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2023
Journal article
New species from the early Eocene London Clay suggest an undetected early Eocene diversity of the Leptosomiformes, an avian clade that includes a living fossil from Madagascar
We report the first records of the leptosomiform taxon from the early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex, UK). Two species could be distinguished, one of which is described as , sp. nov. (the other is classified as sp.). We furthermore describe two small leptosomiform-like birds from Walton-on-the-Naze, , gen....Mayr, Gerald ; Kitchener, Andrew C
Waltonavis, gen. nov. , Ypresian , Walton-on-the-Naze, Lutavis, gen. nov. , fossil birds , Aves , and Plesiocathartes insolitipes, sp. nov.
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2023
Journal article
Describing whisker morphology of the Carnivora
One of the largest ecological transitions in carnivoran evolution was the shift from terrestrial to aquatic lifestyles, which has driven morphological diversity in skulls and other skeletal structures. In this paper, we investigate the association between those lifestyles and whisker morphology. However, comparing whisker morphology over a range of species...Dougill, Gary ; Brassey, Charlotte A ; Starostin, Eugene L ; Andrews, Hayley ; Kitchener, Andrew C …
mechanoreception , curvature , touch , aquatic , and vibrissae
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2023
Journal article
Narrow-beaked trogons from the early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex, UK)
We describe multiple partial skeletons of a new trogon species from the early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex, UK), which are among the oldest fossils of the Trogoniformes. , gen. et sp. nov. has a much narrower and more gracile beak than extant trogons, which denotes different ecological attributes...Mayr, Gerald ; De Pietri, Vanesa L ; Kitchener, Andrew C
Eotrogon stenorhynchus, gen. et sp. nov. , Phylogeny, Fossil birds , Paratrogon gallicus , Aves , and Evolution
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2023
Journal article
A new fossil from the London Clay documents the convergent origin of a “mousebird-like” tarsometatarsus in an early Eocene near-passerine bird
We describe a partial skeleton of a small bird from the lower Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex, UK), which shows close affinities to two phylogenetically controversial early Paleogene taxa, Morsoravis sedilis (lower Eocene of Denmark) and Pumiliornis tessellatus (lower/middle Eocene of Germany). Our phylogenetic analysis supports a clade including...Mayr, Gerald ; Kitchener, Andrew C
Aves, Walton-on-the-Naze, Sororavis solitarius, Eocene, UK, and evolution
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2023
Research report
Scottish Wildcat Action: Final Summary Report
The wildcat, Felis silvestris, is one of our most iconic species. Elusive and rarely seen, it is threatened by a combination of extremely challenging factors, in particular hybridisation with domestic cats. Its secretive nature has made it a difficult animal to study in the wild, making it harder to design...Kitchener, Andrew C
Felis silvestris, ecology , population, and wildcat
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2023
Journal article
Range-wide whole-genome resequencing of the brown bear reveals drivers of intraspecies divergence
Population-genomic studies can shed new light on the effect of past demographic processes on contemporary population structure. We reassessed phylogeographical patterns of a classic model species of postglacial recolonisation, the brown bear ( ), using a range-wide resequencing dataset of 128 nuclear genomes. In sharp contrast to the erratic geographical...de Jong, Menno J ; Niamir, Aidin ; Wolf, Magnus ; Kitchener, Andrew C ; Lecomte, Nicolas …
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2022
Journal article
Psittacopedids and zygodactylids: The diverse and species-rich psittacopasserine birds from the early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex, UK)
The Daniels collection of fossil birds from the early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex, UK) contains multiple specimens of the Psittacopedidae and Zygodactylidae, which are here for the first time studied in detail. The Psittacopedidae include Parapsittacopes bergdahli, Psittacomimus eos, gen. et sp. nov., ?Psittacopes occidentalis, sp. nov., and...Mayr, Gerald ; Kitchener, Andrew C
Psittacopasseres, evolution, fossil birds, Aves, and systematics
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Journal article
First recorded stranding of a short-finned pilot whale, Globicephala macrorhynchus, in Britain
A male pilot whale, Globicephala sp., was reported as a live stranding on 1st March 2012 at Hazelbeach, near Neyland, Pembrokeshire. It was euthanased and its skull was recovered during an onsite necropsy. Examination of the skull and contemporary photographs of the stranded animal confirm that this is the first...Kitchener, Andrew C ; Hantke, Georg ; Penrose, R S ; Perkins, M W ; Deaville, R
Globicephala melas, Delphinidae, skull, and Globicephala macrorhynchus
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2022
Journal article
Phenotypic plasticity determines differences between the skulls of tigers from mainland Asia
Tiger subspecific taxonomy is controversial because of morphological and genetic variation found between now fragmented populations, yet the extent to which phenotypic plasticity or genetic variation affects phenotypes of putative tiger subspecies has not been explicitly addressed. In order to assess the role of phenotypic plasticity in determining skull variation,... -
2022
Journal article
Biogeography in the deep: Hierarchical population genomic structure of two beaked whale species
The deep sea is the largest ecosystem on Earth, yet little is known about the processes driving patterns of genetic diversity in its inhabitants. Here, we investigated the macro- and microevolutionary processes shaping genomic population structure and diversity in two poorly understood, globally distributed, deep-sea predators: Cuvier’s beaked whale (Ziphius...