The global body-fossil record of marine 'fishes' from the time interval immediately preceding the Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction is markedly poor. This deficiency appears to be further exacerbated ...with regards to offshore and deep-water taxa, obscuring our understanding of the state and composition of corresponding vertebrate faunas at the onset of this major extinction event. Recent fieldwork in the mid-late Maastrichtian exposures of the Pindos Unit in Gavdos Island, Greece, yielded a small but informative sample of fossil 'fishes', which inhabited the Tethys approximately three to four million years before the extinction. In this work we describe this sample, which comprises between eight and nine discrete morphotypes of various size classes, belonging to †Ichthyodectoidei, Aulopiformes (†Dercetidae, †Enchodontidae, †Ichthyotringidae), cf. †Sardinioididae, as well as the hexanchid shark †Gladioserratus sp. The new material expands the faunal list for the Maastrichtian of Gavdos Island, and the Pindos Unit as a whole, and further allows for the description of a new genus and species of †Enchodontidae and a new species of †Ichthyotringidae. The two new taxa are found to be widespread in the Maastrichtian of the Pindos Unit. The overall character of the assemblage agrees with previous interpretations of an offshore and rather deep depositional environment for the fossiliferous horizons. Furthermore, it exhibits a higher diversity than, and little taxonomic overlap with penecontemporaneous teleost assemblages from the Tethys, and informs on the otherwise poorly known Maastrichtian offshore and deep-water marine ichthyofaunas of the region.
During the last decade, new Neogene fossil assemblages from South America have revealed important clues about the evolution of seabird faunas in one of the major upwelling systems of the world: the ...Humboldt Current. However, most of this record comes from arid Northern Chile and Southern Peru and, in consequence, our knowledge of the evolutionary history of seabirds in the temperate transitional zone is negligible. A new Late Pliocene assemblage of fossil birds from the coastal locality of Horcon in Central Chile offers a unique opportunity to fill this gap.
Isolated bones of a medium-sized penguin are the most abundant bird remains. Morphological and cladistic analyses reveal that these specimens represent a new species of crested penguin, Eudyptes calauina sp. nov. Eudyptes is a penguin genus that inhabit temperate and subantarctic regions and currently absent in central Chile. Additionally, a partial skeleton of a small species of cormorant and a partial tarsometatarsus of a sooty shearwater have been identified.
The Horcon fossils suggest the existence of a mixed avifauna in central Chile during the Pliocene in concordance with the latitudinal thermal gradient. This resembles the current assemblages from the transitional zone, with the presence of species shared with Northern Chile and Southern Peru and a previously unrecorded penguin currently absent from the Humboldt System but present in the Magellanic region. Comparison of Pliocene seabird diversity across the Pacific coast of South America shows that the Horcon avifauna represents a distinctive assemblage linking the living faunas with the Late Miocene ones. A comparison with the fossil record near the Benguela Current (west coast of southern Africa) suggests that the thermic gradient could play an important role in the preservation of a higher diversity of cold/temperate seabirds in the Humboldt Current.
The lower Miocene Pirabas Formation in the North of Brazil was deposited under influence of the proto-Amazon River and is characterized by large changes in the ecological niches from the early ...Miocene onwards. To evaluate these ecological changes, the elasmobranch fauna of the fully marine, carbonate-rich beds was investigated. A diverse fauna with 24 taxa of sharks and rays was identified with the dominant groups being carcharhiniforms and myliobatiforms. This faunal composition is similar to other early Miocene assemblages from the proto-Carribbean bioprovince. However, the Pirabas Formation has unique features compared to the other localities; being the only Neogene fossil fish assemblage described from the Atlantic coast of Tropical Americas. Phosphate oxygen isotope composition of elasmobranch teeth served as proxies for paleotemperatures and paleoecology. The data are compatible with a predominantly tropical marine setting with recognized inshore and offshore habitats with some probable depth preferences (e.g., Aetomylaeus groups). Paleohabitat of taxa particularly found in the Neogene of the Americas (†Carcharhinus ackermannii, †Aetomylaeus cubensis) are estimated to have been principally coastal and shallow waters. Larger variation among the few analyzed modern selachians reflects a larger range for the isotopic composition of recent seawater compared to the early Miocene. This probably links to an increased influence of the Amazon River in the coastal regions during the Holocene.
