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Monday, February 12th, 2024
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| 2:09a | [PaleoIchthyology • 2024] Advenasciaena bruneiana, Atrobucca borneensis, Bruneisciaena schwarzhansi, etc. • Late Miocene Teleost Fish Otoliths from Brunei Darussalam (Borneo) and their implications for palaeoecology and palaeoenvironmental conditions
ABSTRACT We report here diverse Late Miocene fish assemblages based on otoliths collected from sedimentary rocks deposited in coastal marine settings in northern Borneo (Seria and Miri formations and Tutong beach). Surface-collected, large-sized otoliths, representing > 96% of the whole assemblage, are dominated by the families Sciaenidae and Ariidae, while Haemulidae, Engraulidae, and Lactaridae can be common at certain sites. Additional taxa were revealed by screen-washing of the sediments from selected sites including taxa from the families of Congridae, Bregmacerotidae, Apogonidae, Gobidae, Sillaginidae, and Cepolidae. Among the sciaenids, we describe six new taxa (Advenasciaena bruneiana, Atrobucca borneensis, Bruneisciaena schwarzhansi, Nibea ambugensis, Nibea stintoni, and Protonibea nolfi), and we also report the first fossil occurrence of some other groups (e.g. Lactarius lactarius, Acanthocepola sp.) from the Indo-Australian Archipelago (IAA). All these discoveries add to our understanding of fish palaeobiodiversity in the IAA where today’s highest marine biodiversity exists. The compositions of the faunas reflect a shallow marine coastal palaeoenvironment with close connection to estuaries where some of the reported fishes might have migrated seasonally or daily with the tide. Turbid, suspension-loaded water might be also presumed, where ariids, sciaenids, and the haemulid Pomadasys are often observed today. KEYWORDS: Teleost otoliths, shallow-water tropical fauna, palaeobiodiversity, new genera, Indo-Australian archipelago, fossil fish fauna Order incertae sedis in Eupercaria Betancur-R. et al., 2017 Family Sciaenidae Cuvier, 1829  Genus Advenasciaena gen. nov. Name: Advena refers to the strange, alien characteristic of these new sciaenid otoliths. Advenasciaena bruneiana sp. nov. Name: Referring to Brunei Darussalam, the country of origin. Distribution: From late Middle Miocene to Late Miocene layers of the Seria and Miri formations in Brunei Darussalam. Genus Atrobucca Chu, Lo and Wu, 1963 Atrobucca borneensis sp. nov. Name: Refers to the origin of the otoliths as they are found on Borneo Island.  Genus Bruneisciaena gen. nov. Name: Refers to the geographic origin of the new sciaenid genus (Brunei Darussalam). Bruneisciaena schwarzhansi sp. nov. Name: In honour of Werner Schwarzhans (Hamburg, Germany) due to his great works on sciaenid otoliths. Distribution: From late Middle Miocene to Late Miocene layers of the Seria and Miri formations in Brunei Darussalam. Genus Nibea Jordan and Thompson, 1911 Nibea ambugensis sp. nov. Name: Derived from the locality of Ambug Hill (Tutong District, Brunei Darussalam) where these otoliths are the most abundant. Nibea stintoni sp. nov. Name: In memory of Fred C. Stinton who first worked on fossil otoliths from Brunei. Genus Protonibea Trewavas, 1971 Protonibea nolfi sp. nov. Name: In honour of Dirk Nolf for his major contributions to otolith research. Conclusion: Our study reports diverse coastal marine fish faunas based on otoliths from the Neogene beds of Brunei Darussalam in Borneo. The recovered 1493 otoliths belong to 34 taxa of 11 families, and among them six new species and two new genera (Advenasciaena bruneiana gen. nov. sp. nov., Atrobucca borneensis sp. nov., Bruneisciaena schwarzhansi gen. nov. sp. nov., Nibea ambugensis sp. nov., Nibea stintoni sp. nov., and Protonibea nolfi sp. nov.) are reported. The overall fauna is dominated by Sciaenidae, followed by Ariidae, Haemulidae, Engraulidae, and Lactariidae. Most of these specimens were collected from the surface of the outcrops, however, other families were revealed by occasional screen-washing (Gobiidae, Sillaginidae, Bregmacerotidae, Apogonidae, Congridae, and Cepolidae). Many of these groups are represented only by a few specimens and collectively the micro-remains compose 3.7% of the entire fauna. Future bulk sampling of the sediments could shed further light on the abundance and diversity of the micro-otolith assemblages. Based on the large-sized otoliths, the fish fauna indicates a palaeoenvironment with a coastal marine setting with nearby estuaries and deltas, probably with turbid water and, from time to time with lower salinity conditions. The younger deposits of the Seria Fm (AH) may reflect more open marine connections but still with a shallow setting with close proximities of river inputs. When comparing our findings with modern biodiversity and previous studies of the fossil record from the region, it is evident that our results increase our understanding of fish palaeobiodiversity in the Indo-Australian Archipelago, where today’s highest marine biodiversity exists. The described faunas and new taxa further highlight that the region’s fossil record is understudied, and new palaeontological findings are expected in the future. László Kocsis, Chien-Hsiang Lin, Emma Bernard and Adibah Johari. 