Paleobiology

During the Triassic period, pseudosuchians presented a broader variety of feeding habits than those seen nowadays, including herbivorous
and omnivorous as well as carnivorous diets. Based on their general anatomy, ornithosuchids have been historically proposed to be
either hunters or scavengers. The rediscovered cranial materials of the ornithosuchid Venaticosuchus herein described in detail enabled the reconstruction of its jaw musculature and a geometric biomechanical analysis to study the possible feeding habits of ornithosuchids. The muscles
were reconstructed based on inferences of their osteological correlates seen in their closest living relatives, such as Caiman, Alligator, and
Iguana. Consequently, the jaws were considered a third-class lever system and the moment arms were calculated for the adductor and depressor musculature. The study of the three species of ornithosuchids (Ornithosuchus, Venaticosuchus and Riojasuchus) revealed greater similarities between ornithosuchids and aetosaurs, in spite of their different feeding habits, than between ornithosuchids and crocodylians. The relative bite force of Venaticosuchus resulted higher than that of other ornithosuchids, aetosaurs and Alligator. The elevated bite force identified for ornithosuchids together with their low bite speed and the morphology of their constricted snouts, suggest features more compatible with scavenging feeding habits. Ornithosuchids were not the apex predators of the Late Triassic continental communities but were more likely regarded to have scavenged or preyed on small animals such as procolophonids, sphenodontians, juvenile aetosaurs, erpetosuchids, cinodonts, and dicynodonts that did not exceed them in size.

La paléontologie a connu au cours du XX e siècle une « révolution paléobiologique » (Sepkoski et Ruse, 2009), en se constituant comme science théorique et intégrée à la biologie de l'évolution. Si l'histoire de la paléoanthropologie reflète un tournant similaire, la révolution paléobiologique reste, à plusieurs égards, inachevée dans cette discipline. Cet article analyse les causes de cet inachèvement, en identifiant des limites empiriques, relatives aux particularités du registre fossile de la paléoanthropologie, mais aussi des limites épistémologiques, rapportées à différentes conceptions de la paléobiologie en jeu dans cette discipline. Nous montrons enfin qu'il est nécessaire de prendre en considération la spécificité anthropologique de la discipline pour apprécier la particularité du tournant paléobiologique dans le champ de l'évolution humaine. Abstract Paleontology underwent a "paleobiological revolution" during the twentieth century (Sepkoski and Ruse, 2009), by becoming a theoretical science and a part of evolutionary biology. Although the history of paleoanthropology reflects a similar change, the paleobiological revolution is still incomplete in this field. This article explains why the change is only partial. We identify empirical limits, pertaining to the distinctive features of the fossil record in paleoanthropology, as well as epistemological limits, linked with several different understandings of what paleobiology means. Finally, we demonstrate that there is a need to consider paleoanthropology as being not only a branch of paleobiology, but also an anthropology. By doing so, it is possible to assess properly the paleobiological change in the field of human evolution.

The vine of Georgia refers to Europian – West-middle Asian group and is represented by two species Vitis silvestris Gmel. and Vitis vinifera L. The paleobotanical data testify, that in past the genus Vitis occupied big territories. In Cretaceous at biginning of Tertiary its species occupied whole Asia and America. On the territory of Georgia genus Vitis is known from Oligocene. Where were seen numerous finds of several remains of vine – lives, seeds, pollen and others. The more ancient archeological finds belong to V-IV millenium B.C. (7-6 thousand years ago). In world this is the ancientist find of cultivate vine. Prof. L. Rukhadze had the possibility to learn the mass material using the methor of biometrical analysis.

Bison antiquus Leidy, 1852 was one of the largest and most widely distributed megafaunal species during the Late Pleistocene in North America, giving rise to the modern plains bison in the middle Holocene. Despite the importance of the ancient bison, little is known about its feeding ecology. We employed a combination of extended mesowear, and mesowear III to infer the dietary preference and habitat use of three Mexican samples of B. antiquus. These included two northern samples—La Piedad-Santa Ana and La Cinta-Portalitos—from the Transmexican Volcanic Belt morphotectonic Province, as well as one southern sample—Viko Vijin—from the Sierra Madre del Sur morphotectonic province. We found that the northern Mexican samples were primarily nonstrict grazers, whereas the southern sample displays a pattern consistent with mixed feeding habits. This suggests variability among the diets of the bison from these samples, caused by different paleoenvironments. This evidence complements the paleoenvironmental reconstructions in the studied localities; for the northern samples, open prairies composed of patches of woodland or shrubland and, for the southern locality, a fluvial floodplain with short-lived vegetation. In both scenarios, grasses (Poaceae) were nondominant. The dietary habits of our samples of ancient bison in Mexico are the southernmost dietary inference for the species in North America and expand our knowledge of the dietary habits of B. antiquus during the Late Pleistocene.

