If we can discover the meaning in the trilling of a frog, perhaps we may understand why it is for us not merely a noise but a song of poetry and emotion. -Adrian Forsyth-
Population Ecology of Dung Beetles in Madison Co. N.C. |
Overview of the Insects at the Gray Fossil Site |
Shrews of the Gray Fossil Site
Abstract for Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Berlin, Germany
Systematic Review of the Shrews from the Gray Fossil SiteLittle research has been done on North American fossil shrews in the last three decades and no work has been done in eastern North America. Ten Soricidae taxa have been recovered from the Gray Fossil Site (Late Miocene/Early Pliocene) in the Southern Appalachians, Washington Co., TN. At least three of these taxa are new and several remain to be identified. Crusafontina sp. nov. is one of the youngest of the genus and substantially the largest. Blarinella sp. nov. is the first occurrence of the genus in the western hemisphere and thus has implications about the divergence of the tribe Blarinellini. The third is a likely to also represent a new genus. In addition to the new taxa, the Sorex spp. found provide evidence for a Late Miocene radiation of the genus. The overall high diversity of shrews at the GFS is very unusual, but evidence from acid etching suggests that a few of the smaller taxa were brought to the site by carnivores; these shrew taxa provide insight to nearby ecosystems that would not otherwise be captured. Local flora and fauna from the GFS provide the first nearly complete record of an ecosystem in the Southern Appalachian Mountains; an area now recognized for its role as a refugium for both northern and southern taxa.
Systematic Review of the Shrews from the Gray Fossil SiteLittle research has been done on North American fossil shrews in the last three decades and no work has been done in eastern North America. Ten Soricidae taxa have been recovered from the Gray Fossil Site (Late Miocene/Early Pliocene) in the Southern Appalachians, Washington Co., TN. At least three of these taxa are new and several remain to be identified. Crusafontina sp. nov. is one of the youngest of the genus and substantially the largest. Blarinella sp. nov. is the first occurrence of the genus in the western hemisphere and thus has implications about the divergence of the tribe Blarinellini. The third is a likely to also represent a new genus. In addition to the new taxa, the Sorex spp. found provide evidence for a Late Miocene radiation of the genus. The overall high diversity of shrews at the GFS is very unusual, but evidence from acid etching suggests that a few of the smaller taxa were brought to the site by carnivores; these shrew taxa provide insight to nearby ecosystems that would not otherwise be captured. Local flora and fauna from the GFS provide the first nearly complete record of an ecosystem in the Southern Appalachian Mountains; an area now recognized for its role as a refugium for both northern and southern taxa.
Facial Expression Recognition
Aridit drives phylogenetic diversity and species richness patterns of nitrogen fixing plants at the continental scale
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