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Tuesday, February 18th, 2025
| Time | Event | ||||||||
| 1:51a | [Botany • 2025] Chiloschista tjiasmantoi (Orchidaceae: Epidendroideae: Vandeae: Aeridinae) • A New Species from Sumatra Island, Indonesia
Abstract Chiloschista tjiasmantoi, a new species of epiphytic leafless orchid from the northernmost region of Sumatra Island, Indonesia, is described and illustrated. The flower of this new species is morphologically close to C. javanica, but differs in having oblong-obovate petals, narrowly oblique oblong side lobes with truncate to obtuse apex, and a different shape of lip sac. Key words: Aceh, leafless orchid, morphology, Southeast Asia
Chiloschista tjiasmantoi Metusala, sp. nov. Diagnosis: Chiloschista tjiasmantoi is morphologically similar to C. javanica, but differs in having oblong-obovate petals (vs. broadly elliptic to ovate petals), narrowly oblique oblong side lobes with truncate to obtuse apex (vs. relatively straight triangular side lobes with obtuse apex), a lip sac that has a “V” shape in longitudinal section view with a narrow angle of about 45–50° (vs. a lip sac that has an “L” shape in longitudinal section view with a wide angle of about 90°), and a very narrow cavity between the apex of the hairy callus and the thick curved front lobe of the lip (vs. a rather broad cavity). Etymology: The specific epithet “tjiasmantoi” honors Wewin Tjiasmanto, the chairman of Tjiasmanto Conservation Fund and a philanthropist concerned with the Indonesian plant conservation. Destario Metusala. 2025. A New Species of Genus Chiloschista (Aeridinae, Vandeae, Epidendroideae, Orchidaceae) from Sumatra Island, Indonesia. PhytoKeys. 252: 65-76. DOI: doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.252.138190 | ||||||||
| 3:40a | [PaleoMammalogy • 2025] Cranial Anatomy of the hypercarnivore Bastetodon syrtos gen. nov. (Hyaenodonta: Hyainailourinae) and A Reevaluation of Pterodon in Africa
ABSTRACT During the Paleogene in Afro-Arabia, most terrestrial mammalian carnivores belonged to Hyaenodonta, an extinct lineage bearing a pair of carnassials between each set of molars. The Fayum Depression of Egypt preserves multiple lineages of hyaenodonts across the Eocene–Oligocene boundary. Here, we describe one of the most complete hyaenodont crania ever recovered from the lower Oligocene of the Fayum (Jebel Qatrani Formation, Quarry I, ∼30 Ma). The cranium is about the size of a hyena’s and preserves the complete upper tooth row. The long, shearing metastyle and reduced and mesially shifted protocones indicate a hypercarnivorous diet, and robust zygomatic arches suggest strong chewing muscles. Based on dental comparisons, we refer the cranium to Bastetodon syrtos (previously “Pterodon” syrtos). Bastetodon syrtos has three premolars and two molars—a reduced dental formula compared with other Fayum hyainailourines such as Akhnatenavus and European hyainailourines such as Pterodon. The cranium preserves the clover-shaped lambdoidal crest and long pharyngeal tube that unites Hyainailouroidea (Apterodontinae, Teratodontinae, and Hyainailourinae). The new Fayum cranium allows us to reevaluate the genus Pterodon and explore characters that distinguish Afro-Arabian and Eurasian species placed in this genus. Our phylogenetic analysis recovers a paraphyletic Pterodon, with B. syrtos as the sister taxon of Falcatodon schlosseri. We erect Sekhmetops to describe the large Fayum hyainailourine species S. phiomensis and S. africanus. This effort clarifies the biogeographic history of the clade that includes Pterodon, revealing multiple Tethys Seaway dispersals during the Paleogene followed by endemic radiations in Eurasia and Afro-Arabia.   Genus Bastetodon gen. nov. Pterodon syrtos Holroyd, 1999:8, fig. 4 (original description). Etymology—Bastetodon, from “Bastet,” one transliteration of the name of the ancient Egyptian, cat-headed goddess of protection, pleasure, and bringer of good health. She was also associated with the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet. And ancient Greek “odon” meaning tooth. Literally, “Teeth like the cat-headed goddess.”    Genus SEKHMETOPS gen. nov. Type Species—Sekhmetops africanus (Andrews, 1904) Included Species—Sekhmetops phiomensis (Osborn, 1909) Etymology—From Sekhmet, the wrathful lion-headed goddess of Ancient Egypt associated with war and pestilence. And “ops” meaning “face” in ancient Greek. Literally, “Having the face of the lion-headed goddess.” Shorouq F. Al-Ashqar, Matthew Borths, Heba El-Desouky, Steven Heritage, Mohamed Abed, Erik R. Seiffert, Sanaa El-Sayed and Hesham M. Sallam. 2025. Cranial Anatomy of the hypercarnivore Bastetodon syrtos gen. nov. (Hyaenodonta, Hyainailourinae) and A Reevaluation of Pterodon in Africa. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. e2442472. DOI: doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2024.2442472 Notably, this study refutes the monophyly of “Pterodon.” Based on the morphological features and the phylogenetic analyses conducted within this study, we suggest that Pterodon has never been found in Afro-Arabia. “Pterodon” syrtos is now placed in Bastetodon syrtos and “Pterodon” africanus and “Pterodon” phiomensis are placed in the new genus Sekhmetops. Under this taxonomic scheme, Pterodon is now restricted to the Eocene of Europe.  | ||||||||
| 9:08a | [Entomology • 2024] Family-level Diversity of Coleoptera (Insecta) from the Nanling Mountains and the Greater Bay Area, China
