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Open Thesis Final V2.Pdf
The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School Department of the Geosciences TAXONOMIC AND ECOLOGIC IMPLICATIONS OF MAMMOTH MOLAR MORPHOLOGY AS MEASURED VIA COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY A Thesis in Geosciences by Gregory J Smith 2015 Gregory J Smith Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science August 2015 ii The thesis of Gregory J Smith was reviewed and approved* by the following: Russell W. Graham EMS Museum Director and Professor of the Geosciences Thesis Advisor Mark Patzkowsky Professor of the Geosciences Eric Post Director of the Polar Center and Professor of Biology Timothy Ryan Associate Professor of Anthropology and Information Sciences and Technology Michael Arthur Professor of the Geosciences Interim Associate Head for Graduate Programs and Research *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School iii ABSTRACT Two Late Pleistocene species of Mammuthus, M. columbi and M. primigenius, prove difficult to identify on the basis of their third molar (M3) morphology alone due to the effects of dental wear. A newly-erupted, relatively unworn M3 exhibits drastically different characters than that tooth would after a lifetime of wear. On a highly-worn molar, the lophs that comprise the occlusal surface are more broadly spaced and the enamel ridges thicken in comparison to these respective characters on an unworn molar. Since Mammuthus taxonomy depends on the lamellar frequency (# of lophs/decimeter of occlusal surface) and enamel thickness of the third molar, given the effects of wear it becomes apparent that these taxonomic characters are variable throughout the tooth’s life. Therefore, employing static taxonomic identifications that are based on dynamic attributes is a fundamentally flawed practice. -
1.1 První Chobotnatci 5 1.2 Plesielephantiformes 5 1.3 Elephantiformes 6 1.3.1 Mammutida 6 1.3.2 Elephantida 7 1.3.3 Elephantoidea 7 2
MASARYKOVA UNIVERZITA PŘÍRODOVĚDECKÁ FAKULTA ÚSTAV GEOLOGICKÝCH VĚD Jakub Březina Rešerše k bakalářské práci Využití mikrostruktur klů neogenních chobotnatců na příkladu rodu Zygolophodon Vedoucí práce: doc. Mgr. Martin Ivanov, Dr. Brno 2012 OBSAH 1. Současný pohled na evoluci chobotnatců 3 1.1 První chobotnatci 5 1.2 Plesielephantiformes 5 1.3 Elephantiformes 6 1.3.1 Mammutida 6 1.3.2 Elephantida 7 1.3.3 Elephantoidea 7 2. Kly chobotnatců a jejich mikrostruktura 9 2.1 Přírůstky v klech chobotnatců 11 2.1.1 Využití přírůstků v klech chobotnatců 11 2.2 Schregerův vzor 12 2.2.1 Stavba Schregerova vzoru 12 2.2.2 Využití Schregerova vzoru 12 2.3 Dentinové kanálky 15 3 Sedimenty s nálezy savců v okolí Mikulova 16 3.1 Baden 17 3.2 Pannon a Pont 18 1. Současný pohled na evoluci chobotnatců Současná systematika chobotnatců není kompletně odvozena od jejich fylogeneze, rekonstruované pomocí kladistických metod. Diskutované skupiny tak mnohdy nepředstavují monofyletické skupiny. Přestože jsou taxonomické kategorie matoucí (např. Laurin 2005), jsem do jisté míry nucen je používat. Některým skupinám úrovně stále přiřazeny nebyly a zde této skutečnosti není přisuzován žádný význam. V této rešerši jsem se zaměřil hlavně na poznatky, které následovaly po vydání knihy; The Proboscidea: Evolution and Paleoecology of Elephants and Their Relatives, od Shoshaniho a Tassyho (1996). Chobotnatci jsou součástí skupiny Tethytheria společně s anthracobunidy, sirénami a desmostylidy (Shoshani 1998; Shoshani & Tassy 1996; 2005; Gheerbrant & Tassy 2009). Základní klasifikace sestává ze dvou skupin. Ze skupiny Plesielephantiformes, do které patří čeledě Numidotheriidae, Barytheriidae a Deinotheridae a ze skupiny Elephantiformes, do které patří čeledě Palaeomastodontidae, Phiomiidae, Mammutida, Gomphotheriidae, tetralofodontní gomfotéria, Stegodontidae a Elephantidae (Shoshani & Marchant 2001; Shoshani & Tassy 2005; Gheerbrant & Tassy 2009). -
Zeitschrift Für Säugetierkunde)