The Urumaco stratigraphic sequence, western Venezuela, preserves a variety of paleoenvironments that include terrestrial, riverine, lacustrine and marine facies. A wide range of fossil vertebrates ...associated with these facies supports the hypothesis of an estuary in that geographic area connected with a hydrographic system that flowed from western Amazonia up to the Proto-Caribbean Sea during the Miocene. Here the elasmobranch assemblages of the middle Miocene to middle Pliocene section of the Urumaco sequence (Socorro, Urumaco and Codore formations) are described. Based on new findings, we document at least 21 taxa of the Lamniformes, Carcharhiniformes, Myliobatiformes and Rajiformes, and describe a new carcharhiniform species (†Carcharhinus caquetius sp. nov.). Moreover, the Urumaco Formation has a high number of well-preserved fossil Pristis rostra, for which we provide a detailed taxonomic revision, and referral in the context of the global Miocene record of Pristis as well as extant species. Using the habitat preference of the living representatives, we hypothesize that the fossil chondrichthyan assemblages from the Urumaco sequence are evidence for marine shallow waters and estuarine habitats.
Shark-cetacean trophic interactions, preserved as bite marks in the fossil record, mostly correspond to isolated or fragmentary findings that bear limited information about major trophic patterns or ...roles. Here, we provide evidence of focalized foraging by sharks in the form of tooth bite marks over physeteroids fossil bones from the late Miocene of Peru. These findings indicate that sharks were targeting the forehead of coeval physeteroids to actively feed on their lipid-rich nasal complexes. Miocene physeteroids displayed a broad diversity, including giant predatorial forms, small benthic foragers and suction feeders. Like their extant relatives, these animals exhibited enlarged fatty forehead organs responsible for their sound production capabilities, thus evolving taxon-specific cranial architecture. Bite marks are found on the cranial bones where these structures were attached, indicating that sharks actively targeted this region; but also, in areas that would only be accessible following the consumption of the surrounding soft tissues. The shape of the bite marks and their distribution suggests a series of consecutive scavenging events by individuals of different shark species. Similar bite patterns can be recognized on other Miocene physeteroids fossils from across the globe, suggesting that sharks actively exploited physeteroid carcasses as fat sources.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the etiological agent of COVID-19, is considered a zoonotic pathogen mainly transmitted human to human. Few reports indicate that pets ...may be exposed to the virus. The present report describes a cat suffering from severe respiratory distress and thrombocytopenia living with a family with several members affected by COVID-19. Clinical signs of the cat prompted humanitarian euthanasia and a detailed postmortem investigation to assess whether a COVID-19–like disease was causing the condition. Necropsy results showed the animal suffered from feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and severe pulmonary edema and thrombosis. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was only detected in nasal swab, nasal turbinates, and mesenteric lymph node, but no evidence of histopathological lesions compatible with a viral infection were detected. The cat seroconverted against SARS-CoV-2, further evidencing a productive infection in this animal. We conclude that the animal had a subclinical SARS-CoV-2 infection concomitant to an unrelated cardiomyopathy that led to euthanasia.
