[PaleoIchthyology • 2024] Macroprosopon hiltoni • A Long-snouted marine Bonytongue (Teleostei: Osteoglossidae) from the early Eocene of Morocco and the Phylogenetic Affinities of Marine osteoglossids

Macroprosopon hiltoni

 Capobianco, Zouhri & Friedman, 2024

DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae015

 twitter.com/acapomorphic

 life reconstruction by Sky Jung

 

Abstract

Osteoglossid bonytongues (arapaimas, arowanas, and relatives) are extant tropical freshwater fishes with a relatively abundant and diverse fossil record. Most osteoglossid fossils come from a 25-million-year interval in the early Palaeogene, when these fishes were distributed worldwide in both freshwater and marine environments. Despite their biogeographic and palaeoecological relevance, and a relative abundance of well-preserved material, the evolutionary relationships between these Palaeogene forms and extant bonytongues remain unclear. Here we describe a new genus of bonytongue from early Eocene marine deposits of Morocco, represented by an articulated, three-dimensionally preserved skull with associated pectoral girdle. This taxon is characterized by an elongated snout, contrasting with the short jaws usually found in marine representatives of the clade. A revision of morphological characters in bonytongues allows us to place this new genus, together with other marine and freshwater Eocene taxa, within crown osteoglossids and closely related to extant arapaimines. The discovery of the new Moroccan taxon hints at a previously underestimated eco-morphological diversity of marine bonytongues, highlighting the diverse trophic niches that these fishes occupied in early Palaeogene seas.

computed tomography, fish, fossil evidence, Palaeogene, phylogeny, Osteoglossoidei

Macroprosopon hiltoni

Alessio Capobianco, Samir Zouhri and Matt Friedman. 2024. A Long-snouted marine Bonytongue (Teleostei: Osteoglossidae) from the early Eocene of Morocco and the Phylogenetic Affinities of Marine osteoglossids. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. zlae015. DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae015

 twitter.com/acapomorphic/status/1780939719259357327

  

[PaleoIchthyology • 2020] Monosmilus chureloides • Large-bodied Sabre-toothed Anchovies (Clupeiformes) reveal Unanticipated Ecological Diversity in early Palaeogene Teleosts

Monosmilus chureloides

Capobianco, Beckett, Steurbaut, Gingerich, Carnevale & Friedman, 2020

DOI: 10.1098/rsos.192260 

Illustrstion: Joschua Knüppe twitter.com/JoschuaKnuppe 

deviantart.com/hyrotrioskjan

Abstract

Many modern groups of marine fishes first appear in the fossil record during the early Palaeogene (66–40 Ma), including iconic predatory lineages of spiny-rayed fishes that appear to have originated in response to ecological roles left empty after the Cretaceous/Palaeogene extinction. The hypothesis of extinction-mediated ecological release likewise predicts that other fish groups have adopted novel predatory ecologies. Here, we report remarkable trophic innovation in early Palaeogene clupeiforms (herrings and allies), a group whose modern representatives are generally small-bodied planktivores. Two forms, the early Eocene (Ypresian) †Clupeopsis from Belgium and a new genus from the middle Eocene (Lutetian) of Pakistan, bear conspicuous features indicative of predatory ecology, including large size, long gapes and caniniform dentition. Most remarkable is the presence of a single, massive vomerine fang offset from the midline in both. Numerous features of the neurocranium, suspensorium and branchial skeleton place these taxa on the engraulid (anchovy) stem as the earliest known representatives of the clade. The identification of large-bodied, piscivorous anchovies contributes to an emerging picture of a phylogenetically diverse guild of predatory ray-finned fishes in early Palaeogene marine settings, which include completely extinct lineages alongside members of modern marine groups and taxa that are today restricted to freshwater or deep-sea environments.

Keywords: computed tomography, ichthyology, Palaeogene, ecological release, Clupeomorpha, piscivory

Figure 2. Cranial anatomy of †Monosmilus chureloides gen. et sp. nov. (GSP-UM 37, holotype). (a) Rendering and (b) line drawing of specimen in left lateral view. (c) Rendering of basibranchial series with hypohyals (dark green) in left lateral view. (d) Rendering of braincase in anterior view, highlighting the vomerine fang. (e) Rendering of right dentary (incomplete) in medial view, with loose tooth crowns (probably replacement teeth) highlighted in red.
Colours indicate different cranial regions: neurocranium (purple), jaws, palatoquadrate and cheek bones (blue), dorsal portion of hyoid arch (cyan), branchial skeleton (chartreuse).