ZOBODAT - www.zobodat.at Zoologisch-Botanische Datenbank/Zoological-Botanical Database Digitale Literatur/Digital Literature Zeitschrift/Journal: Mammalian Biology (früher Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde) Jahr/Year: 1993 Band/Volume: 58 Autor(en)/Author(s): Court Nick Artikel/Article: A dental peculiarity in Numidotherium kohlense: evidence of feeding behaviour in a primitive proboscidae 194-196 © Biodiversity Heritage Library, http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/ Z. Säugetierkunde 58 (1993) 194-196 © 1993 Verlag Paul Parey, Hamburg und Berlin ISSN 0044-3468 A dental peculiarity in Numidotherium koholense: evidence of feeding behaviour in a primitive proboscidean By N. Court Sedgwick Museum, Department of Barth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K. Receipt of Ms. 19. 9. 1991 Acceptance of Ms. 27. 12. 1992 The fossil proboscidean, Numidotherium koholense is known only from the Palaeogene of Algeria (Mahboubi et al. 1984). Abundant remains of this tapir-sized mammal have been recovered from a single locality at El Kohol in Eocene deposits of the Southern Atlas of Algeria (see Mahboubi et al. 1986 for site details). The late Early Eocene age ascribed to this locaHty renders Numidotherium the oldest unequivocal representative of the order Proboscidea yet known. Material includes numerous isolated teeth, jaws and skulls, in addition to postcranial elements. Although Numidotherium is morphologically well documented (Mahboubi et al. 1986) and has been included in recent phylogenetic treatments of the order (Tassy 1990), as yet nothing is known of numidothere life habits or autecology. I 1 Fig. 1. Outline drawing of right mandibular ramus of Numidotherium koholense in lateral view. Note the long diastema and the way in which the alveolar border in front of P2 descends steeply to expose the anterior root (arrow). -
Chapter 1 - Introduction
EURASIAN MIDDLE AND LATE MIOCENE HOMINOID PALEOBIOGEOGRAPHY AND THE GEOGRAPHIC ORIGINS OF THE HOMININAE by Mariam C. Nargolwalla A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Anthropology University of Toronto © Copyright by M. Nargolwalla (2009) Eurasian Middle and Late Miocene Hominoid Paleobiogeography and the Geographic Origins of the Homininae Mariam C. Nargolwalla Doctor of Philosophy Department of Anthropology University of Toronto 2009 Abstract The origin and diversification of great apes and humans is among the most researched and debated series of events in the evolutionary history of the Primates. A fundamental part of understanding these events involves reconstructing paleoenvironmental and paleogeographic patterns in the Eurasian Miocene; a time period and geographic expanse rich in evidence of lineage origins and dispersals of numerous mammalian lineages, including apes. Traditionally, the geographic origin of the African ape and human lineage is considered to have occurred in Africa, however, an alternative hypothesis favouring a Eurasian origin has been proposed. This hypothesis suggests that that after an initial dispersal from Africa to Eurasia at ~17Ma and subsequent radiation from Spain to China, fossil apes disperse back to Africa at least once and found the African ape and human lineage in the late Miocene. The purpose of this study is to test the Eurasian origin hypothesis through the analysis of spatial and temporal patterns of distribution, in situ evolution, interprovincial and intercontinental dispersals of Eurasian terrestrial mammals in response to environmental factors. Using the NOW and Paleobiology databases, together with data collected through survey and excavation of middle and late Miocene vertebrate localities in Hungary and Romania, taphonomic bias and sampling completeness of Eurasian faunas are assessed. -
HOVASAURUS BOULEI, an AQUATIC EOSUCHIAN from the UPPER PERMIAN of MADAGASCAR by P.J
99 Palaeont. afr., 24 (1981) HOVASAURUS BOULEI, AN AQUATIC EOSUCHIAN FROM THE UPPER PERMIAN OF MADAGASCAR by P.J. Currie Provincial Museum ofAlberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T5N OM6, Canada ABSTRACT HovasauTUs is the most specialized of four known genera of tangasaurid eosuchians, and is the most common vertebrate recovered from the Lower Sakamena Formation (Upper Per mian, Dzulfia n Standard Stage) of Madagascar. The tail is more than double the snout-vent length, and would have been used as a powerful swimming appendage. Ribs are pachyostotic in large animals. The pectoral girdle is low, but massively developed ventrally. The front limb would have been used for swimming and for direction control when swimming. Copious amounts of pebbles were swallowed for ballast. The hind limbs would have been efficient for terrestrial locomotion at maturity. The presence of long growth series for Ho vasaurus and the more terrestrial tan~saurid ThadeosauTUs presents a unique opportunity to study differences in growth strategies in two closely related Permian genera. At birth, the limbs were relatively much shorter in Ho vasaurus, but because of differences in growth rates, the limbs of Thadeosau rus are relatively shorter at maturity. It is suggested that immature specimens of Ho vasauTUs spent most of their time in the water, whereas adults spent more time on land for mating, lay ing eggs and/or range dispersal. Specilizations in the vertebrae and carpus indicate close re lationship between Youngina and the tangasaurids, but eliminate tangasaurids from consider ation as ancestors of other aquatic eosuchians, archosaurs or sauropterygians. CONTENTS Page ABREVIATIONS . ..... ... ......... .......... ... ......... ..... ... ..... .. .... 101 INTRODUCTION . -
(Diapsida: Saurosphargidae), with Implications for the Morphological Diversity and Phylogeny of the Group
Geol. Mag.: page 1 of 21. c Cambridge University Press 2013 1 doi:10.1017/S001675681300023X A new species of Largocephalosaurus (Diapsida: Saurosphargidae), with implications for the morphological diversity and phylogeny of the group ∗ CHUN LI †, DA-YONG JIANG‡, LONG CHENG§, XIAO-CHUN WU†¶ & OLIVIER RIEPPEL ∗ Laboratory of Evolutionary Systematics of Vertebrates, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 643, Beijing 100044, China ‡Department of Geology and Geological Museum, Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China §Wuhan Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, Wuhan, 430223, PR China ¶Canadian Museum of Nature, PO Box 3443, STN ‘D’, Ottawa, ON K1P 6P4, Canada Department of Geology, The Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605-2496, USA (Received 31 July 2012; accepted 25 February 2013) Abstract – Largocephalosaurus polycarpon Cheng et al. 2012a was erected after the study of the skull and some parts of a skeleton and considered to be an eosauropterygian. Here we describe a new species of the genus, Largocephalosaurus qianensis, based on three specimens. The new species provides many anatomical details which were described only briefly or not at all in the type species, and clearly indicates that Largocephalosaurus is a saurosphargid. It differs from the type species mainly in having three premaxillary teeth, a very short retroarticular process, a large pineal foramen, two sacral vertebrae, and elongated small granular osteoderms mixed with some large ones along the lateral most side of the body. With additional information from the new species, we revise the diagnosis and the phylogenetic relationships of Largocephalosaurus and clarify a set of diagnostic features for the Saurosphargidae Li et al. -
Paleoecological Comparison Between Late Miocene Localities of China and Greece Based on Hipparion Faunas
Paleoecological comparison between late Miocene localities of China and Greece based on Hipparion faunas Tao DENG Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044 (China) [email protected] Deng T. 2006. — Paleoecological comparison between late Miocene localities of China and Greece based on Hipparion faunas. Geodiversitas 28 (3) : 499-516. ABSTRACT Both China and Greece have abundant fossils of the late Miocene Hipparion fauna. Th e habitat of the Hipparion fauna in Greece was a sclerophyllous ever- green woodland. Th e Chinese late Miocene Hipparion fauna is represented respectively in the Guonigou fauna (MN 9), the Dashengou fauna (MN 10), and the Yangjiashan fauna (MN 11) from Linxia, Gansu, and the Baode fauna (MN 12) from Baode, Shanxi. According to the evidence from lithology, carbon isotopes, paleobotany, taxonomic framework, mammalian diversity and faunal similarity, the paleoenvironment of the Hipparion fauna in China was a subarid open steppe, which is diff erent from that of Greece. Th e red clay bearing the Hipparion fauna in China is windblown in origin, i.e. eolian deposits. Stable carbon isotopes from tooth enamel and paleosols indicate that C3 plants domi- nated the vegetation during the late Miocene in China. Pollens of xerophilous and sub-xerophilous grasses show a signal of steppe or dry grassland. Forest mammals, such as primates and chalicotheres, are absent or scarce, but grass- land mammals, such as horses and rhinoceroses, are abundant in the Chinese Hipparion fauna. Th e species richness of China and Greece exhibits a similar KEY WORDS trend with a clear increase from MN 9 to MN 12, but the two regions have Hipparion fauna, low similarities at the species level. -
