Une faune de petits mammiferes d'age turolien moyen(Miocene superieur) a Cucuron (Vaucluse); donnees nouvelles sur le genre Stephanomys (Rodentia) et consequences stratigraphiques

A small mammal fauna, including rodents and a new species of Murid, Stephanomys stadii n. sp., has been found in a continental formation underlying the deposits with the famous big mammal fauna of Mont Luberon. This fauna of small mammals is a little younger than the fauna of Los Mansuetos (Spain), so, the Pikermian fauna of Mont Luberon, which is said to be of the same age as the fauna of Pikermi is younger than the fauna of big and small mammals of Los Mansuetos.     

四川海子山自然保护区兽类资源调查初报

2003~2005年对四川海子山自然保护区兽类资源进行了3次野外调查,结合历史文献确认保护区有兽类64种。其中东洋界种类有32种,古北界种类30种,广布种2种。保护区兽类有11种分布型,有国家Ⅰ级重点保护动物6种,Ⅱ级保护动物20种。有我国特有或主要分布于我国的兽类31种。保护区兽类的特点是大型兽类如白唇鹿、水鹿、林麝、马麝、黑熊、马熊等资源非常丰富,种群数量大、密度高,具有很高的保护价值;小型兽类资源丰富,有较多的珍稀物种。     

狗鱼(Esox,Teleostei)化石在中国的首次发现

记述了山东龙口黄县洼里煤矿早始新世黄县组二段油页岩中的鱼化石。该鱼身体狭长,背鳍位置靠后;额骨侧面有长形的、狗鱼所特有的副筛骨;额骨甚长;顶骨相对来说甚短;口裂较长;齿骨、前上颌骨及颚部许多骨片均生有扁而尖的牙齿,但上颌骨口缘光滑;外翼骨甚粗壮;鳃盖骨略呈长方形;前鳃盖骨较直,中部略收缩,上、下枝夹角大(约为１３０°);匙骨纵枝短而水平枝长大。困此属于狗鱼科中惟一的狗鱼属是毫无疑问的。根据其头长与体长之比、额骨及顶骨的形状和比例以及背鳍条数目与狗鱼属其他种的不同,我们将它订为一个新种——龙口狗鱼。黄县的化石是狗鱼渐新世以前在北美以外地区的首次发现,也是狗鱼化石在亚洲的首次发现。黄县位于北纬３７°７′,远较现生狗鱼在亚洲分布的地区(４３°和４６°以北)靠南。而始新世全球气候偏暖,巨南北温差较小,始新世狗鱼或较现生种类更适应较温暖的气候。早始新世狗鱼在中国的发现为当时跨太平洋鱼类区系的存在提供了进一步的证据。     

Mammalian genome evolution: new clues from comparisons of eutherians, marsupials and monotremes.

1. Comparisons of chromosomes and gene maps of different mammals are yielding a big picture of the evolution of mammalian genome form and function. It has been particularly instructive to compare gene arrangements on the sex chromosomes between the three major groups of mammals. Eutheria (so-called placental mammals). Metatheria (marsupials) and Prototheria (monotremes), which diverged 150 and 170 Myr BP respectively. 2. A region amounting to 3% of the haploid genome is located on the X chromosome in all three groups, implying that this region must have been part of the original X in a common ancestor. This region comprises the long arm of the human X. 3. A region represented by the short arm of the human X is common to the X in all eutherians, but is autosomal in marsupials and monotremes; thus it was not a part of the original X, and must have been acquired by the X early in the eutherian radiation. 4. This recently acquired region was probably translocated to a pseudoautosomal region shared by the eutherian X and Y. Thus it was originally paired and exempt from X chromosome inactivation; stepwise deletion of this region from the Y and recruitment of the newly unpaired region of the X into the inactivation system could account for some of the peculiarities of this region of the human X. 5. The sex-determining gene TDF must lie on the Y in all mammals in which the Y is male determining. The autosomal location of the candidate gene ZFY in marsupials and monotremes eliminates it from consideration. The recently described candidate gene SRY has yet to pass the "marsupial test".     

