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Thursday, January 9th, 2025
| Time | Event | ||||||||
| 1:37a | [Paleontology • 2025] Ahvaytum bahndooiveche • Rethinking Dinosaur Origins: Oldest known equatorial Dinosaur-bearing Assemblage (mid-late Carnian Popo Agie FM, Wyoming, USA)
Abstract The origin of Dinosauria is thought to be deeply rooted in the high-latitude southern hemisphere (Gondwana). Nearly 6–10 million years separates Gondwanan faunas and the oldest known dinosaur occurrence in the northern hemisphere (Laurasia). However, our understanding of dinosaur origins is biased by an apparent absence of Carnian-aged (237–227 Mya) Laurasian terrestrial strata. Here we report on UWGM 1975/UWGM 7549, the oldest known Laurasian dinosaur Ahvaytum bahndooiveche gen. et sp. nov., and UWGM 7407/UWGM 7550, a silesaurid, from palaeoequatorial deposits of the lower Popo Agie Formation, Wyoming, USA. High-precision radioisotopic detrital ages [e.g. ≤229.04 ± 0.24 Mya (2σ)] from the upper Popo Agie Formation constrain an age-depth model that predicts a ~230 Mya age for UWGM 1975, making Laurasia’s first unequivocal Carnian-aged sauropodomorph dinosaur comparable in age to the oldest dinosaur faunas of Gondwana. The presence of a ~230 Mya, low-latitude, early sauropodomorph from the northern hemisphere, along with a silesaurid, challenges the hypothesis of a delayed dinosaurian dispersal out of high-latitude Gondwana. These data fill a critical gap in the early record of sauropodomorph dinosaur evolution and demonstrate widespread geographic distribution by the mid-late Carnian. Carnian, dinosaur, Laurasia, Popo Agie Formation, Sauropodomorpha, silesaurid, Triassic  Dinosauromorpha Benton, 1985 (sensu Nesbitt 2011) Dinosauriformes Novas, 1992 (sensu Nesbitt 2011) Dinosauria Owen, 1842 (sensu Padian and May 1993) Saurischia Seeley, 1887 (sensu Gauthier 1986) Sauropodomorpha(?) von Huene, 1932 Ahvaytum gen. nov. Etymology: Ahvaytum, from the Shoshone ‘Anva·tum’ (pronounced ‘ah-vay-tum’), meaning ‘long ago’ in reference to the ancient nature of UWGM 1975. Pronunciation guide: the sound ah is as in ‘autumn’, vay as in ‘vague’, and tum as in ‘autumn’. See Supporting Information, Audio S1 (discussion of name); recordings by Eastern Shoshone Elder (RT). Ahvaytum bahndooiveche sp. nov. Etymology: bahndooiveche, from the Shoshone ‘ban·döi·ve·che’ (pronounced ‘bon-do-ee-vee-chee’), meaning ‘water’s young handsome man’ in reference to the colourful salamanders found in the region, and also means ‘dinosaur’ (Supporting Information, Audio S1), which is the meaning used here. The name Ahvaytum bahndooiveche (‘long ago dinosaur’) is the product of a multigenerational collaboration between the Fort Washakie Schools 7th grade cohort (2022), educators, Eastern Shoshone Tribal Historic Preservation Office, and Tribal Elders. Pronunciation guide: bahn as in ‘bonnet’, do-ee as in ‘dewy’, vee as in ‘ivy’, and chee as in ‘cheese’. See the Supporting Information, Audio S1 for recorded pronunciation (recording by RT. LSID urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:538C156C-5CC1-4 Diagnosis: Ahvaytum bahndooiveche shares a combination of features present in sauropodomorph dinosaurs to the exclusion of theropods, herrerasaurs, and ornithischians, including: a flat, roller-shaped distal surface of the astragalus shared with sauropodomorphs but not herrerasaurs and neotheropods (Marsh et al. 2019); a tibial facet that does not extend on to the anteromedial corner of the astragalus shared with all sauropodomorphs in our study, the silesaurid Lewisuchus admixtus Romer, 1972, the theropods Lepidus praecisio and Eodromaeus murphi Martinez et al., 2011, and the herrerasaurs Tawa hallae Nesbitt et al., 2009 and Chindesaurus bryansmalli Long and Murry, 1995; a shallow laterodistal notch of the astragalus shared with non-massopodan sauropodomorphs, except Panphagia ...
