Preliminary palynological investigation of Saudi Arabian Upper Ordovician glacial sediments

An Ordovician stratigraphically admixed palynomorph assemblage that contains palynomorphs eroded from Middle through Upper Ordovician strata characterizes the Hawban Member (restricted) of the Sarah Formation in central Saudi Arabia. This distinctive assemblage, combined with detailed sedimentology, helps identify the presence of Hirnantian Gondwanan glacial sediments on the Arabian Plate. Similar Ordovician admixed assemblages have been recognized from Upper Ordovician glacial sediments elsewhere along the Gondwanan margin. Within Saudi Arabia the composition of reworked assemblages depends upon the stratigraphic succession exposed to glacial erosion. Sylvanidium? hawbanense, which is one of the acritarchs found in glacial sediments, is newly described from Arabian Upper Ordovician strata.     

A new species of Deinsdorfia (Soricidae, Insectivora, Mammalia) from the Pliocene of Spain

A new species of Deinsdorfia is defined using new material coming from the karstic fissure infilling of Almenara-Casablanca 4 (Castelló, Spain), which shows important differences with the rest of the previously known species of the genus. The definition of a new species is supported by the characters found in extra material coming from the localities of Valdeganga, in the Albacete Province (Spain). The stratigraphical occurrence of this genus of pigmented-toothed shrews reinforces the idea of the Iberian Peninsula as a sink area during the Pliocene, where some Central-European soricids expanded their distribution. Most of those migrations or distributional expansions coincide with moments of climatic changes in the northern hemisphere.     

Shaping forces modelling genetic variation patterns in the naturally fragmented forests of a South-American Beech

Fourteen natural populations of the South-American Beech Nothofagus obliqua at the Eastern naturally fragmented area of its distribution range were subjected to genetic analysis using genetic markers. The genetic characterization of the analysed populations suggested probable distinct glacial origin of populations at North and South of the distribution. Furthermore, based on the allelic richness parameter, relict areas could be postulated within each of the identified latitudinal group. Natural hybridisation processes with the close related and sympatric species Nothofagus nervosa were also identified as one of the shaping forces modelling genetic variation patterns of the species. While ancient hybridisation was postulated for the northern watersheds, current hybridisation processes were suggested within the southern ones. Genetic isolation was identified as the main cause promoting the high genetic differentiation found among populations within watersheds.     

Climate change and evolution of the New World pitviper genus Agkistrodon (Viperidae)

Aim We derived phylogenies, phylogeographies, and population demographies for two North American pitvipers, Agkistrodon contortrix (Linnaeus, 1766) and A. piscivorus (Lacépède, 1789) (Viperidae: Crotalinae), as a mechanism to evaluate the impact of rapid climatic change on these taxa. Location Midwestern and eastern North America. Methods We reconstructed maximum parsimony (MP) and maximum likelihood (ML) relationships based on 846 base pairs of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) ATPase 8 and ATPase 6 genes sequenced over 178 individuals. We quantified range expansions, demographic histories, divergence dates and potential size differences among clades since their last period of rapid expansion. We used the Shimodaira–Hasegawa (SH) test to compare our ML tree against three biogeographical hypotheses. Results A significant SH test supported diversification of A. contortrix from northeastern Mexico into midwestern–eastern North America, where its trajectory was sundered by two vicariant events. The first (c. 5.1 Ma) segregated clades at 3.1% sequence divergence (SD) along a continental east–west moisture gradient. The second (c. 1.4 Ma) segregated clades at 2.4% SD along the Mississippi River, coincident with the formation of the modern Ohio River as a major meltwater tributary. A single glacial refugium was detected within the Apalachicola region of southeastern North America. Significant support was also found for a hypothesis of trans‐Gulf rafting by the common ancestor of A. piscivorus from eastern Mexico (possibly the Yucatan Peninsula) to northern Florida. There, a Mid–Late Pliocene marine transgression separated it at 4.8% SD from mainland North America. Significant range expansions followed compressive glacial effects in three (of four) A. contortrix clades and in two (of three) A. piscivorus clades, with the Florida A. piscivorus clade exhibiting significant distributional stasis. Main conclusions Pliocene glaciations, rapidly developing western aridity, and Pleistocene glacial meltwaters seemingly led to the diversification of A. contortrix and A. piscivorus in North America. Both species were pushed southwards by Pleistocene climate change, with subsequent northward expansions uninhibited topographically. The subspecific taxonomy used for A. contortrix and A. piscivorus today, however, appear non‐representative. The monophyletic Florida subspecies of A. piscivorus may be a distinct species (at 4.8% SD), whereas two western subspecies of A. contortrix also appear to constitute a single distinct species, pending additional analyses. We conclude that both species of Agkistrodon can be used as suitable ectothermic models to gauge impacts of future climate change.     