Vulnerability of small and medium-sized prey mammals in relation to their habitat preferences,age classes and locomotion types in the temperate Monte Desert,Argentina

In this study we examined predation by small felids upon small and medium-sized prey mammals in the central region of the Monte Desert. We analyzed the degree of vulnerability of prey mammals in relation to their habitat use patterns, modes of locomotion and age classes. Medium and small rodents were the predominant prey in the diet of small cats. The most consumed small mammal was Akodon molinae, which inhabits areas of dense cover, while species occurring in open habitats such as Eligmodontia typus were less consumed. Among medium-sized mammals, Galea leucoblephara that depends on patches with high plant cover for refuge was more consumed than Microcavia australis that lives in colonies and displays a complex set of antipredator strategies. Prey selectivity on small rodents showed that E. typus, which uses bipedal locomotion and an erratic escape behaviour, was consumed in greater proportion than its availability. We suggest that although its specialized locomotory mode would diminish predator attacks, its preference for open habitats would increase the probability of predator–prey encounter. Consumption of small mammals focuses mostly on adult individuals. However, we found a significant consumption of senile individuals of A. molinae, which points out that vulnerability tends to be high towards the age of maturity in this species.     

北京密云县溪翁庄更新世哺乳动物化石

从密云县溪翁庄化石地点先后获得11种哺乳动物化石,其地质时代属中更新世或晚更新世早期。动物化石的性质和化石地点地形表明,这一带自然环境对人类活动是适宜的,为探索北京猿人的生活范围扩大了地域。     

Étude taphonomique, paléoécologique et archéozoologique des faunes de grands mammifères de la seconde moitié du Pléistocène inférieur de la grotte du Vallonnet (Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Alpes-Maritimes, France)

Vallonnet cave (Alpes-Maritimes, France) provided archaic lithic tools together with a big amount of large mammals of the end of lower pleistocene. At the crossing of diverse ecological niches in time and space, three main levels and within them several smaller units were distinguished. The poorly mineralized bones witnessed a huge diagenetic fragmentation. The presence of the animals in the cave seems to be linked to the reasons of their death. The exhaustive and systematic observation of the bones, like the bears probably used to die inside the cave. Some other carnivores especially hyenas, used the cave as a nursery. Man also occupied the cave and had an activity mainly on large cervid bones and on some other species as well. The very progressive deposit gave a way for carnivores and porcupine to gnaw the bones on the ground before their burial. The succession of actions (man, carnivores and porcupine) on the same bones is characteristic on Vallonnet large mammals bones.     

Age of the last common ancestor of extant Plasmodium parasite lineages

Parasites of the genus Plasmodium infect all classes of amniotes (mammals, birds and reptiles) and display host specificity in their infections. It is therefore generally believed that Plasmodium parasites co-evolved intimately with their hosts. Here, we report that based on an evolutionary analysis using 22 genes in the nuclear genome, extant lineages of Plasmodium parasites originated roughly in the Oligocene epoch after the emergence of their hosts. This timing on the age of the common ancestor of extant Plasmodium parasites suggest the importance of host switches and lends support to the evolutionary scenario of a "malaria big bang" that was proposed based on the evolutionary analysis using the mitochondrial genome.     

PAD, a growing family of citrullinating enzymes: genes, features and involvement in disease

Peptidylarginine deiminase (PAD, EC 3.5.3.15) enzymes catalyze the conversion of protein-bound arginine to citrulline. This post-translational modification may have a big impact on the structure and function of the target protein. In this review, we will discuss the effects of citrullination and its involvement in several human diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. So far, four isotypes of PAD have been described in mammals. We describe the existence of PAD in non-mammalian vertebrates and the existence of a fifth mammalian PAD. In addition, tissue-specific expression, genomic organization and evolutionary conservation of the different PAD isotypes will be discussed in detail. This article contains supplementary material which may be viewed at the BioEssays website at http://www.interscience.wiley.com/jpages/0265-9247/suppmat/2003/25/v25.1106.html.     

Los mamíferos insulares del Mioceno medio y superior de Menorca (islas Baleares, Mediterráneo occidental)