Scale bar: 10 mm. Abbreviations: afn, anterior frontal fontanelle; bb1, first basibranchial; bb2, second basibranchial; bb3, third basibranchial; bbtp, basibranchial toothplate; d, dentary; dh, dorsal hypohyal; f, frontal; ecp, ectopterygoid; enp, endopterygoid; h, hyomandibula; io, infraorbital; le, lateral ethmoid; mpt, metapterygoid; mx, maxilla; ors, orbitosphenoid; pal, palatine; pas, parasphenoid; q, quadrate; sp, sphenotic; sr, scleral ring; vf, vomerine fang; vh, ventral hypohyal; vo, vomer.

a comparison between Monosmilus chureloides (conservative estimate) and a modern anchovies.

Illustrstion: Joschua Knüppe 

twitter.com/JoschuaKnuppe 

Systematic palaeontology.

Teleostei Müller, 1845 

Clupeomorpha Greenwood, Rosen, Weitzman and Myers, 1966 

Clupeiformes Bleeker, 1859 sensu Grande, 1985 

Clupeoidei Jordan, 1923 sensu Greenwood, Rosen, Weitzman and Myers, 1966 

Engrauloidea Grande, 1985 

†Monosmilus chureloides gen. et sp. nov.

 Etymology: Generic name from the combination of the Ancient Greek mónos (single) and smil'e (knife), referring to the single massive vomerine fang. Specific name from the combination of Churel, the name in Urdu of a shapeshifting vampire-like demon with large fangs or tusks, with the suffix -oides, indicating similarity.

 Locality and horizon: Rakhi Nala (locality RN-4) on the east side of the Sulaiman Range in the Dera Ghazi Khan District of western Punjab Province, Pakistan. The ‘lower chocolate clays' of the Domanda Formation (electronic supplementary material, figure S7) were deposited in a shallow coastal marine environment [35]. Nannoplankton stratigraphy (zone NP 15) constrains the Domanda Formation to the Lutetian stage/age of the early–middle Eocene.

  Diagnosis: Clupeiform with vomer bearing two large tooth pits; single vomerine fang representing the largest tooth; parasphenoid straight in lateral view; orbitosphenoid antero-ventrally contacting the parasphenoid; occipital region posteriorly elongated; robust and straight maxilla lacking teeth; dentary bearing greatly enlarged, postero-medially recurved caniniform teeth throughout its length; largest dentary tooth approximately 70% of length of orbital cavity; bulbous lateral ethmoids; anterior part of palatine triangular in lateral view; horizontal lamina of the ectopterygoid under the orbit and directly overlying the maxilla; third basibranchial longest element of the basibranchial series.

 Notes: The attribution of two closely related species possibly forming a monophyletic group to two separate genera is subjective. †Monosmilus chureloides differs from †Clupeopsis straeleni in several morphological features, including: proportionally larger teeth on vomer and dentary; bulbous (rather than irregularly flattened) lateral ethmoid; postorbital region of the neurocranium longer (instead of shorter) than preorbital region; contact between orbitosphenoid and parasphenoid; larger lateral horizontal lamina of the ectopterygoid; longer and broader endopterygoid; third (instead of second) basibranchial as the longest element of the basibranchial series. We consider these differences sufficient to justify the erection of a new genus for †M. chureloides.

Monosmilus chureloides, a large stem engraulid, pursuing some smaller relatives, the size of the average modern anchovies. Our monster with the kindergarten drawing dentition is interrupted by a basal whale, Dalanistes, swooping in for a kill.

DOI: 10.1098/rsos.192260  

Illustrstion: Joschua Knüppe deviantart.com/hyrotrioskjan

Figure 4. Medium-to-large-bodied predatory actinopterygians in shallow marine environments through time, showing faunal turnover across the K/Pg extinction and the early Palaeogene. †Aspidorhynchids are reported from continental deposits in the Palaeocene, but their last marine occurrences are Maastrichtian. †Enchodontids are reported from Danian marine deposits, but this is possibly due to reworking from Maastrichtian layers. The last occurrence of †Holosteinae extends into the early Oligocene (Rupelian; not shown here). An arrow on the right end of the illustrated range indicates survivorship to the present day. ...

