The Halcyornithidae from the early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex, UK): A species complex of Paleogene arboreal birds

Mayr, Gérald; Kitchener, Andrew C.

doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2023.06.003

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Invasive species are a component of global change (Vitousek et al, 1997;Nentwig, 2008). Early thinking on invasive plants and animals (Elton, 1958) focused on the characteristics of rapidly spreading species, using a few examples (the plant Ageratum conyzoides ;Baker, 1965; the Serin Finch or Collared Dove; Mayr, 1965) to identify distinctive features of invaders. For example, the 'ideal' weed would grow quickly, flower rapidly, and reproduce copiously (Baker, 1965(Baker, , 1974, while successfully colonizing birds might possess any of six characteristics, ranging from the tendency to be social to an ability to tolerate different kinds of habitats (Mayr, 1965).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Early thinking on invasive plants and animals (Elton, 1958) focused on the characteristics of rapidly spreading species, using a few examples (the plant Ageratum conyzoides ;Baker, 1965; the Serin Finch or Collared Dove; Mayr, 1965) to identify distinctive features of invaders. For example, the 'ideal' weed would grow quickly, flower rapidly, and reproduce copiously (Baker, 1965(Baker, , 1974, while successfully colonizing birds might possess any of six characteristics, ranging from the tendency to be social to an ability to tolerate different kinds of habitats (Mayr, 1965). As data on invasive species accumulated, the focus shifted from describing the characteristics of a few species to comparisons between entire floras or faunas (Williamson & Fitter, 1996;Givnish et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Death caps (Amanita phalloides) frequently establish from sexual spores, but individuals can grow large and live for more than a decade in invaded forests

Golan,

Wang,

Adams

et al. 2023

New Phytologist

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Summary Global change is reshaping Earth's biodiversity, but the changing distributions of nonpathogenic fungi remain largely undocumented, as do mechanisms enabling invasions. The ectomycorrhizal Amanita phalloides is native to Europe and invasive in North America. Using population genetics and genomics, we sought to describe the life history traits of this successfully invading symbiotic fungus. To test whether death caps spread underground using hyphae, or aboveground using sexual spores, we mapped and genotyped mushrooms from European and US sites. Larger genetic individuals (genets) would suggest spread mediated by vegetative growth, while many small genets would suggest dispersal mediated by spores. To test whether genets are ephemeral or persistent, we also sampled from populations over time. At nearly every site and across all time points, mushrooms resolve into small genets. Individuals frequently establish from sexual spores. But at one Californian site, a single individual measuring nearly 10 m across dominated. At two Californian sites, the same genetic individuals were discovered in 2004, 2014, and 2015, suggesting single individuals (both large and small) can reproduce repeatedly over relatively long timescales. A flexible life history strategy combining both mycelial growth and spore dispersal appears to underpin the invasion of this deadly perennial ectomycorrhizal fungus.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Death caps (Amanita phalloides) frequently establish from sexual spores, but individuals can grow large and live for more than a decade in invaded forests

Golan,

Wang,

Adams

et al. 2023

New Phytologist

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Paleoneurology of stem palaeognaths clarifies the plesiomorphic condition of the crown bird central nervous system

Widrig,

Navalón,

Field

2024

Journal of Morphology

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Lithornithidae, an assemblage of volant Palaeogene fossil birds, provide our clearest insights into the early evolutionary history of Palaeognathae, the clade that today includes the flightless ratites and volant tinamous. The neotype specimen of Lithornis vulturinus, from the early Eocene (approximately 53 million years ago) of Europe, includes a partial neurocranium that has never been thoroughly investigated. Here, we describe these cranial remains including the nearly complete digital endocasts of the brain and bony labyrinth. The telencephalon of Lithornis is expanded and its optic lobes are ventrally shifted, as is typical for crown birds. The foramen magnum is positioned caudally, rather than flexed ventrally as in some crown birds, with the optic lobes, cerebellum, and foramen magnum shifted further ventrally. The overall brain shape is similar to that of tinamous, the only extant clade of flying palaeognaths, suggesting that several aspects of tinamou neuroanatomy may have been evolutionarily conserved since at least the early Cenozoic. The estimated ratio of the optic lobe's surface area relative to the total brain suggests a diurnal ecology. Lithornis may provide the clearest insights to date into the neuroanatomy of the ancestral crown bird, combining an ancestrally unflexed brain with a caudally oriented connection with the spinal cord, a moderately enlarged telencephalon, and ventrally shifted, enlarged optic lobes.

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The Picocoraciades (hoopoes, rollers, woodpeckers, and allies) from the early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze

Mayr,

Kitchener

2024

PalZ

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We describe upupiform, coraciiform, and possible piciform birds from the early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex, UK). The material includes partial skeletons of a new species of a small upupiform bird, Waltonirrisor tendringensis, gen. et sp. nov., which is the earliest known representative of the Upupiformes. Three very similar species of stem group rollers are assigned to Laputavis robusta, Septencoracias morsensis, and S. simillimus, sp. nov. These species only differ in minor features, which raises the possibility that the taxon Sepencoracias Bourdon, 2016 is a junior synonym of Laputavis Dyke, 2001. A smaller stem group roller from Walton-on-the-Naze resembles the North American primobucconid species Primobucco mcgrewi. We also describe two species of a new genus-level taxon, Pristineanis, gen. nov., which shows close affinities to the North American “Neanis” kistneri and may be a stem group representative of the Piciformes. In many aspects of their postcranial osteology, the stem group Coracii from Walton-on-the-Naze, as well as the new taxon Pristineanis, resemble coeval Trogoniformes from this fossil site. Because trogons are the extant sister taxon of the Picocoraciades – the clade including the Upupiformes, Coraciiformes, and Piciformes –, the shared similarities are likely to be plesiomorphic for this latter clade. Early Cenozoic representatives of the Upupiformes and Coraciiformes were much smaller than their extant relatives, which suggests that the Picocoraciades are an avian example of Cope’s Rule that postulates a tendency for size increase in evolutionary lineages over time.

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The Halcyornithidae from the early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex, UK): A species complex of Paleogene arboreal birds

Cited by 4 publications

References 25 publications

Death caps (Amanita phalloides) frequently establish from sexual spores, but individuals can grow large and live for more than a decade in invaded forests

Death caps (Amanita phalloides) frequently establish from sexual spores, but individuals can grow large and live for more than a decade in invaded forests

Paleoneurology of stem palaeognaths clarifies the plesiomorphic condition of the crown bird central nervous system

The Picocoraciades (hoopoes, rollers, woodpeckers, and allies) from the early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze

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The Halcyornithidae from the early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex, UK): A species complex of Paleogene arboreal birds

Cited by 4 publications

References 25 publications

Death caps (Amanita phalloides) frequently establish from sexual spores, but individuals can grow large and live for more than a decade in invaded forests

Death caps (Amanita phalloides) frequently establish from sexual spores, but individuals can grow large and live for more than a decade in invaded forests

Paleoneurology of stem palaeognaths clarifies the plesiomorphic condition of the crown bird central nervous system

The﻿ Picocoraciades (hoopoes, rollers, woodpeckers, and allies) from the early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze

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The Picocoraciades (hoopoes, rollers, woodpeckers, and allies) from the early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze