Fossil

I. Ansammeln VFMG Bonn Eifeler Kalkmulden 2006
1. 23.5.2006 Bad Münstereifel Eschweiler …...……1   
2. Scheid Berg, Sötenich ……………………………1
3. Steinbruch Winter und Weiss, Mülldeponie ….. 2
4. 26.3.2006 großer Sötenicher Stbr ……………… 2

II. Maiwanderung DVG Brohltal 2006
5. 1.5.2006 Fachklinik Bad Tönnisstein ………….. 2

III. Maiwanderung DVG Weibern 2007
6. 1.5.2007 DVG Maiwanderung Weibern ………. 3

IV. Ansammeln VFMG Bonn Kollig/Eifel 2008
7. 29. – 30.3.2008 Kollig Eifel ………..………….… 4

            V. Ansammeln VFMG Bonn Wettersdorfer Richtschnitt 2009
8. 7.3. 2009 Wetteldorfer Richtschnitt …………… 4

VI. Ansammeln VFMG Bonn Gerolstein 2013
9. 15. – 17.3.2013 Gerolstein ……………………… 5

VIII. Ansammeln VFMG Bonn Kottenheim 2012 ……….. 5
10. 4.2.2012 Kottenheimer Büden/Kottenheimer Wald

IX. Ansammeln VFMG Bonn Eifel 2015 ………………….. 6
21.3.2015 Ingendorf/Bettigen, Ferschweiler/Enzen,
Liesberg, Kiesgrube Dodenburg
22.3.2015 Stbr Sterres bei Klausen, Deudesfeld

X. Ansammeln VFMG Bonn Eifel 2016 ………………….. 7
2.4.2016 Grube Bendisberg, Grube Silbersand,
Lavagrube Rothenberg
3.4.2016 In den Dellen

XI. Exkursion Fränkische Alb Geologen Bayer 2019 ……. 7

La découverte de fossiles de dinosaures et d’animaux préhistoriques ne date pas de l’époque contemporaine. Répandue dans l’Antiquité, notamment en Grèce, elle a suscité de multiples interrogations, engendré des fantasmes et donné naissance à des créatures imaginaires ou extraordinaires. Parmi celles-ci, se trouvent entre autres les gryphons, les héros, caractérisés également par une taille démesurée, ou encore les Géants.

Australopithecus afarensis hominid AL 288-1 picked up the name of "Lucy" from a song to a girl with the sun in her eyes gone in the sky. This article traces first this origin back to the field camp in Afar region at Hadar (Ethiopia). It then asks why this symbolic name form is so important to establish a fossil in the human evolution tree. A brief review of the role of the name Lucy will finally point out how it facilitated the diffusion of the researches on our origins.

The first record of milk teeth of South American fossil procyonids comes from the Late Miocene-Early Pliocene at "Farola Monte Hermoso", Buenos Aires province, Argentina. Five extant genera of Procyonidae inhabit South America (Bassaricyon Allen, Nasuella Hollister, Potos Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and Cuvier, Procyon Storr and Nasua Storr). Of these only Procyon and Nasua are present in the fossil record (Late Pleistocene-Holocene) in several localities in Brazil, Uruguay, and Bolivia. In addition, six other fossil genera were named, but only two are considered valid: Cyonasua and Chapadmalania. Thus, Cyonasua encompasses ten formally named species and Chapadmalania two. The new specimen, MLP 09-X-5-1 is assigned it to cf. Cyonasua. In addition, anatomical evidence implies a much more carnivorous diet in Late Miocene-Early Pleistocene procyonids than that of extant South American taxa. Finally, I examine and discuss the "competitive displacement" hypothesis regarding the extinction of native marsupial carnivores after the arrival of immigrant placental carnivores in South America.

The observation of tubular structures within Endurance Crater, Mars, has been reported by Joseph et al (2021a,b) who hypothesized these may be mineralized and fossilized remnants of tube worms that in the ancient and recent past flourished within lakes of water heated by thermal vents. The discovery of what may be spherical hematite in this same vicinity supports the hydrothermal vent scenario, whereas the claims by Joseph (2021; Joseph et al. 2021c) that these spherules are fungal puffballs does not. This evidence from Endurance Crater and associated mineralogy and chemistry is reviewed. We conclude that the ancient lakes of Endurance Crater may have been heated by thermal vents and inhabited by tubular organisms that became mineralized, as hypothesized by Joseph et al; and that these same hydrothermal vents formed hematite spherules as hypothesized by the rover Opportunity team.

Here we report the first example of associated short-faced bears from South America. The specimens represent three individuals referable to the Ensenadan (early to middle Pleistocene) species Arctotherium angustidens (Ursidae, Tremarctinae) the giant South American short-faced bear. Although the fossil record of short-faced bears in South America is very rich, they have not previously been recorded in association. These three individuals were found in a cave during quarry exploitation. We suggest that these bears represent the first record of a family group and open the discussion about cave utilization and hibernation or torpor by South American short-faced bears.

Tetrapod biodiversity today is great; over the past 400 Myr since vertebrates moved onto land, global tetrapod diversity has risen exponentially, punctuated by losses during major extinctions. There are links between the total global diversity of tetrapods and the diversity of their ecological roles, yet no one fully understands the interplay of these two aspects of biodiversity and a numerical analysis of this relationship has not so far been undertaken. Here we show that the global taxonomic and ecological diversity of tetrapods are closely linked. Throughout geological time, patterns of global diversity of tetrapod families show 97 per cent correlation with ecological modes. Global taxonomic and ecological diversity of this group correlates closely with the dominant classes of tetrapods (amphibians in the Palaeozoic, reptiles in the Mesozoic, birds and mammals in the Cenozoic). These groups have driven ecological diversity by expansion and contraction of occupied ecospace, rather than by direct competition within existing ecospace and each group has used ecospace at a greater rate than their predecessors.

The first results of the systematic study based on disarticulated ossicles of the ophiuroids and crinoids from the Miocene of the Lower Tagus Basin are presented. In this stage of the study, the ophiuroid ossicles can only be assigned to the Class Ophiuroidea; the crinoid ossicles, reported for the first time in the Miocene of Portugal, are assigned to the Order Comatulida, which only includes unstalked crinoids.

Si le titre de cet ouvrage peut paraître farfelu, il révèle tout au contraire une enquête aussi sérieuse que passionnante sur les traces des fossiles dans l’Antiquité. En effet, bien des scientifiques et voyageurs grecs et romains ont consigné, à de nombreuses occasions et en de multiples lieux, des témoignages directs ou indirects, faisant état de la découverte d’ossements, de dents ou d’empreintes de pas gigantesques. Incapables de concevoir l’existence des dinosaures et animaux préhistoriques, et constatant que certains os étaient semblables à ceux des humains, ils ont logiquement réinterprété l’origine de ces dents et fossiles, en les intégrant ou en les rattachant au folklore mythologique. Certains d’entre eux furent associés à des héros, d’autres à des Géants, d’autres encore à des créatures fantastiques, déclenchant, dans l’Antiquité, une véritable chasse aux reliques !

In this study, we explore the ecomorphological patterns of extinct tremarctine bears in
South America during the Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI). These patterns
are used to derive paleoautoecological inferences in extinct tremarctines and their
paleosinecological relationships within Plio-Pleistocene ecosystems. We used geometric
morphometrics of landmark data to recover the shape of the craniomandibular skeleton
of bears. The results reveal different ecomorphological adaptations in extinct
tremarctines during the Plio-Pleistocene of South America. Indeed, these bears could
have increased the percentage of plant matter in their diets accordance with the
increased diversity of large carnivores in South America after the GABI. Omnivorous
bears retain the ability to behave as carnivores or herbivores depending on resource
availability. This fact strongly supports that living and extinct bears are one of the most
ecologically and morphologically adaptable members of the large carnivore guild.
Moreover, their skull morphology could reflect ecological adaptations under different
selection pressures with the required evolutionary time.

Precise estimates of body mass in fossil taxa are elementary to paleobiological reconstruction. Using demonstrated relationships between body mass and anatomical measurements in modern mammals, several authors proposed prediction equations to estimate the body mass of fossil taxa. We calculate the body mass of extant and fossil South American bears (Tremarctos ornatus and Arctotherium respectively) applying 61 selected allometric equations to 19 cranial, dental and postcranial measurements. We also estimate the body mass ranges of the five Arctotherium species by simple size comparison to size and weight of extant bears. Extrapolating on the basis of geometric similitude with T. ornatus we further estimated the body mass of Arctotherium in order to know if our estimations, bias published equations, were feasible. Also we test the prediction equations results with a specimen of Tremarctos ornatus of known body mass. We found that the best prediction equations for all Arctotherium species are based on femoral (8 equations) and cranial (one equation) measurements. In turn the best prediction equations for T. ornatus are based on cranial (one equation), first lower molar (one equation), femoral (two equations) and humeral measurements (three equations).

The morphology of some deciduous teeth of Arctotherium tarijense and A. latidens (Ursidae: Tremarctinae) is here described and compared for the first time. The crown morphology of dP4 and dp4 is similar to that of M1 and m1. The general morphology of dP/dp4 in A. tarijense and Ursinae is similar, but their permanent morphology dentition is different. The dP/dp4 of A. tarijense seems to bear a generalized set of characters (i.e. crown outline, the protocone and parastyle of dP4, the metaconid and hypoconid of dp4); unfortunately these teeth cannot be compared with their homologues in other tremarctines. Consequently, we are unable to include these characters in the phylogenetic analysis of the Tremarctinae subfamily in order to know whether the phylogenetic relationships are affected or not. It is noteworthy, that if these characters were present in M/m1 of A. tarijense, at least, some of them could be undoubtedly regarded as plesiomorphic features. In this respect, is the deciduous teeth morphology more conservative than that of permanent teeth?