Abstract Coleoptera comprise 198 families and over 440,000 species to date, of which 143 families and over 35,000 species are known in China. Of these, only 64 families have been recorded in Guangdong Province, fewer than in Hong Kong. To investigate the insect diversity of Guangdong, numerous specimens were collected from the Nanling Mountains and the Greater Bay Area using various methods, and over 200,000 specimens of Coleoptera were assigned to families. Thus, a preliminary study of beetles at the family-level in Guangdong is carried out based on the examined specimens and historical records. An updated checklist of beetle families in Guangdong increases the number of families from 64 to 111, in which Eupsilobiidae is recorded for the first time in China and a new species, Eidoreus haizhuensis sp. nov. is described here, demonstrating the importance of persistent collecting with different methods for the study of insect diversity. Habitus images of most of the beetle families occurring in Guangdong are provided. And the updated records are compared in detail with the published records, showing that more families may potentially be found in Guangdong, requiring further field work and taxonomists working on niche groups. Coleoptera, beetle, Guangdong, new record, checklist  Eidoreus haizhuensis sp. nov. ZHENHUA LIU and ZHIQIANG LI. 2024. Family-level Diversity of Coleoptera (Insecta) from the Nanling Mountains and the Greater Bay Area, China. Zootaxa. 5528(1); 17-37. DOI: doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5528.1.5 [2024-10-23] | ||||||||
| 9:23a | [Paleontology • 2025] Xingxiulong yueorum • A New Species of Xingxiulong (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha) from the lower Jurassic Lufeng Formation of Yunnan Province, China
ABSTRACT The Lufeng Formation of Lufeng City, Yunnan Province, China, is one of the most important sedimentary units for understanding the evolution of the Early Jurassic sauropodomorph dinosaurs. Here, a new species of the early-diverging sauropodomorph Xingxiulong from the Lower Jurassic Lufeng Formation is erected on the basis of a postcranial skeleton. Xingxiulong yueorum, sp. nov. is distinguished from Xingxiulong chengi by possessing a pendant-shaped fourth trochanter with distal termination, an astragalus with almost straight dorsal margin of the posterior surface, and pedal digit V with two phalanges. A phylogenetic analysis supports the monophyly of genus Xingxiulong. Both the two species of Xingxiulong have four sacral vertebrae, which are typically associated with the late-diverging sauropodiforms and sauropods, suggesting a complex early evolution within the sauropodomorphs. This discovery adds to the diversity of the sauropodomorphs from the Lufeng Formation and contributes to our understanding of the intricate patterns characterising the early evolution of sauropodomorphs in Asia. KEYWORDS: Early jurassic, Lufeng, Sauropodomorpha, Xingxiulong, diversity  Xingxiulong yueorum, sp. nov. Xiang-Yuan Chen, Ya-Ming Wang, Qian-Nan Zhang, Tao Wang and Hai-Lu You. 2025. A New Species of Xingxiulong (Dinosauria, Sauropodomorpha) from the lower Jurassic Lufeng Formation of Yunnan Province, China. Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology | ||||||||
| 10:33a | [Herpetology • 2016] Reconciling Molecular Phylogeny, Morphological Divergence and Classification of Madagascan Narrow-mouthed Frogs (Amphibia: Microhylidae)
Highlights: • A new phylogeny of Cophylinae provides strong support for previous genus-level relationships. • Phylogenetic relationships are corroborated by new osteological data. • Description of a new genus endemic to Madagascar: Anilany gen. nov. • Cophyla and Platypelis are morphologically similar sister genera. • Stumpffia and Rhombophryne are ecomorphologically distinct sister genera. Abstract A recent study clarified several aspects of microhylid phylogeny by combining DNA sequences from Sanger sequencing and anchored phylogenomics, although numerous aspects of tree topology proved highly susceptible to data partition and chosen model. Although the phylogenetic results of the study were in conflict with previous studies, the authors made several changes to the taxonomy of Madagascar’s cophyline microhylids. We re-analysed part of their data together with our own molecular and morphological data. Based on a supermatrix of 11 loci, we propose a new phylogeny of the Cophylinae, and discuss it in the context of a newly generated osteological dataset. We found several sample misidentifications, partially explaining their deviant results, and propose to resurrect the genera Platypelis and Stumpffia from the synonymy of Cophyla and Rhombophryne, respectively. We provide support for the previous genus-level taxonomy of this subfamily, and erect a new genus, Anilany gen. nov., in order to eliminate paraphyly of Stumpffia and to account for the osteological differences observed among these groups. Deep nodes in our phylogeny remain poorly supported, and future works will certainly refine our classification, but we are confident that these will not produce large-scale rearrangements. Keywords: Cophylinae; Anilany gen. nov; Cophyla; Platypelis; Rhombophryne; Stumpffia
 Mark David Scherz, Miguel Vences, Andolalao Rakotoarison, Franco Andreone, Jörn Köhler, Frank Glaw and Angelica Crottini. 2016. Reconciling Molecular Phylogeny, Morphological Divergence and Classification of Madagascan Narrow-mouthed Frogs (Amphibia: Microhylidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. In Press. DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2016.04.019 Researchgate.net/publication/301285050_C |
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