DOI: 10.1098/rsos.192260

     

Alessio Capobianco, Hermione T. Beckett, Etienne Steurbaut, Philip D. Gingerich, Giorgio Carnevale and Matt Friedman. 2020. Large-bodied Sabre-toothed Anchovies reveal Unanticipated Ecological Diversity in early Palaeogene Teleosts. Royal Society Open Science. 7(5) DOI: 10.1098/rsos.192260

  twitter.com/JoschuaKnuppe/status/1260487222748471298

deviantart.com/hyrotrioskjan/art/Large-bodied-sabre-toothed-anchovies-841613919

     

[Paleontology • 2019] Stratigraphy and Paleobiology of the Upper Cretaceous-Lower Paleogene Sediments from the Trans-Saharan Seaway in Mali

 Reconstruction of the Trans-Saharan Seaway waters from the Late Cretaceous–early Paleogene. Sunlight of the tropics illuminated seawater filled with mangrove roots near shore where freshwater influence was highest. Mollusks lined the floor of the shallow sea, and tube-shaped burrows opened onto the seafloor.

in O'Leary, Bouaré, Claeson, et al., 2019.  

 digitallibrary.AMNH.org

 Illustration: Carl Buell   AMNH.org

Abstract 

An epicontinental sea bisected West Africa periodically from the Late Cretaceous to the early Eocene, in dramatic contrast to the current Sahara Desert that dominates the same region today. Known as the Trans-Saharan Seaway, this warm and shallow ocean was a manifestation of globally elevated sea level associated with the rapid break-up of the supercontinent Gondwana in the late Mesozoic. Although it varied in size through time, the Trans-Saharan Seaway is estimated to have covered as much as 3000 km2 of the African continent and was approximately 50 m deep. The edges of the sea were defined in part by the high topography of the Precambrian cratons and mobile belts of West Africa. Over its approximately 50 million year episodic existence, through six major periods of transgression and regression, the Trans-Saharan Seaway left behind extensive nearshore marine sedimentary strata with abundant fossils. The waters that yielded these deposits supported and preserved the remains of numerous vertebrate, invertebrate, plant, and microbial species that are now extinct. These species document a regional picture of ancient tropical life that spanned two major Earth events: the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). Whereas extensive epeiric seas flooded the interior portions of most continents during these intervals, the emerging multicontinental narrative has often overlooked the Trans-Saharan Seaway, in part because fundamental research, including the naming of geological formations and the primary description and analysis of fossil species, remained to be done. We provide such synthesis here based on two decades of fieldwork and analyses of sedimentary deposits in the Republic of Mali. Northern parts of the Republic of Mali today include some of the farthest inland reaches of the ancient sea. 

We bring together and expand on our prior geological and paleontological publications and provide new information on ancient sedimentary rocks and fossils that document paleoequatorial life of the past. Ours is the first formal description of and nomenclature for the Upper Cretaceous and Lower Paleogene geological formations of this region and we tie these names to regional correlations over multiple modern territorial boundaries. The ancient seaway left intriguing and previously unclassified phosphate deposits that, quite possibly, represent the most extensive vertebrate macrofossil bone beds known from anywhere on Earth. These bone beds, and the paper shales and carbonates associated with them, have preserved a diverse assemblage of fossils, including a variety of new species of invertebrates and vertebrates, rare mammals, and trace fossils. The shallow marine waters included a wide range of paleoenvironments from delta systems, to hypersaline embayments, protected lagoons, and carbonate shoals. 