Pliosaurids were the dominant macropredators in aquatic environments at least since the Middle Jurassic until their extinction in the early Late Cretaceous. Until very recently, the Cretaceous record ...of Pliosauridae has been poor and difficult to interpret from the taxonomic and phylogenetic perspective. Despite that the knowledge of Cretaceous pliosaurids improved in recent years, numerous aspects of their evolutionary history still remain only poorly known. Here, we report the first pliosaurid material from Venezuela. The taxon is most likely earliest Cenomanian in age, thus representing the youngest occurrence of Pliosauridae from South America. The Venezuelan taxon is based on a well-preserved tooth crown whose morphology and outer enamel structural elements appear to resemble especially those observable in the giant pliosaurid Sachicasaurus vitae from the Lower Cretaceous of Colombia. The new discovery extends the pliosaurid record on the continent by more than 10 million years and likely marks the southernmost Upper Cretaceous occurrence of Pliosauridae, worldwide. We also briefly discuss the affinities of the enigmatic Venezuelan elasmosaurid Alzadasaurus tropicus and highlight similarities to elasmosaurids from the Western Interior Seaway.
Multisystem inflammatory syndrome associated with the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has recently been described in children (MIS-C), partially overlapping with Kawasaki disease (KD). We hypothesized that (a) ...MIS-C and prepandemic KD cytokine profiles may be unique and justify the clinical differences observed, and (b) SARS-CoV-2-specific immune complexes (ICs) may explain the immunopathology of MIS-C. Seventy-four children were included: 14 with MIS-C, 9 patients positive for SARS-CoV-2 by PCR without MIS-C (COVID), 14 with prepandemic KD, and 37 healthy controls (HCs). Thirty-four circulating cytokines were quantified in pretreatment serum or plasma samples and the presence of circulating SARS-CoV-2 ICs was evaluated in MIS-C patients. Compared with HCs, the MIS-C and KD groups showed most cytokines to be significantly elevated, with IFN-γ-induced response markers (including IFN-γ, IL-18, and IP-10) and inflammatory monocyte activation markers (including MCP-1, IL-1α, and IL-1RA) being the main triggers of inflammation. In linear discriminant analysis, MIS-C and KD profiles overlapped; however, a subgroup of MIS-C patients (MIS-Cplus) differentiated from the remaining MIS-C patients in IFN-γ, IL-18, GM-CSF, RANTES, IP-10, IL-1α, and SDF-1 and incipient signs of macrophage activation syndrome. Circulating SARS-CoV-2 ICs were not detected in MIS-C patients. Our findings suggest a major role for IFN-γ in the pathogenesis of MIS-C, which may be relevant for therapeutic management.
Food by-products have been used as source of bioactive compounds with health benefits. Supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) extraction has been a valuable technology to obtain a diversity of ...bioactive compounds with the use of safer solvents. This research focused on the comparison of the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antihyperglycemic activities of SC-CO2 and conventional extracts obtained from black bean by-products. A Box-Behnken design was used to evaluate the effect of temperature, pressure, and co-solvent on the soyasaponins recovery. Total phenolic compounds (TPC) were quantified using Folin-Ciocalteu. Cellular antioxidant activity (CAA) and anti-inflammatory response via nitric oxide (NO) assay were evaluated in vitro. The antihyperglycemic activity was evaluated using digestive enzymes. The highest soyasaponin extraction yield was obtained at 70 °C, 10 MPa and 10% co-solvent. SC-CO2 extracts exhibited up to 74.7% of CAA, an inhibition of 93.0% NO, 25.1% α-amylase, 78.7% α-glucosidase and 82.33 ± 5.80 of TPC. SC-CO2 extraction resulted in a feasible technology to obtain high-value compounds from industrial by-products to treat hyperglycemic, oxidative stress and inflammation.
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•SC-CO2 mixed with co-solvent is a feasible technique to obtain rich soyasaponins extracts from black bean by-products.•Recovery of Ba (V) and αg soyasaponins from black bean by-product extracts is favored at 70°C, 10 MPa and 10% co-solvent.•Extraction at 55 °C, 10 MPa and 5% co-solvent showed the highest extraction selectivity of Ba (V) and αg soyasaponins.•SC-CO2 with co-solvent is a feasible technique to obtain extracts with a higher content of TPC from black bean by-products.•The antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antihyperglycemic activities were correlated with soyasaponin Ba (V), αg and TPC.
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