The insular mammals from the karstic deposits of Punta Nati-2 and the marine beds of es Cul de sa Ferrada, placed in the northwest coast of Minorca (Balearic islands, Spain, western Mediterranean) are described in this work. One of the mammals (only present in Punta Nati-2) is a new glirid species, Margaritamys adroveri, closely related with Margaritamys llulli Mein and Adrover, 1982 and Pseudodryomys granatensis Agustí, 1993, from the middle Miocene of Santa Margalida and Sant Llorenç (Mallorca) and Murchas (Granada), respectively. M. adroveri shows more derived characters than P. granatensis and is more archaic than M. llulli, the size being similar to P. granatensis. The ochotonid present in Minorca is very similar to Gymnesicolagus gelaberti Mein and Adrover, 1982 from Mallorca. In the two minorcan deposits were recovered the first mandibles of this ochotonid, characterized by their big size. The medium weight (estimated from the length of the lower row) for G. aff. gelaberti is 5.4 kg, very similar to that some extant leporids like Lepus alleni Mearns, 1890 or Lepus arcticus Ross, 1819 and higher than any other living ochotonid. Doubtless, the big size of G. aff. gelaberti is a consequence of insular evolution, but not the short diastema, a primitive character shared with continental ochotonids and insular leporids. The discovery of a mandible in the marine beds of es Cul de sa Ferrada permits to place G. aff. gelaberti in the lower Tortonian, which represents the youngest record for this species with respect the faunal associations of Mallorca and Granada, Langhian-Serravalian in age (middle-upper Miocene). The fauna from Punta Nati-2 may represent an endemic association or a faunal group closely related to the fauna of Mallorca and Granada, but in an older context. The age of Gymnesicolagus and the presence of a similar fauna in Mallorca and Minorca suggest a connection between both islands during the Serravalian and the existence of an emerged area in Minorca after the Tortonian transgression.     

Neanderthal use of fish, mammals, birds, starchy plants and wood 125-250,000 years ago

Neanderthals are most often portrayed as big game hunters who derived the vast majority of their diet from large terrestrial herbivores while birds, fish and plants are seen as relatively unimportant or beyond the capabilities of Neanderthals. Although evidence for exploitation of other resources (small mammals, birds, fish, shellfish, and plants) has been found at certain Neanderthal sites, these are typically dismissed as unusual exceptions. The general view suggests that Neanderthal diet may broaden with time, but that this only occurs sometime after 50,000 years ago. We present evidence, in the form of lithic residue and use-wear analyses, for an example of a broad-based subsistence for Neanderthals at the site of Payre, Ardèche, France (beginning of MIS 5/end of MIS 6 to beginning of MIS 7/end of MIS 8; approximately 125-250,000 years ago). In addition to large terrestrial herbivores, Neanderthals at Payre also exploited starchy plants, birds, and fish. These results demonstrate a varied subsistence already in place with early Neanderthals and suggest that our ideas of Neanderthal subsistence are biased by our dependence on the zooarchaeological record and a deep-seated intellectual emphasis on big game hunting.     

安徽巢县人类化石地点的新材料

1983年对巢县银山人类化石地点的发掘结果再次表明,该地点的人类化石的地质时代大致相当于北京猿人地点1—4层的或稍晚。发现人类上颌骨化石一块,具有早期智人的特征。     

Effects of calcium availability on reproductive output of big brown bats

Reproduction is a period of high calcium demand in vertebrates; therefore, calcium deficiency can limit reproductive output in mammals. Nutritional analyses show that insects are a poor calcium source, suggesting that insectivorous species are more likely to be calcium deficient. During pregnancy, big brown bats Eptesicus fuscus consume between 8 and 18 times less calcium than they are estimated to require. To accommodate calcium demand during pregnancy, many mammals mobilize more calcium from the skeleton, and extensive bone loss has been observed in some bats during pregnancy. A conflict may arise between the female and developing embryo over allocation of limited calcium supplies, which could limit reproductive output with respect to offspring size, mass and number. The effects of calcium deficiency on these three factors were tested by providing pregnant captive big brown bats with either a calcium-deficient diet or a diet providing the daily calcium requirement, as estimated for pregnant big brown bats, from the time of capture until parturition. Neonates were compared between groups for size, mass and number per female, as were the effects of maternal mass and size on neonate mass and size. Maternal mass and litter mass were positively related for the calcium-deficient group, but not for the calcium-supplemented group. This suggests that there is some interaction between maternal mass and calcium availability, most likely due to the relationship between body mass and skeletal mass, and that calcium availability is limiting the overall biomass of young that a female can produce.     

Brain sizes, surfaces, and neuronal sizes of the cortex cerebri: a stereological investigation of man and his variability and a comparison with some mammals (primates, whales, marsupials, insectivores, and one elephant)

This study deals with the stereological estimation of macroscopic sizes of brain and cortex, i.e., volume, surface, and folding, and of microscopic neuronal sizes, i.e., density, mean size, size distribution, and number of neurons. The results show that the degree of variability in man amounts to about 15%. A decrease in volume of the different gray structures can be observed in man after the age of 65 years. The surface, folding index, and length of convolution do not alter with aging. The comparison with mammals of various sizes allows the conclusion that there is a high correlation to brain size for nearly all macroscopic values. Man and elephant, however, have a cortical surface which is, in comparison with whales, relatively small. In contrast, whales have very small cortices compared with man. At the cytoarchitectonic level, the neuronal density has a correlation to brain size. Contrary to other mammals, the primates and man have a high fraction of small granular neurons, especially in layer 4. The assumption that the number of cortical neurons beneath a given surface area of cortex is the same in all mammals cannot be verified, especially in those with large brains. The allometric connection between brain size and parameters is not valid for all measurements (e.g., thickness of cortex, mean size of neurons, perikaryal size distribution, and glial density). Yet some other measurements are well correlated.     