Our overarching goal has been to collect vertebrate fossils tied to a K-Pg stratigraphic section in Africa. We provide such a section and, consistent with prior ideas, indicate that there is a gap in sedimentation in Malian rocks in the earliest Paleocene, an unconformity also proposed elsewhere in West Africa. Our phylogenetic analyses of several vertebrate clades across the K-Pg boundary have clarified clade-by-clade species-level survivorship and range extensions for multiple taxa. Few macrofossil species from the Trans-Saharan Seaway show conspicuous change at either the K-Pg boundary or the PETM based on current evidence, although results are very preliminary. Building on our earlier report of the first record of rock-boring bivalves from the Paleocene of West Africa, we further describe here a Cretaceous and Paleogene mollusk fauna dominated by taxa characteristic of the modern tropics. Among the newly discovered fossil osteichthyans, large body size characterizes both the pycnodonts and a new freshwater Eocene catfish species, one of the largest fossil catfishes found in Africa. Our new paleoecological and faunal reconstructions show an evergreen, broadleaf forest that included some of the oldest mangroves known. The ancient Malian ecosystem had numerous apex predators including Crocodyliformes, Serpentes, and Amiidae, some of which were among the largest species in their clades. The Trans-Saharan Seaway exhibited intermittent isolation from major seas. This environmental variable may have created aquatic centers of endemism, stimulating selection for gigantism as previously observed for species on terrestrial islands.

Reconstruction of the Trans-Saharan Seaway waters from the Late Cretaceous–early Paleogene. Sunlight of the tropics illuminated seawater filled with mangrove roots near shore where freshwater influence was highest. Mollusks lined the floor of the shallow sea, and tube-shaped burrows opened onto the seafloor.

During the Late Cretaceous–early Paleogene, the shallow waters of the Trans-Saharan Seaway waters were teeming with aquatic species which ranged from small mollusks to giant sea snakes and catfish.

 Illustration: Carl Buell 

Maliamia gigas, Cretalamna (Serratolamna) maroccana, Palaeophis colossaeus,
 Pycnodus jonesae, Plesielephantiform mammal, Lavocatodus giganteus,
Acleistochelys maliensis, Rhabdognathus aslerensis, Myliobatis wurnoensis 
and Adrar des Iforas massif. 

Maureen A. O'Leary, Mamadou L. Bouaré, Kerin M. Claeson, Kelly Heilbronn, Robert V. Hill, Jacob A. McCartney, Jocelyn A. Sessa, Famory Sissoko, Leif Tapanila, Elisabeth Wheeler and Eric M. Roberts. 2019. Stratigraphy and Paleobiology of the Upper Cretaceous-Lower Paleogene Sediments from the Trans-Saharan Seaway in Mali. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 436; 1–177.   digitallibrary.AMNH.org/handle/2246/6950

Large Sea Snakes, Giant Catfish Once Swam in the Sahara AMNH.org/explore/news-blogs/research-posts/sea-snakes-catfish-sahara

Ancient Saharan seaway shows how Earth's climate and creatures can undergo extreme change phys.org/news/2019-07-ancient-saharan-seaway-earth-climate.html via @physorg_com

[Paleontology • 2016] Janosikia ulmensis • Fossil Lizard from central Europe Resolves the Origin of Large Body Size and Herbivory in Giant Canary Island Lacertids

Janosikia ulmensis   (Gerhardt, 1903).

DOI:  10.1111/zoj.12340  

Abstract

The endemic Canary Island lizard clade Gallotia, which includes the largest members of Europe's dominant reptile group, Lacertidae, is one of the classic examples of insular gigantism. For the first time we use fossil data to test the evolutionary reasons for the association between gigantism and herbivory. We describe an almost completely preserved skeleton of Janosikia ulmensis  comb. nov. from the early Miocene of Ulm, Germany (MN 2a, ∼ 22 Mya). We show that this species and Oligocene Pseudeumeces cadurcensis (Filhol, 1877) are in fact crown lacertids, and the first known pre-Quaternary record of the total clade of Gallotia. Pseudeumeces confirms the early origin of crown Lacertidae in the Palaeogene of Europe. More importantly, these fossil taxa show that large body size was already achieved on the European mainland by the early Miocene. Furthermore, Pseudeumeces and Janosikia were faunivorous, thus demonstrating that insularity, not large body size, was crucial to the evolution of herbivory in this lineage. Body size change in Gallotia was more complex than previously thought, encompassing size increase [e.g. in the extinct Gallotia goliath (Mertens, 1942)], but more commonly involving miniaturization. The physical environment may play a crucial role in modulating the evolution of body size in this natural laboratory.

Keywords: Canary Islands; Europe; island rule; lacertid phylogeny– Palaeogene; Squamata

Systematic Palaeontology

Squamata Oppel, 1811 

Lacertidae Oppel, 1811 

Gallotiinae Cano, Baez, López-Jurado & Ortega, 1984 

Janosikia gen. nov.