David M Lovelace, Aaron M Kufner, Adam J Fitch, Kristina Curry Rogers, Mark Schmitz, Darin M Schwartz, Amanda LeClair-Diaz, Lynette St.Clair, Joshua Mann and Reba Teran. 2025. Rethinking Dinosaur Origins: Oldest known equatorial Dinosaur-bearing Assemblage (mid-late Carnian Popo Agie FM, Wyoming, USA). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 203(1); zlae153, DOI: doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae153 | ||||||||
| 10:57a | [Botany • 2024] Globba zwegabinensis (Zingiberaceae) • A New Species of Globba Sect. Haplanthera from Myanmar
Abstract Globba zwegabinensis sp. nov., under sect. Haplanthera (Zingiberaceae) is newly described and illustrated from the Zwegabin Mountain of Kayin State in southern Myanmar. G. zwegabinensis is morphologically allied to G. sessiliflora and G. lithophila but differs in having the leaves with a foetid smell, glabrous blade, completely yellow filament, glabrous ovary, larger cuneiform labellum with bifid apex, glabrous and oblong to ovate fruit, lack of bulbils and anther appendages. A description and photographic data, along with the comparative characteristics of the closely allied species, are provided. Keywords: Zingiberaceae; New taxon; Myanmar, Zwegabin Mountain.
    Globba zwegabinensis Latt, M.K.Naing & Joongku Lee, sp. nov. Diagnosis: Globba zwegabinensis is morphologically similar to G. sessiliflora Sims under the same sect. Haplanthera and G. macrochila Sangvir. & M.F. Newman under sect. Nudae but can be distinguished by glabrous leaf-blade, the foetid smell of leaf, totally yellow filament, glabrous ovary, larger cuneiform labellum with bifid apex, glabrous and oblong to ovate fruit, and lack of bulbils. Etymology. The species epithet is named after the type locality Zwegabin Mountain, where this species was specifically found among the aggregated limestone hills and mountains across Pha-an Township. Vernacular name: “Zwe-gabin Badein-ngo ဇွဲကပင်ပန်းထိမ်ငို” (proposed here). “Badein-ngo” and “Badein-ma-naing”are the local names of Globba species in Myanmar, whereas “Zwegabin” refers to the name of the mountain where it was found first.  Myo Min Latt, Min Khant Naing, Ritesh Kumar Choudhary and Joongku Lee. 2024. A New Species of Globba under Sect. Haplanthera (Zingiberaceae) from Myanmar. Bangladesh J. Plant Taxon. 31(2); 197-203. DOI: doi.org/10.3329/bjpt.v31i2.78748 ဇွဲကပင်တောင်ထိပ်ပေါ်မှာ ပန်းမျိုးစိတ်သစ် တွေ့ရှိ III ပထမဆုံးအကြိမ် တွေ့ရှိတာကြောင့် 'ဇွဲကပင်ပန်းထိမ်ငို'လို့ နာမည်ပေး facebook.com/NSCIMyanmar/posts/562232636641674 | ||||||||
| 10:57a | [Botany • 2025] Polygala spatulata (Polygalaceae, sect. Pseudosemeiocardium) • A New Species from Guangxi, China
Abstract Polygala spatulata Y. Nong & Run Hua Jiang (sect. Pseudosemeiocardium, Polygalaceae), a new species from a karst cave in west Guangxi, China, is described and illustrated. This new species resembles Polygala isocarpa Chodat in its annual habit, terminal racemes, lamellate appendage, yellow flowers and glabrous seeds, but it can be easily distinguished by its sparsely white-pilose stem and leaf blades, spoon-shaped inner sepals, ovate outer sepals (ca. 1.5 mm) which is glandular and all persistent after anthesis, as well as its elliptic, reticulate seeds. Photographs, an illustration, a distribution map and a comparative table with the most similar species are also provided. Key words: Karst cave, new species, Polygala, taxonomy 
Polygala spatulata Y.Nong & Run Hua Jiang, sp. nov. Chinese name: “sháo è xiǎo biǎn dòu”(勺萼小扁豆) Diagnosis: Polygala spatulata is most similar to P. isocarpa Chodat, but it can be easily distinguished by its stems sparsely white pilose (vs. glabrous), leaf blade oval or obovate, membranous, abaxially and adaxially sparsely white pilose, apex round or obtuse (vs. ovate or ovate-triangular, papery, both surfaces glabrous or only abaxially sparsely setose, apex acuminate), its inner sepals spoon-shaped (vs. oblong or ovate) and its outer sepals 3, ovate, ca. 1.5 mm, glandular, all persistent after anthesis (vs. outer sepals 3, broadly ovate, ca. 1 mm, glabrous, one persistent after anthesis). You Nong, Run-Hua Jiang, Qi-Min Hu, Xin-Cheng Qu, Xu-Chuan Gui, Gui-Yuan Wei, Li-Qun Lei. 2025. Polygala spatulata (sect. Pseudosemeiocardium, Polygalaceae), A New Species from Guangxi, China. PhytoKeys. 251: 13-21. DOI: doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.251.139955 | ||||||||
