Julian P. Hume

A new Neogene marine avian assemblage from north-central Chile

Abstract Most of South Americas diverse avian fossil record is derived from terrestrial deposits. A Late Miocene to Early Pliocene marine avian assemblage is reported here from the Bahía Iglesa Formation of north-central Chile. Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Pelagornithidae, Diomedeidae, and Spheniscidae reported here are the earliest occurrences in Chile. The presence of the Chilean spheniscid penguin may prove significant in the taxonomy and radiation of the genus Spheniscus.

How Owen 'stole' the Dodo: academic rivalry and disputed rights to a newly-discovered subfossil deposit in nineteenth century Mauritius

The discovery of the first fossil Dodo remains in the Mare aux Songes marsh, Mauritius, in 1865 resulted in a race to publish on the Dodos post-cranial anatomy. George Clark, probable discoverer of the fossil site, sent consignments of bones initially to Richard Owen (British Museum), and subsequently to Alfred Newton, Cambridge, via Alfreds brother Edward, who was stationed on Mauritius. After receiving the first consignment, Owen intercepted material intended for Alfred, and abused his position to forestall any complaints from Alfred. Owen published on the Dodo first, while Clark was financially rewarded, but Clarks ensuing arguments over the site discovery with railway engineer, Harry Higginson, and attempt to cover up the abundance of Dodo bones, thus keeping prices high, concluded in a bitter rivalry that was never resolved between Owen and the Newton brothers.

Dodo remains from an in situ context from Mare aux Songes, Mauritius

Since 2005, excavations at Mare aux Songes, Mauritius, have revealed the presence of a very rich, ∼4,200-year-old fossil bone bed including dodo (Raphus cucullatus) bones and bone fragments. The recently excavated dodo assemblage comprises at least 17 individuals and is characterised by the presence of small and fragile skeletal elements, a dominance of leg elements and an absence of juveniles. The hydrology of the area suggests that dodos, like many other species, were probably lured to Mare aux Songes by the presence of freshwater during times of drought. The most likely scenario for the origin of the fossil deposit is that animals became trapped in the sediment in repeated miring events, which would favour the conservation of hindlimbs. Such a scenario is fully in accordance with the taphonomic characteristics of the bone assemblage.

In the footsteps of the bone collectors: nineteenth-century cave exploration on Rodrigues Island, Indian Ocean

For all of the nineteenth-century bone collectors working on Rodrigues, their main objective was to search the caves for specimens of the Solitaire Pezophaps solitaria, the sister taxon of the Dodo Raphus cucullatus of neighbouring Mauritius. Rodrigues Island has an extensive calcarenite plain in the southwest of the island, which contains numerous caves. A number of expeditions explored the area and excavated the caves, especially during the 1860s and 1870s, resulting in the discovery of thousands of subfossil bones. Some details of these activities were published, and some of the expedition explorers left manuscript reports, all of which provide clues as to where they were excavating. Here, we present the results of a modern attempt to reconstruct the movements of these expeditions and to discover which of the numerous caves were visited and excavated.

Island extinctions: processes, patterns, and potential for ecosystem restoration

Extinctions have altered island ecosystems throughout the late Quaternary. Here, we review the main historic drivers of extinctions on islands, patterns in extinction chronologies between islands, and the potential for restoring ecosystems through reintroducing extirpated species. While some extinctions have been caused by climatic and environmental change, most have been caused by anthropogenic impacts. We propose a general model to describe patterns in these anthropogenic island extinctions. Hunting, habitat loss and the introduction of invasive predators accompanied prehistoric settlement and caused declines of endemic island species. Later settlement by European colonists brought further land development, a different suite of predators and new drivers, leading to more extinctions. Extinctions alter ecological networks, causing ripple effects for islands through the loss of ecosystem processes, functions and interactions between species. Reintroduction of extirpated species can help restore ecosystem function and processes, and can be guided by palaeoecology. However, reintroduction projects must also consider the cultural, social and economic needs of humans now inhabiting the islands and ensure resilience against future environmental and climate change.

A review of the dodo and its ecosystem: insights from a vertebrate concentration Lagerstätte in Mauritius

ABSTRACT The dodo Raphus cucullatus Linnaeus, 1758, an extinct and flightless, giant pigeon endemic to Mauritius, has fascinated people since its discovery, yet has remained surprisingly poorly known. Until the mid-19th century, almost all that was known about the dodo was based on illustrations and written accounts by 17th century mariners, often of questionable accuracy. Furthermore, only a few fragmentary remains of dodos collected prior to the birds extinction exist. Our understanding of the dodos anatomy was substantially enhanced by the discovery in 1865 of subfossil bones in a marsh called the Mare aux Songes, situated in southeastern Mauritius. However, no contextual information was recorded during early excavation efforts, and the majority of excavated material comprised larger dodo bones, almost all of which were unassociated. Here we present a modern interdisciplinary analysis of the Mare aux Songes, a 4200-year-old multitaxic vertebrate concentration Lagerstätte. Our analysis of the deposits at this site provides the first detailed overview of the ecosystem inhabited by the dodo. The interplay of climatic and geological conditions led to the exceptional preservation of the animal and associated plant remains at the Mare aux Songes and provides a window into the past ecosystem of Mauritius. This interdisciplinary research approach provides an ecological framework for the dodo, complementing insights on its anatomy derived from the only associated dodo skeletons known, both of which were collected by Etienne Thirioux and are the primary subject of this memoir. Citation for this article: Rijsdijk, K. F., J. P. Hume, P. G. B. de Louw, H. J. M. Meijer, A. Janoo, E. J. de Boer, L. Steel, J. de Vos, L. G. van der Sluis, H. Hooghiemstra, F. B. V. Florens, C. Baider, T. J. J. Vernimmen, P. Baas, A. H. van Heteren, V. Rupear, G. Beebeejaun, A. Grihault, J. van der Plicht, M. Besselink, J. K. Lubeek, M. Jansen, S. J. Kluiving, H. Hollund, B. Shapiro, M. Collins, M. Buckley, R. M. Jayasena, N. Porch, R. Floore, F. Bunnik, A. Biedlingmaier, J. Leavitt, G. Monfette, A. Kimelblatt, A. Randall, P. Floore, and L. P. A. M. Claessens. 2015. A review of the dodo and its ecosystem: insights from a vertebrate concentration Lagerstätte in Mauritius; pp. 3–20 in L. P. A. M. Claessens, H. J. M. Meijer, J. P. Hume, and K. F. Rijsdijk (eds.), Anatomy of the Dodo (Raphus cucullatus L., 1758): An Osteological Study of the Thirioux Specimens. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Memoir 15. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 35(6, Supplement).