Etymology: After Juraj Jánošík (20? January 1688–17 March 1713), famed leader of a Slovak band of highwaymen. They took from the rich and gave to the poor, but did not kill and even helped an injured priest. Jánošík was eventually captured and executed.

Type species: Janosikia ulmensis comb. nov. (Gerhardt, 1903).

Comment: Based on our phylogenetic analyses (see below), a new generic name is required for this species despite its similarity to Pseudeumeces cadurcensis. The attribution of the species to Pseudeumeces would render the latter paraphyletic.

Janosikia ulmensis (Gerhardt, 1903) comb. nov.  

Locality and horizon: Type locality of Ophisaurus ulmensis Gerhardt, 1903, north-west of Ulm, Germany. The fossils derive from white or grey calcareous marls of the of the Lower Freshwater Molasse, dated to the middle Agenian (MN 2a), lower Miocene (Heizmann et al., 1989).

Figure 3.  Janosikia ulmensis  comb. nov., SMNS 96582.
 A, main prepared block of sediment, containing most cranial elements. B, reconstruction of the skull in dorsal view. C, life reconstruction of J. ulmensis comb. nov. from the early Miocene of Germany. 

Figure 9.  A, phylogenetic relationships of Pseudeumeces and Janosikia gen. nov. with other lacertid lizards. Single most-parsimonious tree. Bootstrap values shown on branches subtending nodes. B, evolution of size in Gallotiinae. Average skull size (and so average body size) increases progressively on stem of Gallotia, such that Janosikia ulmensis comb. nov. equals basal Gallotia stehlini in size. Skull size decreases several times in Gallotia, including Gallotia atlantica and the Gallotia galloti group. Nodes 1 (Gallotiinae), 2, 3, and 4 (Gallotia) are labelled. 

.....

 Andrej Čerňanský, Jozef Klembara and Krister T. Smith. 2016. Fossil Lizard from central Europe Resolves the Origin of Large Body Size and Herbivory in Giant Canary Island Lacertids. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 176(4); 861–877. DOI:  10.1111/zoj.12340 

ResearchGate.net/publication/282844665_Fossil_lizard_from_central_Europe_resolves_the_origin_of_large_body_size_and_herbivory_in_giant_Canary_Island_lacertids

Extinct Giant Lizards of the Canary Islands: Gallotia goliath & G. auaritae
 http://www.carlosvphotography.com/single-post/2018/01/16/Extinct-Giant-Lizards-of-the-Canary-Islands

http://tech.sme.sk/c/20061797/slovensky-vedec-objavil-novu-jastericu-nazval-ju-po-janosikovi.html

[PaleoOrnithology • 2016] Calciavis grandei • The Anatomy and Taxonomy of the Exquisitely preserved Green River Formation (early Eocene) Lithornithids (Aves) and the Relationships of Lithornithidae

Calciavis grandei  Nesbitt & Clarke, 2016

A Green River Formation lithornithid Calxavis grandei standing by the shores of the Eocene Fossil Lake (~ 50 Ma) with a small rallid in the background.

Art by Velizar Simeonovski. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2246/6664

