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Friday, January 24th, 2025
| Time | Event | ||||||||
| 2:31p | [Arachnida • 2025] Pseudocleobis elongatus, P. atacamensis, P. lalackama, P. puna, etc. • Unveiling High solifuge Diversity: Review of the Genus Pseudocleobis Pocock, 1900 (Solifugae: Ammotrechidae) in Chile with the description of nine new species
Abstract The Pseudocleobis from Chile are revised. Pseudocleobis morsicans (Gervais, 1849) and P. chilensis Roewer, 1934 are considered species inquerenda. Pseudocleobis andinus (Pocock, 1899) is removed from the Chilean fauna, and its previous records are considered misidentifications. Pseudocleobis alticola Pocock, 1900 is recorded from Chile for the first time. Nine new species are described, Pseudocleobis elongatus n. sp., P. atacamensis n. sp., P. puna n. sp., P. krausi n. sp., P. choros n. sp., P. lalackama n. sp., P. mumai n. sp., P. cekalovici n. sp. and P. escuadra n. sp. The species can be distinguished by the male chelicera morphology. We discuss the relationship of Chilean Pseudocleobis with other species of the genus, based on morphology. This work increases the number of known Chilean solifuge species by almost 70%, revealing the high degree of diversification of this group in Chile.
Hernán Augusto Iuri, Andrés Alejandro Ojanguren-Affilastro, Emilio A. Maury, Fermín M. Alfaro, Bernardino Camousseigt-Montolivo and Jaime Pizarro-Araya. 2025. Unveiling High solifuge Diversity: Review of the Genus Pseudocleobis Pocock, 1900 (Ammotrechidae) in Chile with the description of nine new species. PLoS ONE. 20(1): e0309776. DOI: doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0309776  | ||||||||
| 3:54p | [Paleontology • 2025] Osteology and Functional Morphology of a transitional Pterosaur Dearc sgiathanach from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) of Scotland
Abstract Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to evolve active flight. The lack of many well-preserved pterosaur fossils limits our understanding of the functional anatomy and behavior of these flight pioneers, particularly from their early history (Triassic to Middle Jurassic). Here we describe in detail the osteology of an exceptionally preserved Middle Jurassic pterosaur, the holotype of Dearc sgiathanach from the Isle of Skye, Scotland. We identify new autapomorphies of the flight apparatus (humerus and sternum), which further support the distinctiveness of Dearc compared with other early-diverging pterosaurs and describe features, such as the vertebral morphology, shared with later-diverging pterosaurs that probably developed convergently to support a large body size or as a sign of modular evolution. We used extant phylogenetic bracketing to infer the principal cranial and antebrachial musculature, indicating that Dearc had large and anteriorly placed palatal musculature that compensated for weak temporal jaw adductors and wing musculature suggestive of flight style reliant on powerful adduction and protraction of the humerus. Comparisons with other pterosaurs revealed that non-pterodactyloids such as Dearc, despite their overall conservative bauplans, adapted various flight and feeding styles. The osteology and myology of Dearc are indicative of a large predator that flew and hunted above lagoons and nearshore environments of the Middle Jurassic. Keywords: Flight, Evolution, Jurassic, Pterosaur, Palaeontology Systematic paleontology Pterosauria Owen, 1842 Breviquartossa Unwin, 2003 Angustinaripterini He, 1983 Dearc sgiathanach Jagielska et al. 2022 
  Natalia Jagielska, Michael O’Sullivan, Ian B. Butler, Thomas J. Challands, Gregory F. Funston, Dugald Ross, Amelia Penny and Stephen L. Brusatte. 2025. Osteology and Functional Morphology of a transitional Pterosaur Dearc sgiathanach from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) of Scotland. BMC Ecology and Evolution. 25: 9. DOI: doi.org/10.1186/s12862-024-02337-9 |
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