First fossil record of an East Asian endemic genus Sladenia (Sladeniaceae) from its modern range: Implications for floristic evolution and conservation biology

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin‐Bo Jia ◽  
Steven R. Manchester ◽  
Jian Huang ◽  
Tao Su ◽  
Li Xue ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Conservation Biology ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Endemic Genus ◽  
Floristic Evolution

scholarly journals Eocene Western European endemic genus Thaumastosaurus: new insights into the question “Are the Ranidae known prior to the Oligocene?”

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Davit Vasilyan
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Endemic Genus ◽  
Tropical Conditions ◽  
Extinction Event ◽  
First Occurrence ◽  
Grande Coupure ◽  
Climate Evolution ◽  
Latest Eocene

Background Amphibians, due to their ecophysiological peculiarities, have a physiology dependent on environmental conditions and sensitively respond to their changes. Here, the oldest record of the genus Thaumastosaurus is described, whose fossil record known exclusively from Western Europe is discussed in the scope of the climatic changes of 33.5–40.5 Ma. Results In the present paper, the fossil remains of the genus from three localities in Switzerland (11 samples overall) have been studied and referred to the species Thaumastosaurus bottii. Its stratigraphic distribution has been revised and summarised. The studied localities present the stratigraphically oldest and the most eastern occurrences of the genus Thaumastosaurus. Eocene probable ranids (Ranidae indet./Rana sp./? Rana sp.) from Europe could be referred to Thaumastosaurus. Discussion Their first occurrence of ranids most likely coincides with a warm phase of the global climate at 40 Ma, as tropical conditions were prevailing in Europe. As a result of the gradual cooling of the global climate, the tropical conditions in Europe were replaced by drier open habitats towards the latest Eocene at 34 Ma, when the latest occurrence of the European endemic genus Thaumastosaurus is known. Taking the fossil record and the climate evolution of that time into account, it can be concluded that Thaumastosaurus represents one of the groups among the vertebrates that disappeared during the large extinction event at the Eo–Oligocene transition, known as the Grande Coupure. The fossil finds of the genus from the studied localities allow to refer the previously suggested Eocene true frogs to the genus Thaumastosaurus, hereby stating the arrival of the true frog family Ranidae by the genus Pelophylax in Europe from the east at the earliest Oligocene.

scholarly journals Plastome phylogenomics of the East Asian endemic genus Dobinea

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Changkun Liu ◽  
Jin Yang ◽  
Lei Jin ◽  
Shuying Wang ◽  
Zhenyan Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
East Asian ◽  
Endemic Genus

scholarly journals Addressing priority questions of conservation science with palaeontological data

2019 ◽  
Vol 374 (1788) ◽  
pp. 20190222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Kiessling ◽  
Nussaïbah B. Raja ◽  
Vanessa Julie Roden ◽  
Samuel T. Turvey ◽  
Erin E. Saupe
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Conservation Biology ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Conservation Science ◽  
Statistical Assessment ◽  
Academic Collaboration ◽  
The Past ◽  
Natural Choice ◽  
Recent Emergence

Palaeontologists often ask identical questions to those asked by ecologists. Despite this, ecology is considered a core discipline of conservation biology, while palaeontologists are rarely consulted in the protection of species, habitats and ecosystems. The recent emergence of conservation palaeobiology presents a big step towards better integration of palaeontology in conservation science, although its focus on historical baselines may not fully capture the potential contributions of geohistorical data to conservation science. In this essay we address previously defined priority questions in conservation and consider which of these questions may be answerable using palaeontological data. Using a statistical assessment of surveys, we find that conservation biologists and younger scientists have a more optimistic view of potential palaeontological contributions to the field compared to experienced palaeontologists. Participants considered questions related to climate change and marine ecosystems to be the best addressable with palaeontological data. As these categories are also deemed most relevant by ecologists and receive the greatest research effort in conservation, they are the natural choice for future academic collaboration. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘The past is a foreign country: how much can the fossil record actually inform conservation?’

Evidence supporting Davallia canariensis as a Late Miocene relict endemic to Macaronesia and Atlantic Europe

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongmei Liu ◽  
Harald Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Late Miocene ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Messinian Salinity Crisis ◽  
Crown Group ◽  
Coding Regions ◽  
Extant Species ◽  
The Family ◽  
Fern Species

The present study investigated the hypothesis that several fern species occurring in Macaronesia and Atlantic Europe are relicts of the Miocene Paratethyan–Tethyan flora that survived in Macaronesia refugia. The hypothesis was tested by reconstructing the phylogenetic relationships of the derived fern Davallia canariensis, which is the only species of a mainly South-east Asian family, Davalliaceae, occurring naturally in Europe, Macaronesia and northern Africa. The dataset comprised a comprehensive taxonomic sampling of the family, with representatives of the five major lineages and ~50–60% of the extant species diversity. For each species, we included two coding regions of the chloroplast genome, namely, atpB and rbcL. Diversification times were estimated considering previous estimates of the crown and stem group age as well as the fossil record of Davalliaceae. The results were consistent with the hypothesis, by recovering D. canariensis as the only extant member of an isolated lineage that has been separated from other crown group Davalliaceae since the Late Miocene. The obtained results are discussed in the context of the Messinian salinity crisis, evolution of epiphytic habit in ferns, and the generic classification of Davalliaceae.

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