Abstract 

Fossil remains of Paleogene Palaeognathae are poorly documented and are exceedingly rare. One group of palaeognaths, the lithornithids, is well represented in the Paleogene of North America. Nevertheless, few specimens of the same species are known from each of those Paleogene geologic units. Here, we report five new partial skeletons of lithornithids from the Fossil Butte Member of the Green River Formation (early Eocene) of Wyoming. One spectacularly preserved specimen is identified as the holotype of a new species, Calciavis grandei, gen. et sp. nov., and fully described. Preserved soft tissues (e.g., feathers, pes scales) surround the nearly articulated and complete skeleton. A second well-preserved but disarticulated skeleton is referred to this new taxon. We conclude that there are only two lithornithid taxa in the Green River Formation after careful comparisons with the other known taxon from the same geological unit, Pseudocrypturus cercanaxius. Morphological data generated from the new taxon and other Green River Formation lithornithid specimens were integrated into a osteology-only phylogenetic data set containing stem avians as outgroups and extinct and extant members of Palaeognathae (Tinamidae, ratites) and Neognathaes (Anseriformes, Galliformes, Neoaves), unnamed lithornithid specimens, and the following named lithornithid taxa: Lithornis plebius, Lithornis promiscuus, Lithornis celetius, Paracathartes howardae. We find a monophyletic Lithornithidae (containing Calciavis grandei, Pseudocrypturus cercanaxius, Lithornis plebius, Lithornis promiscuus, Lithornis celetius, Paracathartes howardae) as the sister taxon of Tinamidae at the base of Palaeognathae and also recover a monophyletic Ratitae in the morphology-only analysis. A Lithornithidae-Tinamidae relationship, which could imply a broad Northern Hemisphere distribution in the Paleogene for this total group retracted to the present day Neotropical distribution after the Eocene, is weakly supported in our analysis and is also supported by other lines of evidence such as eggshell morphology. Relationships among flightless palaeognaths and assessment of character homology in this group remain problematic. Indeed, when the morphological analyses were constrained to enforce topologies recovered from all recent analyses of molecular sequence data and retroelement insertions, Lithornithidae is no longer recovered with Tinamidae, which is nested within the now paraphyletic ratites, but remains at the base of Palaeognathae. Thus, regardless of the position of Tinamidae, Lithornithidae is recovered at the base of the clade. However, evidence that many, if not all, of these "ratite" lineages independently evolved similar morphologies related to large size and flight loss suggests that the proposed position of the Lithornithidae remains tentative. Significant morphological variation within Lithornithidae should be captured in inclusive future analyses through use of species terminals.

A Lithornithid skull from the Green River Formation of Wyoming.

Photo by Sterling Nesbitt. 

A nearly complete skeleton of Calciavis grandei, a close relative of ostriches, kiwis, and emus.

Photo by Rick Edwards of the American Museum of Natural History. 

Nesbitt, Sterling J. and Clarke, Julia A. 2016. The Anatomy and Taxonomy of the Exquisitely preserved Green River Formation (early Eocene) Lithornithids (Aves) and the Relationships of Lithornithidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 406. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2246/6664  Supplemental Material: 10.5531/sd.sp.25

  

Well-preserved fossils show ostrich relatives lived in North America 50 million years ago http://vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2016/07/science-ostrichrelativenew.html

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160705122003.htm

http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/calciavis-grandei-kiwi-relatives-north-america-04002.html

[PaleoAnthropology • 2015] Perupithecus ucayalensis • Eocene Primates of South America and the African Origins of New World Monkeys

The platyrrhine primates, or New World monkeys, are immigrant mammals whose fossil record comes from Tertiary and Quaternary sediments of South America and the Caribbean Greater Antilles. The time and place of platyrrhine origins are some of the most controversial issues in primate palaeontology, although an African Palaeogene ancestry has been presumed by most primatologist. Until now, the oldest fossil records of New World monkeys have come from Salla, Bolivia, and date to approximately 26 million years ago, or the Late Oligocene epoch. Here we report the discovery of new primates from the ?Late Eocene epoch of Amazonian Peru, which extends the fossil record of primates in South America back approximately 10 million years. The new specimens are important for understanding the origin and early evolution of modern platyrrhine primates because they bear little resemblance to any extinct or living South American primate, but they do bear striking resemblances to Eocene African anthropoids, and our phylogenetic analysis suggests a relationship with African taxa. The discovery of these new primates brings the first appearance datum of caviomorph rodents and primates in South America back into close correspondence, but raises new questions about the timing and means of arrival of these two mammalian groups.

Left upper molars and tentative reconstruction of the Peruvian Late Eocene Perupithecus ucayalensis and the African Talahpithecus parvus from the Eocene of Libya. The areas in which these two taxa were discovered are shown
South America’s oldest known monkey, Perupithecus ucayaliensis; it was about the size of a squirrel, but with a longer tail, and probably weighed less than 250 grams.

Illustration: Jorge González

Mariano Bond, Marcelo F. Tejedor, Kenneth E. Campbell Jr, Laura Chornogubsky, Nelson Novo and Francisco Goin. 2015. Eocene Primates of South America and the African Origins of New World Monkeys.  Nature. doi: 10.1038/nature14120 

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2015/02/05/when-monkeys-surfed-to-south-america/

http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/fossil-peruvian-monkey-may-have-originated-africa

http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/science-fossils-earliest-south-american-monkeys-peru-02486.html

[Paleontology • 2014] Titanochelon • New Generic proposal for the European Neogene Large Testudinids (Cryptodira) and the First Phylogenetic Hypothesis for the medium and large representatives of the European Cenozoic record

Titanochelon bolivari  (Hernández-Pacheco, 1917)

Titanochelon, a new genus of giant tortoise that lived in Europe and western Asia between 20m and 2m years ago. 