2024. Late Miocene Teleost Fish Otoliths from Brunei Darussalam (Borneo) and their implications for palaeoecology and palaeoenvironmental conditions. Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology. DOI: 10.1080/08912963.2023.2271489 | ||||||
| 2:09a | [Herpetology • 2024] Systematic Assessment of the Brown Tree Frog (Anura: Pelodryadidae: Litoria ewingii) reveals Two endemic Species in South Australia; Litoria azuroscelis & L. sibilus
Abstract The brown tree frog (Litoria ewingii) is a relatively widespread, commonly encountered pelodryadid frog from south-eastern Australia, known for its characteristic whistling call. The distribution of Litoria ewingii spans over more than 350,000 km2, encompassing a range of moist temperate habitats, and is fragmented by well-known biogeographic barriers. A preliminary analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequences revealed evidence for deep phylogenetic structure between some of these fragmented populations. In this study, we sought to re-evaluate the systematics and taxonomy of Litoria ewingii sensu lato by analysing variation in nuclear and mitochondrial DNA, adult morphology and male advertisement calls throughout the species’ range. Our analyses reveal two additional, deeply divergent and allopatric lineages in South Australia. We herein re-describe Litoria ewingii from Tasmania, southern New South Wales, Victoria and south-eastern South Australia, resurrect the name Litoria calliscelis for a species occurring in the Mount Lofty Ranges and Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia, and describe a new species, Litoria sibilus sp. nov., endemic to Kangaroo Island. Key words: mtDNA, single-nucleotide polymorphisms, biogeography, Kangaroo Island, Murray River Basin
Litoria sibilus sp. nov. Suggested common name: Kangaroo Island Tree Frog Diagnosis. Litoria sibilus is diagnosable from all other members of the L. ewingii group by a combination of (1) adult body size 25–34 mm for males and 28–43 mm for females, (2) moderately robust build, (3) pads wider than fingers (mean Fin3W/Fin3DW = 0.6) and toes (mean Toe4W/Toe4DW = 0.7), (4) webbing on hands vestigial but relatively well-developed on the feet (extending to the 1st subarticular tubercle on the 4th toe [see Fig 8, Type B]), (5) posterior edge of thigh orange-pink, usually patterned with dark spots and blotches (n= 26/27), occasionally plain (n=1/27), (6) dark spots or blotches in inguinal region usually absent (n=23/27), sometimes a single spot may be present right at the junction of the thigh and body (n=4/27), (7) genetically by apomorphic nucleotide states at 15 sites in the ND4 gene. Diagnoses of Litoria sibilus and the other species described herein are presented in Table 8 for ease of comparison. Etymology. The specific epithet, sibilus, is a masculine Latin 2nd declension noun meaning whistle or hiss. It is used in apposition to the genus name.  Tom Parkin, Jodi J. L. Rowley, Jessica Elliott-Tate, Michael J. Mahony, Joanna Sumner, Jane Melville and Steve C. Donnellan. 2024. Systematic Assessment of the Brown Tree Frog (Anura: Pelodryadidae: Litoria ewingii) reveals Two endemic Species in South Australia. Zootaxa. 5406(1); 1-36. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5406.1.1 | ||||||
| 6:46a | [Ichthyology • 2024] Corydoras caramater • A New long-snouted Corydoras (Siluriformes: Callichthyidae) from the rio Xingu and rio Tapajós Basins, Brazilian Amazon