The dodo, the deer and a 1647 voyage to Japan

More has been written about the iconic Dodo Raphus cucullatus of Mauritius than any other extinct bird, yet despite its familiarity, only a few specimens were exported from Mauritius; individual birds reached Europe alive in 1626 and 1638 and at least two survived a journey to India in 1625. There are also vague records of other exported birds. Here, we provide confirmation based on seventeenth century documents that a live Dodo was sent to Japan in 1647, the last known captive bird, and comment on the details of its long and arduous voyage.

Rediscovery of a lost Lagerstätte: a comparative analysis of the historical and recent Mare aux Songes dodo excavations on Mauritius

The Mare aux Songes (MAS), Mauritius, Mascarene Islands, is best known for the remarkable quality and quantity of macro- and micro-fossil remains, including those of the iconic Dodo Raphus cucullatus. It remains the most productive oceanic island fossil locality in the Indian Ocean, and is considered an integrated vertebrate bone Konzentrat-Lagerstätte. Fossil remains were first discovered in September 1865, again in the 1890s and early 1900s, but all without contextual data. The discovery of additional fossil remains in 2005 initiated an international, interdisciplinary research programme in 2006, which resulted in the first contextual analysis. However, it became clearly apparent that the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century fossil collections differed both in taphonomy and in age from late twentieth- and twenty-first-century excavations, and that it was likely that each represented a different depositional setting. Here, we provide evidence for the genesis of the MAS and show that two different fossil deposits were indeed present, each differing significantly taphonomically. Furthermore, the historical material represents a younger, seasonally desiccated, lake-shore accumulation with age range from ca. 1600 yr bp to sub-recent, whereas the 4200-year-old twenty-first-century material is more associated with a deeper, lacustrine environment.

The Morphology of the Thirioux dodos

ABSTRACT Despite its status as an icon of extinction and relatively recent disappearance, our knowledge of the anatomy of the dodo has been hampered by a scarcity of preserved remains. The handful of dodo relics that survive from collections made prior to the birds extinction consist solely of cranial and pedal materials, whereas other dodo skeletons preserved in museum collections are incomplete composites, constructed from subfossil skeletal remains discovered since 1865 at the Mare aux Songes locality. Here we describe the skeletal anatomy of two exceptional dodo specimens, collected around 1904 by amateur naturalist Louis Etienne Thirioux in the caves and crevasses surrounding Le Pouce, which have escaped detailed scientific analysis until now. The Port Louis specimen appears to consist of the skeletal remains of a single bird and is essentially complete, whereas the Durban specimen has been constructed from a limited number of birds but contains many bones that appear to be associated. The Port Louis specimen provides the first information regarding relative skeletal proportions of the dodo. Unique skeletal elements that were unknown or never described scientifically before include the patella, tarsal sesamoids, ulnare and radiale, and distal wing phalanges. The anatomy of the Thirioux dodos supports recent reinterpretations of the dodo as a resilient bird that was well adapted to the Mauritian ecosystem. Citation for this article: Claessens, L. P. A. M., H. J. M. Meijer, and J. P. Hume. 2015. The morphology of the Thirioux dodos; pp. 29–187 in L. P. A. M. Claessens, H. J. M. Meijer, J. P. Hume, and K. F. Rijsdijk (eds.), Anatomy of the Dodo (Raphus cucullatus L., 1758): An Osteological Study of the Thirioux Specimens. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Memoir 15. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 35(6, Supplement).

STRATIGRAPHY AND CHRONOLOGY OF KARST FEATURES ON RODRIGUES ISLAND, SOUTHWESTERN INDIAN OCEAN

6 Abstract: The remote Indian Ocean island of Rodrigues, while largely of volcanic origin, also contains a large body of eolian calcarenite with over thirty surveyed caves and many other karst features. Little is known, however, regarding the age and stratigraphy of the clastic deposits in the caves and the associated fossils of the highly endemic, now mostly extinct, fauna. On the Plaine Caverne and Plaine Corail of the southwestern part of the island, we obtained sediment cores up to 10 m in length and excavated bones of the extinct fauna from caves in the vicinity. Stratigraphic description and radiocarbon dating revealed that sediments in Canyon Tiyel, a collapsed-cave feature, primarily accumulated during the early and middle Holocene. Sedimentation in the canyon and adjacent caves has slowed in recent millennia, with the result that many bones of fauna that went extinct after human arrival in recent centuries are on or near the surface. The chemistry of the sediments and the alternate wet and dry regime of the cave and canyon surfaces are often not conducive to preservation of bone collagen and plant microfossils. Grotte Fougere, with an apparently unique anchialine pond inside a collapsing cave, however, contains over one meter of highly organic sediment with excellent preservation of plant and animal remains.