Trace fossils on a Late Ordovician glacially striated pavement in Algeria

An exceptional exposure of Late Ordovician glaciogenic sediments crops out in Dider, SE Algeria, within the Tassili N'Ajjer region. The sediments consist of sandstones and diamictites sandwiched between a Mid Ordovician fluvial and tidal sandstone (In Tahouite Formation) below and Early Silurian shale (Oued Imirhou Formation) above. Stratigraphic discontinuities within the Late Ordovician glaciogene succession include palaeovalley incisions and glacially striated pavements. Striation and fluting of a soft-bedded sediment beneath an ancient ice sheet is supported by abundant dewatering structures and soft-sediment gouges interpreted to have been produced by the action of stone ploughing. In Dider, two types of previously undescribed circular structures sit in negative relief on this glacial pavement, namely 1) paired thumb-shaped impressions 2 cm in diameter and 3 mm in depth, and 2) a 5 cm wide impression with 3 segmented nested cycles. A framboid or aggregate origin may be appropriate for the smaller of the features but the larger impression is interpreted as biogenic: internal complexity is characteristic, discounting concretion moulds and water escape structures. A biogenic origin as a coelenterate resting trace is proposed with speculation on conditions of exceptional preservation in an ancient periglacial environment.     

Stratigraphic and sedimentological evidence for late Wisconsinan sub-glacial outburst floods to Laurentian Fan

Sub-glacial meltwater produces a distinctive stratigraphic and sedimentological response on the continental margin. Seismo-stratigraphy of Laurentian Channel reveals thick till deposits at its seaward end that pass laterally into stratified sediment in deeper basins, that may record periods of water build up beneath the ice. Two scales of meltwater discharge are recognised: large scale that caused catastrophic erosion and transported large volumes of coarse sediment to the abyssal plain and smaller scale, yielding principally muddy sediment. Sub-glacial outburst floods from the Laurentian Channel ice stream delivered distinctive red sediment derived from Permian-Carboniferous strata of the Gulf of St. Lawrence directly to Laurentian Fan between ca. 17 and 14 ¹⁴C ka, separate from North Atlantic Heinrich events. On levees of Laurentian Fan, three major pulses of meltwater plume muds are separated by intervals dominated by hemipelagic sediments. These meltwater intervals are recognised distally as periods of plume sedimentation on the Scotian Slope and ice-rafting of hematite-stained quartz to the North Atlantic Ocean. In channels of Laurentian Fan, at least one major sediment transport event is recognised that eroded the upper slope and the major fan valleys, depositing a bed of gravel at least 3 m thick in the characteristically wide fan valleys and thick sand on the Sohm Abyssal Plain. The same event was probably responsible for giant flute-like scours. The age of the gravel bed is directly constrained only by the presence of local overlying Holocene sediment. Much of the surface of the gravel bed was re-worked by the 1929 “Grand Banks” turbidity current. An erosional event on the upper slope, likely correlative with the flood-generated gravel bed, has been dated at 16.5 ¹⁴C ka. Such large scale erosional flood events can be recognised back through several glacial cycles and have played an important role in the architectural evolution of Laurentian Fan.     

Out of Florida: mtDNA reveals patterns of migration and Pleistocene range expansion of the Green Anole lizard (Anolis carolinensis)

Anolis carolinensis is an emerging model species and the sole member of its genus native to the United States. Considerable morphological and physiological variation has been described in the species, and the recent sequencing of its genome makes it an attractive system for studies of genome variation. To inform future studies of molecular and phenotypic variation within A. carolinensis, a rigorous account of intraspecific population structure and relatedness is needed. Here, we present the most extensive phylogeographic study of this species to date. Phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA sequence data support the previous hypothesis of a western Cuban origin of the species. We found five well‐supported, geographically distinct mitochondrial haplotype clades throughout the southeastern United States. Most Florida populations fall into one of three divergent clades, whereas the vast majority of populations outside Florida belong to a single, shallowly diverged clade. Genetic boundaries do not correspond to major rivers, but may reflect effects of Pleistocene glaciation events and the Appalachian Mountains on migration and expansion of the species. Phylogeographic signal should be examined using nuclear loci to complement these findings.     

