere from (palaeo-) habitats located at least 2,000 km further in the north, e.g., in the Congo Basin. So far it can be only speculated about possible causes for such a disjunct distribution. The discovery of Potadoma and five more fossil gastropods from the same sediments was used to outline palaeolimnological features. Considering the geomorphological setting, the assemblage of fossil gastropods indicates that the nowadays mainly dry Boteti River was permanently flowing through the western Makgadikgadi Pans ca. 46,000 cal. years BP. The existence of such a riverine palaeoenvironment in the pans demonstrates that the so-called Lake Palaeo-Makgadikgadi was comparatively small during that time, not spanning the area of investigation.     

Lithostratigraphic Context for Kln-1993.05-SNJ,a Fossil Colobine Maxilla from Jokotingkir,Sangiran Dome

Jablonski and Tyler (1999) announced a new subspecies of colobine monkey based on a fossil partial maxilla from the Sangiran dome. The specimen is easily assigned to a living leaf monkey species—most extant Southeast Asian catarrhines differ only subspecifically from their Middle Pleistocene earliest local fossil ancestors. Yet Jablonski and Tyler (1999) reported an improbable provenance for the specimen; a mass-flow volcanic breccia generally considered late Pliocene in age. We show that the Lower Lahar was laid down amidst a range of paludal habitats and that its deposition predates the appearance of all-but-now extinct, water-tolerant mammals on emergent Java. No other catarrhine fossil has been ascribed to the Lower Lahar, not even hominins, which are the most gregarious members of the group. More probable provenance lies in the upper Sangiran or the lower Bapang formations. Either alternative would associate the specimen with other catarrhine fossils in more tenable Pleistocene environments. We also unravel errors and inconsistencies in the contextual report and in the discussion of dome geochronology. The various radiometric, paleomagnetic, and paleontologic studies cited show a discordance of about 300 Ka (thousand years) across the lithostratigraphic sequence. Plio-Pleistocene biogeographic hypotheses for Java must work with short and long chronologies.