The taxonomic identification of mammalian fauna within fossil assemblages is a well-established component of paleoenvironmental reconstructions. However, many fragmentary specimens recovered from fossil sites are often disregarded as they can be difficult to identify with the precision required for taxonomic methods. For this reason, the large numbers of isolated rodent incisors that are often recovered from hominin fossil bearing sites are generally regarded as offering little interpretive value. Ecomorphological analysis, often referred to as a “taxon-free” method, can potentially circumvent this problem by focusing on the adaptive, rather than the taxonomic significance of rodent incisor morphology. Here, we determine if the morphology of the upper incisors of modern southern African rodents reflects dietary behavior using discriminant function analysis. Our model suggests that a strong ecomorphological signal exists in our modern sample and we apply these results to two samples of isolated incisors from the hominin fossil bearing sites, Sterkfontein and Swartkrans.

PALEOENVIRONMENTAL MEANING OF THE PRESERVED FAUNA IN THE
TREMEMBÉ FORMATION, TAUBATÉ BASIN, SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL

This work comprised the study of the Tremembé formation of Taubaté Basin, São Paulo state. Basin analysis studies were based on faunal data, which allows a better understanding of the paleoenvironments usually interpreted only by geological data or isolated taxonomic groups. The faunal representatives of the Tremembé Formation were inventoried and the diversity reached 43 species of insects, 13 of mammals, 10 of fishes, 8 of crustaceous and birds, 3 of reptiles, 2 of amphibious, 2 of mollusk and 1 of arachnids, annelids and spongy. Paleoanvironmental interpretation based on geological aspects and fossil plants basin was made over literature. These studies confirmed the existence of a great non oligomitic paleolake rich in aquatic plants and algae suggesting a high primary productivity. The lake water was alkaline, with a pH around 7-9. Most of the birds’ and mammals’ species, as well as paludal vegetation, lived around the lake. There was also a complex and  dense forest mainly composed of angiosperms, where selective animals fed. In the  highest region (dry and cold areas), diverse gymnosperms were identified by their pollens. The weather of the valley was moist with low seasonality, excepted by one great period of aridity registered over the bentonitic clay. All the data are consistent with Deseadan age (late Oligocene-early Miocene).

A Formação Tremembé da bacia de Taubaté foi estudada dentro da
metodologia de análise de bacia, com enfoque paleobiológico o que permitiu uma melhor compreensão dos paleoambientes, em geral interpretados através de dados geológicos ou grupos taxonômicos isolados. Foram inventariados os dados biológicos dos representantes da fauna da Formação Tremembé. A diversidade encontrada foi de 43 espécies de insetos, 13 de mamíferos, 10 de peixes, 8 de crustáceos e de aves, 3 de répteis, 2 de anfíbios, 2 de moluscos, 1 de aracnídeos, anelídeos e poríferos. Realizou-se um levantamento dos trabalhos sobre a flora e a geologia da bacia para interpretação dos paleoambientes. Foi confirmada a existência de um paleolago de grande porte, que não deveria ser oligomítico, pois possuía diversas macrófitas aquáticas e algas, caracterizando uma alta produção. A água apresentava um pH alcalino entre 7 e 9. O lago possuía uma vegetação paludal em seu entorno onde deveriam viver a maioria das espécies de aves e mamíferos. Havia também uma floresta complexa e densa, constituída principalmente de angiospermas, onde animais com alimentação mais seletiva obtinham alimentos. Na região mais alta (seca e fria), prosperavam as diversas gimnospermas identificadas pela palinologia. O clima do vale era úmido, com baixa sazonalidade, à exceção de um forte período de seca registrado no topo da argila bentonítica. Todos os dados encontrados demonstram coerência com a idade Deseadense, final do Oligoceno, início do Mioceno.