ESR and U-series analyses of teeth from the palaeoanthropological site of Hexian, Anhui Province, China

ESR and U-series analyses of teeth from the palaeoanthropological site of Hexian which containedHomo erectusremains, illustrate the limited effectiveness of stand-alone ESR and U-series age estimates on faunal materials. The problem lies in the unknown U-uptake history causing very large uncertainties in the age results of both techniques. This study demonstrates the particular strength that lies in the integration of ESR and U-series dating analyses allowing the estimation of the U-uptake history. We obtained a combined ESR/U-series age estimate of 412±25 ka (average of six analyses on two teeth). This pinpoints the deposition of the faunal remains to the time of the transition between oxygen isotope stages 12 and 11. This is in agreement with the faunal composition which show a mixture of cold adapted northern mammals and more subtropical-tropical southern elements. The age also implies that the advanced HexianHomo erectusoccurred at a similar time as the less advancedHomo erectusspecimens at Locality 1 at Zhoukoudian (LI-LIII).     

Selection of waterbirds by Geoffroy's cat: Effects of prey abundance, size, and distance

In spite of its wide distribution, Geoffroy's cat (Oncifelis geoffroyi) has been recently upgraded from Least Concern IUCN category to Near Threatened because of lack of knowledge. In this study, we examine at the Mar Chiquita Biosphere Reserve (37° 46`S, 57° 27`W; Argentina) their seasonal diet, and their feeding preference in relation to waterbird abundance, size, and distance of waterbird prey before attack. The diet, evaluated by feces analysis, was comprised of 42% waterbirds and 40% small mammals. The relative importance of waterbirds in the diet changed throughout the year associated with seasonal fluctuations in their availability. Predation on waterbirds increased from autumn to summer, while predation on small mammals decreased during this period. Trophic-niche breadth for prey occurrence was higher in autumn and lower in spring. We found that abundance, distance of waterbird prey before attack, and prey size were significant predictors of waterbird consumption by the Geoffroy's cat. This small cat appears to change its kill rate in relation to waterbird abundance changes. The overconsumption of prey close to vegetation and big prey indicates selective predatory behavior by this cat.     

The Old and Young Amazon: Dung Beetle Biomass, Abundance, and Species Diversity

The Amazon Basin can be divided into two geomorphological regions based on the age of its soils: young (< 30 mya) and old (> 300 mya). We tested the effects of soil age on dung beetle communities by comparing biomass, abundance, and species between reserves in Ecuador on young soils and reserves in Brazil on old soils. Beetle biomass in the old Amazon was one-third that in the young Amazon, and beetle abundance in the old Amazon was one-fourth that in the young Amazon. Species richness, rarefied to equal sample sizes, was not significantly different between old and young soils. These data suggest young soils of the Amazon support a significantly greater biomass and abundance of dung beetles than old soils, but that species richness across the Basin is similar. As dung beetles are bio-indicators of mammals, our data support previous studies indicating a greater biomass of mammals on young versus old Amazon soils.     

淡水鱼类微囊藻毒素去毒酶基因的克隆

微囊藻毒素去毒酶在鱼类微囊藻毒素去毒过程中起着关键作用,研究成功克隆鲢鱼、鳙鱼、草鱼、鲫鱼、鳜鱼、罗非鱼等淡水鱼类微囊藻毒素去毒酶基因cDNA核心片段而首次获得这些淡水鱼类微囊藻毒素去毒酶氨基酸序列。鲢鱼、鳙鱼、草鱼、鲫鱼、鳜鱼、罗非鱼微囊藻毒素去毒酶基因与人、小鼠、大鼠、牛、猪、羊的谷胱甘肽S-转移酶基因氨基酸同源性为60%左右,表明淡水鱼类微囊藻毒素去毒酶基因在进化上变异性较大,与其承担微囊藻毒素去毒代谢之特殊功能相适应。