Palaeoenvironmental setting (glaciations,sea level,and plate tectonics) of Palaeozoic major biotic radiations in the marine realm

The life on the Earth experienced periodically not only significant impoverishments (mass extinctions), but also remarkable rises in diversity. Two recent biodiversity curves and new information on glaciations, sea- level, and plate tectonics, permit to extend our knowledge on the latters. Four Palaeozoic major radiations in the marine realm are identified. They include the early Cambrian (PZMR1), Ordovician (PZMR2), Early Devonian (PZMR3), and mid-Permian (PZMR4) events. PZMR1 occurred immediately after the major end-Proterozoic glaciations, when global sea-level rose with low-magnitude fluctuations and huge well-connected oceans provided a peculiar space for biological innovations. PZMR2 happened at a time of unique sea-level highstand and well-connected watermasses. PZMR3 coincided with a relative sea-level lowstand, which, together with the presence of elongated island chains, might have enhanced the radiation by a rapid dispersal of organisms across shallow oceans and along connected shorelines. PZMR4 occurred at the end of the outstanding planetary-scale Late Palaeozoic glaciation. Generally, the Palaeozoic major radiations in the marine realm did not have an ultimate cause and did not occur in a similar palaeoenvironmental setting. The molecular clock approach suggests a possible link between the DNA-dated divergences of marine invertebrates and the identified major radiations.     

Phylogeny, biogeography and adaptive radiation of Pachycladon (Brassicaceae) in the mountains of South Island, New Zealand

Aim To report analyses and propose hypotheses of adaptive radiation that explain distributional patterns of the alpine genus Pachycladon Hook.f. – a morphologically diverse genus from New Zealand closely related to Arabidopsis thaliana. Location South Island, New Zealand. Methods Morphological and nrDNA ITS sequence phylogenies were generated for Pachycladon. An analysis is presented of species distributional patterns and attributes. Results Phylogenetic analyses of morphological characters and nrDNA ITS sequence data were found to be congruent in supporting three New Zealand clades for Pachycladon. Monophyletic groups identified within the genus are geographically distinct and are associated with different geological parent materials. Distribution maps, latitude and altitude range, and data on geological parent material are presented for the nine named and one unnamed species of Pachycladon from New Zealand. Main conclusions (a) Panbiogeographic hypotheses accounting for the origin and present‐day distribution of Pachycladon in New Zealand are not supported.
(b) Species diversity and distributions of Pachycladon are explained by a Late Tertiary–Quaternary adaptive radiation associated with increasing specialization to geological substrates. Pachycladon cheesemanii Heenan & A.D.Mitch. is morphologically similar to the closest overseas relatives. It is a geological generalist and has wide latitudinal and altitudinal ranges, and we suggest it resembles the ancestral form of the genus in New Zealand. Pachycladon novae‐zelandiae (Hook.f.) Hook.f. and P. wallii (Carse) Heenan & A.D.Mitch. are a southern South Island group that predominantly occurs on Haast Schist, are polycarpic, have lobed leaves, and lateral inflorescences. Pachycladon enysii (Cheeseman) Heenan & A.D.Mitch., P. fastigiata (Hook.f.) Heenan & A.D.Mitch., and P. stellata (Allan) Heenan & A.D.Mitch. are restricted to greywacke in the eastern South Island, and are facultatively monocarpic, have serrate leaves, and stout terminal inflorescenes.
(c) Present distributions of Pachycladon species may relate to Pleistocene climate change. Pachycladon enysii reaches the highest altitude of New Zealand species of Pachycladon and is most common in the Southern Alps in Canterbury. We propose that this species survived on nunataks at the height of the last glaciation. In contrast, P. fastigiata grows at a lower altitude and is absent from the high mountains of the Southern Alps. We suggest it was extirpated from this area during the last glaciation.