Université de Fribourg

New species, revision, and phylogeny of Ronzotherium Aymard, 1854 (Perissodactyla, Rhinocerotidae)

Tissier, Jérémy ; Antoine, Pierre-Olivier ; Becker, Damien

In: European Journal of Taxonomy, 2021, vol. 753, p. 1-80

Ronzotherium is one of the earliest Rhinocerotidae in Europe, which first appeared just after the Eocene/Oligocene transition (Grande Coupure), and became extinct at the end of the Oligocene. It is a large-sized rhinocerotid, with a special position in the phylogeny of this group, as being one of the earliest-branching true Rhinocerotidae. However, its intra-generic systematics has never been...

Université de Fribourg

3D models related to the publication: New material of Epiaceratherium and a new species of Mesaceratherium clear up the phylogeny of the early Rhinocerotidae (Perissodactyla)

Tissier, Jérémy ; Antoine, Pierre-Olivier ; Becker, Damien

In: MorphoMuseuM, 2020, vol. 6, no. 3, p. e116

The present 3D Dataset contains two 3D models described in Tissier et al. (https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.200633): the only known complete mandible of the early-branching rhinocerotoid Epiaceratherium magnum Uhlig, 1999, and a hypothetical reconstruction of the complete archetypic skull of Epiaceratherium Heissig, 1969, created by merging three cranial parts from three distinct Epiaceratherium...

Université de Fribourg

New material of Epiaceratherium and a new species of Mesaceratherium clear up the phylogeny of early Rhinocerotidae (Perissodactyla)

Tissier, Jérémy ; Antoine, Pierre-Olivier ; Becker, Damien

In: Royal Society Open Science, 2020, vol. 7, no. 7, p. 200633

Reduction of the anterior dentition (i.e. incisors and canines) is a major adaptative trait of the Rhinocerotidae among Perissodactyla. However, the corresponding evolutionary sequence was lacking a robust phylogenetic frame to support it thus far. Here, we describe a new Oligocene species of Rhinocerotinae, Mesaceratherium sp. nov. from the Swiss locality of Bumbach (MP25 reference level)....

Université de Fribourg

Anchitheriinae (Perissodactyla, Equidae) from the early middle Miocene locality Gračanica (Bugojno Basin, Bosnia-Herzegovina)

Becker, Damien ; Tissier, Jérémy ; Vasilyan, Davit ; Göhlich, Ursula B.

In: Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments, 2020, p. -

The early middle Miocene (European Land Mammal Zone MN5-earliest MN6) locality Gračanica (Bugojno Basin, Bosnia-Herzegovina) has yielded numerous well-preserved dental remains of two Anchitheriinae species: Anchitherium hippoides and Anchitherium ezquerrae. This anchithere assemblage is typical of the Orleanian European Land Mammal Age and is recorded for the first time in Southeastern...

Université de Fribourg

A new alligatoroid from the Eocene of Vietnam highlights an extinct Asian clade independent from extant Alligator sinensis

Massonne, Tobias ; Vasilyan, Davit ; Rabi, Márton ; Böhme, Madelaine

In: PeerJ, 2019, vol. 7, p. e7562

During systematic paleontological surveys in the Na Duong Basin in North Vietnam between 2009 and 2012, well-preserved fossilized cranial and postcranial remains belonging to at least 29 individuals of a middle to late Eocene (late Bartonian to Priabonian age (39–35 Ma)) alligatoroid were collected. Comparative anatomical study of the material warrants the diagnosis of a new taxon,...

Université de Fribourg

Predicting climate change impacts on the threatened Quercus arbutifolia in montane cloud forests in southern China and Vietnam: Conservation implications

Song, Yi-Gang ; Petitpierre, Blaise ; Denga, Min ; Wu, Jin-Ping ; Kozlowski, Gregor

In: Forest Ecology and Management, 2019, vol. 444, p. 269–279

Trees of montane cloud forests (MCFs) often have small and isolated populations and face numerous threats. Due to limited conservation resources, management decisions are often based on scarce biological information. This study investigated the current status of populations of the critically endangered oak species Quercus arbutifolia in southern China, including its distribution, threats,...

Université de Fribourg

A new testudinoid turtle from the middle to late Eocene of Vietnam

Garbin, Rafaella C. ; Böhme, Madelaine ; Joyce, Walter G.

In: PeerJ, 2019, vol. 7, p. e6280

Testudinoidea is a major clade of turtles that has colonized different ecological environments across the globe throughout the Tertiary. Aquatic testudinoids have a particularly rich fossil record in the Tertiary of the northern hemisphere, but little is known about the evolutionary history of the group, as the phylogenetic relationships of most fossils have not been established with...

Université de Fribourg

New data on Amynodontidae (Mammalia, Perissodactyla) from Eastern Europe: Phylogenetic and palaeobiogeographic implications around the Eocene-Oligocene transition

Tissier, Jérémy ; Becker, Damien ; Codrea, Vlad ; Costeur, Loïc ; Fărcaş, Cristina ; Solomon, Alexandru ; Venczel, Marton ; Maridet, Olivier

In: PLOS ONE, 2018, vol. 13, no. 4, p. e0193774

Amynodontidae is a family of Rhinocerotoidea (Mammalia, Perissodactyla) known from the late Early Eocene to the latest Oligocene, in North America and Eurasia. European Amynodontidae are very rare, and all remains belong almost exclusively to a single post—Grande Coupure genus from the Oligocene, Cadurcotherium. The “Grande Coupure” defines an extinctions and dispersal-generated...

Université de Fribourg

The record of Aplodontidae (Rodentia, Mammalia) in the Oligocene and Miocene of the Valley of Lakes (Central Mongolia) with some comments on the morphologic variability

Maridet, Olivier ; Daxner-Höck, Gudrun ; López-Guerrero, Paloma ; Göhlich, Ursula B.

In: Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments, 2017, vol. 97, no. 1, p. 25–49

The present publication reports new discoveries of Oligocene and early Miocene aplodontid rodents from the Taatsiin Gol area (Valley of Lakes) in Mongolia. The fossil aplodontids recovered in this area are mainly composed of dental remains, some fragmentary jaws plus one partially preserved skull. Aplodontid rodents have been found from the early Oligocene (local biozone A) to the early...

Université de Fribourg

A review of the fossil record of basal mesozoic turtles

Joyce, Walter G.

In: Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History, 2017, vol. 58, no. 1, p. 65–113

Turtles (Testudinata) are the clade of amniotes characterized by a complete turtle shell. New insights into the phylogeny of the group have revealed that a diverse assemblage of fossil turtles populate the stem lineage that lead to the turtle crown (Testudines). To aid communication, the terms Mesochelydia and Perichelydia are herein defined for two internested clades more inclusive than...