| 11:17a | [Botany • 2024] Ipomoea simoesiana (Convolvulaceae) • A New Species from the Western Ghats, India
Abstract Ipomoea simoesiana, a new species of Convolvulaceae is described from the Western Ghats of India. The species is morphologically similar to I. ochracea (Lindl.) G.Don but it is distinguished by its hirsute stem and sepals, leaves with an acute apex, globose capsule, and hirsute seeds. A detailed description, distribution, phenological period and relevant taxonomic notes are provided to facilitate its easy identification. An identification key for all yellow-flowered species of Ipomoea in India is also included. The conservation status has been provisionally assessed as Endangered. Keywords: Biodiversity, Rocky crevices, Maharashtra, Morning Glory, Sahyadri range
Ipomoea simoesiana Shimpale, A.V. Kattee & S.B. Patil sp. nov. The new species is morphologically similar to Ipomoea ochracea (Lindl.) G. Don in terms of habit and flower color but can be distinguished by several key features: it has hirsute stems (vs. glabrous or tomentellous); leaves that are cordate at the base and acute to acuminate at the apex (vs. broadly cordate at the base and finely acuminate); densely hirsute sepals (vs. glabrous to tomentellous sepals); a corolla tube that is yellow throughout (vs. purple inside at the base); and globose fruits (vs. ovoid fruits), and hirsute seeds (vs. seeds reticulate, glabrous to tomentose at margins). Etymology: The species is named after Dr. Ana Rita G. Simoes, Scientist at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK in recognition of her contribution to the studies of the family Convolvulaceae, especially in tribe Merremieae. Kattee A.V., Patil S.B. and V.B. Shimpale. 2024. Ipomoea simoesiana (Convolvulaceae): A New Species from the Western Ghats, India. Rheedea. 34(5); 488–505. https://rheedea.in/journal/3p4XOk6L | ||||||||
| 3:30p | [Herpetology • 2024] Gloydius variegatus • One mountain, Two tigers: A New Species of Gloydius (Serpentes: Viperidae) from the upper Lancang Valley in Xizang, China, with comments on the diagnostic characters and evolution of the G. strauchi (Bedriaga, 19
Abstract The Hengduan Mountains Region (HMR) in China, a globally significant biodiversity hotspot, has garnered attention for its potential to harbor cryptic species within the Asian pit viper genus Gloydius Hoge & Romano-Hoge, 1981. Based on comprehensive morphological comparisons and molecular phylogenetic analysis of the Gloydius strauchi complex, this study identified a previously unrecognized species of Asian pit viper. Discovered in the upper Lancang (Mekong) hot dry valley of Xizang, China, this species is geographically proximate to G. huangi but exhibits clear morphological distinctions from other members of the genus, representing the second Gloydius species identified along the upper Lancang River. We describe here this new species and highlight the significance of skull and hemipenis morphology, which were instrumental in its diagnosis and in resolving taxonomic boundaries and ambiguities within the G. strauchi complex. This study provides insights into the phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary history of this newly described species, enhancing our understanding of diversification patterns in this genus.
Gloydius variegatus sp. nov.
Jin-Long Ren, Jun-Jie Huang, Wei Wu, Ke Jiang and Jia-tang Li. 2024. One mountain, Two tigers: A New Species of Gloydius (Serpentes: Viperidae) from the upper Lancang Valley in Xizang, China, with comments on the diagnostic characters and evolution of the G. strauchi (Bedriaga, 1912) species complex. Asian Herpetological Research. DOI: doi.org/10.3724/ahr.2095-0357.2024.0059  |
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