Illustration: Mauricio Antón | DOI: 10.1111/zoj.12183

Fossil testudinids are known in Europe since the Eocene, with several taxa of medium size (from more than 0.3 m to less than 0.7 m) recognized in the Palaeogene record, most of them being poorly known. The size of several European Neogene taxa was larger (between 1 and 2 m). These large testudinids were relatively abundant and diverse, ranging from the early Miocene to the Pleistocene. However, there is a nomenclatural gap at the generic level for the Neogene forms, as their generally used assignment to the more primitive Eocene Cheirogaster cannot be sustained. This is because relatively little material has been assigned to the described species, and also because of the absence of a detailed study comparing all of the European taxa. Here, the European Cenozoic taxa are incorporated for the first time in a data matrix, so that a hypothesis on their phylogenetic relationships is justified. This study identified the large testudinids from the Neogene of Europe as belonging to a monophyletic clade, assigned to the new genus Titanochelon. The hitherto poorly understood ‘Testudo’ bolivari, proposed nearly a century ago but lacking diagnosis, is analysed in detail. It is recognized as the best-represented large testudinid from the European record, and is identified as the type species of Titanochelon gen. nov. Its comparison with the other Neogene species allowed a detailed study of the new genus and an analysis of its phylogenetic relationships with the other European taxa.

Keywords: Cheirogaster; Europe; Palaeogene; phylogenetic relationships; Testudinidae; ‘Testudo’ bolivari; Titanochelon gen. nov.

giant tortoise Titanochelon bolivari
1) reconstruction by paleoartist Mauricio Antón; 2) - 7) fossil of Titanochelon

| Source: MNCN et culturacientifica

Figure 2. Historical photographs of the shell of the lectotype of Titanochelon bolivari (‘Alcalá 2’), from the MN6 zone (late Aragonian, middle Miocene) of Cerro del Viso, in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid, Spain). Specimen collected in 1917.
A, right lateral view. Modified version of ACN 6553, photograph corresponding to plate XXXIV in Royo y Gómez (1928b). B, left lateral view. Modified version of the unpublished photograph ACN 6554. C, anteroventral view. Modified version of the unpublished photograph ACN 6555. D, dorsoposterior view. Modified version of ACN 6556, photograph corresponding to plate XXXV in Royo y Gómez (1928b).

Original photographs taken by Eduardo Hernández-Pacheco.

DOI: 10.1111/zoj.12183

SYSTEMATIC PALAEONTOLOGY

CHELONII LATREILLE, 1800

CRYPTODIRA COPE, 1868

TESTUDINOIDEA BATSCH, 1788

TESTUDINIDAE BATSCH, 1788

TESTUDININAE BATSCH, 1788

TITANOCHELON GEN. NOV.

Type species: Titanochelon bolivari (Hernández-Pacheco, 1917a)

Included species: Titanochelon bolivari comb. nov., Titanochelon eurysternum (Gervais, 1848–1852) comb. nov., Titanochelon ginsburgi (de Broin, 1977) comb. nov., Titanochelon vitodurana (Biedermann, 1862) comb. nov., Titanochelon steinbacheri (Karl, 1996) comb. nov., Titanochelon leberonensis (Depéret, 1890) comb. nov., Titanochelon schafferi (Szalai, 1931) comb. nov., Titanochelon perpiniana (Depéret, 1885) comb. nov., Titanochelon bacharidisi (Vlachos et al., 2014) comb. nov. 

Probably included species: cf. Titanochelon gymnesicus (Bate, 1914) comb. nov

Adán Pérez-García and Evangelos Vlachos. 2014. New Generic proposal for the European Neogene Large Testudinids (Cryptodira) and the First Phylogenetic Hypothesis for the medium and large representatives of the European Cenozoic record. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 172, 653–719. DOI: 10.1111/zoj.12183

theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/06/researchers-discover-new-genus-giant-tortoise

http://godzillin.blogspot.com/2014/11/el-titan-de-las-tortugas-europeas.html