Tiago Rodrigues Simões
Diapsid Phylogeny and the Origin and Early Evolution of Squamates by Tiago Rodrigues Simões A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in SYSTEMATICS AND EVOLUTION Department of Biological Sciences University of Alberta © Tiago Rodrigues Simões, 2018 ABSTRACT Squamate reptiles comprise over 10,000 living species and hundreds of fossil species of lizards, snakes and amphisbaenians, with their origins dating back at least as far back as the Middle Jurassic. Despite this enormous diversity and a long evolutionary history, numerous fundamental questions remain to be answered regarding the early evolution and origin of this major clade of tetrapods. Such long-standing issues include identifying the oldest fossil squamate, when exactly did squamates originate, and why morphological and molecular analyses of squamate evolution have strong disagreements on fundamental aspects of the squamate tree of life. Additionally, despite much debate, there is no existing consensus over the composition of the Lepidosauromorpha (the clade that includes squamates and their sister taxon, the Rhynchocephalia), making the squamate origin problem part of a broader and more complex reptile phylogeny issue. In this thesis, I provide a series of taxonomic, phylogenetic, biogeographic and morpho-functional contributions to shed light on these problems. I describe a new taxon that overwhelms previous hypothesis of iguanian biogeography and evolution in Gondwana (Gueragama sulamericana). I re-describe and assess the functional morphology of some of the oldest known articulated lizards in the world (Eichstaettisaurus schroederi and Ardeosaurus digitatellus), providing clues to the ancestry of geckoes, and the early evolution of their scansorial behaviour. -
Filling a Gap in the Proboscidean Fossil Record: a New Genus from The
Filling a gap in the proboscidean fossil record: a new genus from the Lutetian of Senegal Rodolphe Tabuce, Raphaël Sarr, Sylvain Adnet, Renaud Lebrun, Fabrice Lihoreau, Jeremy Martin, Bernard Sambou, Mustapha Thiam, Lionel Hautier To cite this version: Rodolphe Tabuce, Raphaël Sarr, Sylvain Adnet, Renaud Lebrun, Fabrice Lihoreau, et al.. Filling a gap in the proboscidean fossil record: a new genus from the Lutetian of Senegal. Journal of Paleontology, Paleontological Society, 2019, pp.1-9. 10.1017/jpa.2019.98. hal-02408861 HAL Id: hal-02408861 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02408861 Submitted on 8 Dec 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. 1 Filling a gap in the proboscidean fossil record: a new genus from 2 the Lutetian of Senegal 3 4 Rodolphe Tabuce1, Raphaël Sarr2, Sylvain Adnet1, Renaud Lebrun1, Fabrice Lihoreau1, Jeremy 5 E. Martin2, Bernard Sambou3, Mustapha Thiam3, and Lionel Hautier1 6 7 1Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, UMR5554, CNRS, IRD, EPHE, Université de 8 Montpellier, Montpellier, France <[email protected]> 9 <[email protected]> <[email protected]> 10 <[email protected]> <[email protected] > 11 2Univ. -
Modestoetal2007.Pdf
Blackwell Publishing LtdOxford, UKZOJZoological Journal of the Linnean Society0024-4082© 2007 The Linnean Society of London? 2007 149•• 237262 Original Article SKULL OF EARLY PERMIAN CAPTORHINID REPTILES. P. MODESTO ET AL. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 149, 237–262. With 12 figures The skull and the palaeoecological significance of Labidosaurus hamatus, a captorhinid reptile from the Lower Permian of Texas SEAN P. MODESTO1*, DIANE M. SCOTT2, DAVID S. BERMAN1, JOHANNES MÜLLER2 and ROBERT R. REISZ2 1Section of Vertebrate Palaeontology, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA 2Department of Biology, University of Toronto in Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario L5L 1C6, Canada Received May 2005; accepted for publication February 2006 The cranial skeleton of the large captorhinid reptile Labidosaurus hamatus, known only from the Lower Permian of Texas, is described on the basis of new, undescribed specimens. Labidosaurus is distinguished from other captorhin- ids by the more extreme sloping of the ventral (alveolar) margin of the premaxilla, a low dorsum sellae of the para- basisphenoid, a reduced prootic, a narrow stapes, and a relatively small foramen intermandibularis medius. Despite the presence of a single row of teeth in each jaw, the skull of Labidosaurus resembles most closely those of mor- adisaurines, the large multiple-tooth-rowed captorhinids of the latest Early and Middle Permian. A phylogenetic analysis confirms that the single-tooth-rowed L. hamatus is related most closely to moradisaurines within Cap- torhinidae, a relationship that supports the hypothesis of a diphyletic origin for multiple rows of marginal teeth in captorhinids (in the genus Captorhinus and in the clade Moradisaurinae). -
Paleobiogeography of Trilophodont Gomphotheres (Mammalia: Proboscidea)
Revista Mexicana deTrilophodont Ciencias Geológicas, gomphotheres. v. 28, Anúm. reconstruction 2, 2011, p. applying235-244 DIVA (Dispersion-Vicariance Analysis) 235 Paleobiogeography of trilophodont gomphotheres (Mammalia: Proboscidea). A reconstruction applying DIVA (Dispersion-Vicariance Analysis) María Teresa Alberdi1,*, José Luis Prado2, Edgardo Ortiz-Jaureguizar3, Paula Posadas3, and Mariano Donato1 1 Departamento de Paleobiología, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006, Madrid, España. 2 INCUAPA, Departamento de Arqueología, Universidad Nacional del Centro, Del Valle 5737, B7400JWI Olavarría, Argentina. 3 LASBE, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Paseo del Bosque S/Nº, B1900FWA La Plata, Argentina. * [email protected] ABSTRACT The objective of our paper was to analyze the distributional patterns of trilophodont gomphotheres, applying an event-based biogeographic method. We have attempted to interpret the biogeographical history of trilophodont gomphotheres in the context of the geological evolution of the continents they inhabited during the Cenozoic. To reconstruct this biogeographic history we used DIVA 1.1. This application resulted in an exact solution requiring three vicariant events, and 15 dispersal events, most of them (i.e., 14) occurring at terminal taxa. The single dispersal event at an internal node affected the common ancestor to Sinomastodon plus the clade Cuvieronius – Stegomastodon. A vicariant event took place which resulted in two isolated groups: (1) Amebelodontinae (Africa – Europe – Asia) and (2) Gomphotheriinae (North America). The Amebelodontinae clade was split by a second vicariant event into Archaeobelodon (Africa and Europe), and the ancestors of the remaining genera of the clade (Asia). In contrast, the Gomphotheriinae clade evolved mainly in North America. -
Non-Biface Assemblages in Middle Pleistocene Western Europe. A
University of Southampton Research Repository ePrints Soton Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", University of Southampton, name of the University School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination http://eprints.soton.ac.uk UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON FACULTY OF LAW, ART and SOCIAL SCIENCES SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES Non-Biface Assemblages in Middle Pleistocene Western Europe. A comparative study. by Hannah Louise Fluck Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2011 1 2 Abstract This thesis presents the results of an investigation into the Clactonian assemblages of Middle Pleistocene souther Britain. By exploring other non-biface assemblages (NBAs) reported from elsewhere in Europe it seeks to illuminate our understanding of the British assemblages by viewing them in a wider context. It sets out how the historical and geopolitical context of Palaeolithic research has influenced what is investigated and how, as well as interpretations of assemblages without handaxes. A comparative study of the assemblages themselves based upon primary data gathered specifically for that purpose concludes that while there are a number of non-biface assemblages elsewhere in Europe the Clactonian assemblages do appear to be a phenomenon unique to the Thames Valley in early MIS 11.