The late Early Miocene site of Buluk, Kenya, has yielded fossil remains of several catarrhine primates, including 16 dentognathic specimens of the stem cercopithecoid Noropithecus bulukensis. With the exception of the large sample of Victoriapithecus macinnesi from the middle Miocene of Maboko Island, Kenya, the majority of stem cercopithecoid taxa are represented by small sample sizes. We describe and analyze 91 new cercopithecoid fossils collected from Buluk between 2004 and 2018, including several previously undescribed tooth positions for N. bulukensis, and provide the first evaluation of dental metric and morphological variation in this sample. The results show that the expanded Buluk sample exhibits high levels of dental variation in the postcanine tooth row, similar to V. macinnesi at Maboko, but this variation is consistent with a single-species hypothesis. Subtle differences in the shape of the I, breadth of the C and P, relative breadth of M, upper and lower molar distal shelf lengths, the degree of M basal flare, and a less-developed lower molar distal lophid differentiate the dentition of N. bulukensis from V. macinnesi. Although differences exist between the N. bulukensis and V. macinnesi dental samples, the high degree of variation within each sample complicates the identification of many individual specimens. New partial maxillae and mandibles allow reassessment of previously described diagnostic differences between N. bulukensis and V. macinnesi, negating upper molar arcade shape as a diagnostic feature and confirming the existence of differences in mandibular symphyseal morphology. Overall, new fossils from Buluk provide new evidence of the dentognathic anatomy of a medium-sized cercopithecoid that coexisted with a diverse group of noncercopithecoid catarrhines at the end of the early Miocene.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102886 | DOI Listing |
Mol Phylogenet Evol
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SNSB-Zoologische Staatssammlung München, Münchhausenstraße 21, D-81247 Munich, Germany; GeoBio-Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Richard-Wagner-Straße 10, D-80333 Munich, Germany.
Disjunct distributions, characterised by spatially separated populations of related species, offer insights into historical biogeographic patterns and evolutionary processes. This study investigates the evolutionary history of the diving beetle subfamily Lancetinae through a phylogenomic approach incorporating ultraconserved elements (UCEs) and heritage genetic markers. Our findings support an early Miocene origin for Lancetinae, with subsequent diversification influenced by historical vicariance events and long-distance dispersal.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Biol Sci
December 2024
Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK.
Shrews are among the most speciose of mammalian clades, but their evolutionary history is poorly understood. Their fossil record is fragmentary and even the anatomy of living groups is not well documented. Here, we incorporate the oldest, most complete fossil shrew yet known into the first phylogenetic analysis of the group to include molecular, morphological and temporal data.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMol Ecol
December 2024
State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China.
Introgression is the infiltration or flow of genes from one species to another through hybridisation followed by backcrossing. This may lead to incorrect phylogenetic reconstruction or divergence-time estimation. Acropora is a dominant genus of reef-building corals; however, whether this group has an introgression history before their diversification remains unclear, and previous divergence-time estimates of Acropora have not considered the impact of introgression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHeliyon
December 2024
Department of Geological Engineering, Universitas Muhammadiyah Kalimantan Timur, 75243, Kalimantan Timur, Kota Samarinda, Indonesia.
Geobiology
December 2024
Dipartimento di Scienze Della Terra, Università Degli Studi di Torino, Torino, Italy.
Due to their fast precipitation rate, sulfate evaporites represent excellent repositories of past life on Earth and potentially on other solid planets. Nevertheless, the preservation potential of biogenic remains can be compromised by extremely fast early diagenetic processes. The upper Miocene, gypsum-bearing sedimentary successions of the Mediterranean region, that formed ca.
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