We present the first fossil record of Procyon cancrivorus (Cuvier, 1798) for Argentina. Specimen PVE-F 44 (first lower molar) was exhumed from levels assignable to the Late Pleistocene (Lujanian) in the coastal cliffs of the Bermejo river in the vicinity of Villa Escolar, Formosa (26º 36’ S, 58º 40’ W). This is also the first South American record of Procyon with accurate stratigraphic provenance, since previous records from Brazil lack stratigraphic context. Procyonids are represented in South America by five living genera (Bassaricyon Allen; Nasuella Hollister; Potos Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and Cuvier; Procyon Storr and Nasua Storr). Of these, only Procyon and Nasua have paleontological records (Late Pleistocene-Holocene) in Brazil, Uruguay and Bolivia. The results of geometric and traditional morphometric analyses comparing specimen PVE-F 44 with the two known Procyon species (P. cancrivorus and P. lotor) indicates the specimen belongs to the South American species P. cancrivorus. In addition, the associated palaeofauna is composed by intertropical (eg. Holmesina paulacoutoi) and pampean-patagonian elements (eg. Megatherium, Toxodon, Glyptodon, Pampatherium typum).

The Saurichthyidae (Actinoperygii, Osteichthyes) are a long-lasting family, ranging from the latest Permian to the
Middle Jurassic (~75 million years) and including nearly 50 species, most of which belong to the essentially
Triassic genus Saurichthys. At least 14 species occur in the Early Triassic, but many of them are only scarcely
known, leading to a gap of knowledge of their early evolution. Four species have been described from the Early
Triassic of Spitsbergen (Svalbard archipelago, Arctic Norway): Saurichthys wimani, S. ornatus, S. elongatus and
S. hamiltoni. These taxa are based predominantly on cranial material, whereas postcrania, which contain more
diagnostic features in Saurichthys, are extremely rare. We present the eighth saurichthyid postcranium from
Spitsbergen, which was collected during the 2008 Swiss-Norwegian expedition to Stensiöfjellet (Mount Stensiö),
Sassendalen. The new specimen is the most complete saurichthyid postcranial segment known from Spitsbergen,
preserving the portion between the pelvic girdle and the caudal fin, and is ascribed to S. wimani based on the
squamation. S. wimani can now be characterized by the following set of postcranial traits: (1) all fins with
segmented and branched lepidotrichia and fringing fulcra along their leading edge, (2) rows of large, ornamented
scales in mid-dorsal, mid-ventral and mid-lateral position and small, rhombic dorsolateral scales (the ventrolateral
scale row being probably absent), and (3) a vertebral column consisting of (dorsal) neural arches with small praeand
postzygapophyses and distinct neural spines, relating as 2:1 to the mid-lateral scales, and to the (ventral)
haemal arches as 2:1 in the abdominal and as 2:2 in the caudal body portion. Mid-lateral scales of the caudal
peduncle bear denticles on their ventrocaudal margin, previously unknown in saurichthyids. At least three species
of Saurichthys are distinguishable in the Smithian aged ‘fish horizon’ of Spitsbergen based on postcranial
characters, supporting a fast diversification of saurichthyids following the great end-Permian mass extinction
event.

India has some of the most spectacular fossils on the planet, from vast beds of dinosaur eggs to strange prehistoric creatures new to science. But many are just sitting in the ground. In 2000, while visiting the Central Museum of Nagpur in Western India, the paleontologist Jeffrey A Wilson found himself hunched over one of the most fascinating fossils he had ever set eyes on. One of his colleagues had excavated the specimen in 1984, in the village of Dholi Dungri in Gujarat, on the western coast of India.

Se describen restos fósiles de rinoceronte recolectados en la localidad Puente Ixcán, municipio de Ocosingo, Chiapas, México. El material consiste en un P2 derecho y un radio derecho completo que presenta evidencias de arrastre. Los caracteres morfológicos y meríscos, así como el rango temporal de la asociación faunís ca, permiten asignar los ejemplares a Teleoceras cf. T. hicksi y cf. Peraceras sp. Los restos de rinoceronte se encuentran asociados con tortugas trioníquidas, cf. Crocodylus sp., un Caimaninae indeterminado, Gomphotherium sp. cf. G. hondurensis y un caballo indeterminado. La presencia de cf. T. hicksi y cf. G. hondurensis en la asociación faunís ca permite proponer que pertenece al NALMA Henfiliano, documentando de esta manera la distribución más sureña de vertebrados terrestres del Mioceno tardío en México.