The most important source of life for human beings is undoubtedly water. As a matter of fact, the archaeological remains of the Paleolithic Age indicate that the first human communities prefer to settle in areas close to water resources. As it is today, fish and other aquatic animals have been an important source of food and income in ancient times the first communities fishing in terrestrial waters, such as rivers, lakes, streams, and coasts, are not delayed in producing the tools and technology necessary to hunt in open seas. The first evidences for the consumption of marine and freshwater animals begins with the Archaic Homo Sapiens. In the era called epi-palaeolithic or mesolithic, the first signs of transition to settled life have started to be seen with the creation of new hunting strategies. In the Neolithic Age, communities started to settle on the shores of the lakes and the sea where they could obtain easier food. In general, in the Neolithic period societies, in the transition stage to the producer society, while agriculture and animal husbandry were in the foreground compared to aquatic animals in the inner regions of Anatolia, in the coastal cultures people had eating habits called "mixed food/diet economy". It is known that these people mostly engaged in open sea fishing, gathering seashells like mussels from the shore, eating animals such as deer, wild boar and cattle as well as their own domestic animals and also often consuming from the edible wild nuts. As a result of archaeological researches and excavations, the remains of aquatic animal such as sea water or in fresh water fish, amphibians and crustaceans, carp, cat fish, pickerel, tuna fish, grey mullet and also mussels, marine invertebrates, oysters, spiny snails fish, molluscs, have been widely found in the Neolithic settlements. Since the Early Bronze Age, population growth and correspondingly increased consumption of fisheries necessitated the development of new hunting strategies and techniques, particularly in the western Anatolian coastal settlements.
As a matter of fact, in the Middle and Late Bronze Age, fishing was developed in parallel with the port and ship technologies of the period. It has been proved by the archaeological findings that fishing has become an occupational group and these products are used as industrial material. At the same time there are many ancient texts that indicate that aquatic animals used in perfume, incense and alternative medicine. These texts show that ancient periods people not only used aquartic animals for diet but also used them for different purposes.
Key Words: Prehistoric Period, Aquatic Animals, Fish, Shells, Mollusks, Crustaceans, Marine Invertebrates, Medicine.

The extinct species of shark Carcharocles megalodon (Class: Chondrichthyes; Order: Lamniformes) is considered one of the largest and most powerful predators that populated the temperate seas around the world between the middle Miocene and the Pliocene periods (15.9-2.6 My). The reconstruction of its evolutionary history and ecology is based mainly on the morphological and metric studies of the teeth, which represent the overwhelming majority of the fossil remains of this cartilaginous skeleton species. In this article we present the morphological and metric characteristics of the teeth of Carcharocles megalodon that are housed in the University Museum of Chieti (Italy). In particular, the collection is composed of nine teeth of the upper arch, which belonged to different specimens of variable size and weight (total
length range: 6.27-14.50 m; weight range: 2,510-35,918 kg). The teeth implement the existing fossil record of Carcharocles megalodon, so that the morphometric data collected will contribute to improve knowledge of the phylogenetic and ecological studies of this species.

Queste pagine nascono per provare a dare delle risposte sia a chi le ha scritte sia a chi si accinge a leggerle. Il titolo è solo un punto di partenza: provare a parlare di Lupatia, cioè di un antico luogo, oggi probabilmente corrispondente a Santeramo in Colle (Bari), del quale è riportato, in testi antichi, solo il nome e nulla più, non può essere se non la chiave per aprire, attraverso mezzi diversi da quelli tradizionali, i veli della storia.
Qui non troverete né verità assolute né certezze, ma solo domande e moltissimi dubbi, perché questi devono essere connaturati a chi esegue indagini con l’onestà d’intelletto e l’umiltà dello spirito necessarie a rivoltare quelle zolle che hanno ormai, da migliaia di anni, ricoperto i residui ricordi e reso omogenei i paesaggi in una melassa indistinta
di luoghi comuni astorici e antistorici.
Scienza quindi, non credenze o miti-storia, ma cifre, datazioni, fatti derivanti non da antichi testi ma da indagini scientifiche. Come quelle che definiscono le cronologie assolute o come quelle che ricostruiscono la demoscopia e l’economia antica in base alle condizioni paleoclimatiche, ai ritrovamenti paleobiologici o archeometallurgici.
Nel presente e maggiormente nel futuro, quello che è realmente accaduto in antico si allontana dai polverosi testi e si avvicina a quanto si viene a scoprire nei diversi e più moderni laboratori, svelando verità inattese sul nostro passato.