Abstract A new species of Corydoras is described from the rio Xingu and rio Tapajós basins, Pará State, Brazil. The new species can be promptly distinguished from its congeners by the combination of the following features: (I) temporal sensory canal at sphenotic with two pores; (II) upper tooth plate of branchial arch with three or four series of teeth; (III) area at the corner of the mouth, ventral to the maxillary barbel, with a small, roughly triangular fleshy flap, not forming an elongated barbel-like structure; (IV) contact between posterior process of the parieto-supraoccipital and nuchal plate; (V) dark stripe transversally crossing the orbit, forming a mask-like blotch; (VI) absence of a distinct color pattern along midline of flank; (VII) dorsolateral body plates only with small, irregular, rounded or vertically elongated dark brown or black blotches; ground color of plates typically dusky but not forming large, conspicuous black patches; and (VIII) absence of a relatively large, conspicuous dark patch on anterior portion of dorsal fin. Keywords: Corydoradinae; Corydoras sp. CW83; Jacareacanga; Taxonomy; Volta Grande do Xingu
Corydoras caramater, new species Diagnosis: Corydoras caramater can be distinguished from its congeners, except for the species within the lineage 1 sensu Alexandrou et al. (2011), by the presence of the following features: branch of the temporal sensory canal at sphenotic, which gives rise to the supraorbital canal, with two pores (vs. one pore); upper tooth plate of branchial arch with three or four series of teeth (vs. two series); and area at the corner of the mouth, ventral to the maxillary barbel, with a small fleshy flap (vs. fleshy flap absent); from the lineage 1 species, except for C. amapaensis Nijssen, 1972, C. blochi Nijssen, 1971, C. cortesi Castro, 1987, C. desana Lima & Sazima, 2017, C. pastazensis Weitzman, 1963, C. saramaccensis Nijssen, 1970, C. septentrionalis Gosline, 1940, C. serratus Sands, 1995, C. solox Nijssen & Isbrücker, 1983, and C. simulatus Weitzman & Nijssen, 1970, by having a dark brown or black patch transversally crossing the orbit, forming a mask-like blotch, which can be variably diffuse (vs. mask-like blotch absent); it differs from C. cortesi, C. desana, C. pastazensis, C. septentrionalis, and C. simulatus by the absence of a distinct color pattern along midline of flank (vs. midline of flank with moderate- to large-sized, conspicuous dark brown or black blotches in C. desana, C. pastazensis, C. septentrionalis, and C. simulatus; with a longitudinal dark brown or black stripe in C. cortesi); from C. amapaensis, C. serratus and C. solox, it differs by having dorsolateral body plates only with small, irregular, rounded or vertically elongated dark brown or black blotches; ground color of plates typically dusky but not forming large, conspicuous black patches (vs. midventral portion of dorsolateral body plates on region between middle portion of dorsal fin and caudal-fin base typically with large, conspicuous dark brown or black longitudinally elongated blotch or stripe; dark stripe variably diffuse, in C. amapaensis; wide, dark brown or black longitudinal stripe from predorsal region to caudal-fin base or, alternatively, dorsolateral body plates around anterior portion of dorsal-fin base with dark brown or black patch in C. serratus; region between anterior portion of dorsal fin and caudal-fin base with wide, longitudinal dark brown or black stripe in C. solox); from C. blochi and C. saramaccensis by the absence of a relatively large, conspicuous dark patch on anterior portion of dorsal fin (vs. anterior portion of dorsal fin with a conspicuous concentration of dark brown or black chromatophores, forming a relatively large, conspicuous patch). Additionally, Corydoras caramater can be distinguished from C. geoffroy Lacépède, 1803, C. amapaensis, C. septentrionalis, and C. solox by having a triangular fleshy flap at the corner of mouth, ventrally to maxillary barbel, not forming an elongated barbel-like structure (vs. fleshy flap at corner of mouth elongated, forming a barbel-like structure). Etymology. The specific epithet caramater is formed by the junction of two words derived from the Latin ‘cara’, which means dear, beloved, and ‘mater’, meaning mother. This is a small tribute to these strong women, who work hard and are still responsible, often alone, for tenderly raising their children. The name especially honors Miriam Tencatt, Jéssica Mendonça (mother and wife of LCFT, respectively), Ireide da Silva Pinto (mother of OLPC), Vanda Santos (in memorian), Roberta Murta-Fonseca (mother and wife of SAS, respectively), and Edina Melo de Sousa (mother of LMS), but extends to all caring mothers around the world. A noun in apposition. L.F.C. Tencatt, Couto O.L.P., Santos S.A. and Sousa L.M. 2024. A New long-snouted Corydoras (Siluriformes: Callichthyidae) from the rio Xingu and rio Tapajós Basins, Brazilian Amazon. Neotrop. ichthyol. 22(1); DOI: 10.1590/1982-0224-2023-0112 |
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