Genyornis eggshell (Dromornithidae; Aves) from the Late Pleistocene of South Australia

Fossil eggshell fragments from a sand dune near Port Augusta are attributed to the extinct dromornithid, Genyornis newtoni Stirling & Zietz. Shell curvature measurements show that the eggs were larger than those of the Emu, Dromaius novaehollandiae. Radiocarbon dates indicate an age in excess of 40,680 BP. Holes pierced through some fragments are attributed to the action of predators.     

Late Silurian pentameride brachiopods from Yass and Molong,New South Wales

The five known species of pentameride brachiopods from the Yass Syncline Ludlow (LateSilurian) succession, belonging to the superfamilies Pentameroidea, Gypiduloidea and Clorindoidea, are fully revised; no new species are recognised. The pentameroids Conchidium sp. cf. hospes and Aliconchidium yassi are confined to the Bowspring Limestone Member (Silverdale Formation). The gypiduloid Ascanigypa glabra and externally homeomorphic clorindoids Barrandina wilkinsoni and Clorinda minor replace them in the overlying Barrandella Shale Member, the last two extending into the Yarwood Siltstone Member (Black Bog Shale). Clorinda minor is also possibly present in the Rainbow Hill Member (Rosebank Shale). All except C. minor are uncommon to rare components of the Yass brachiopod fauna. Clorinda molongensis, a species of uncertain mid- to late Silurian age from the Molong Limestone, is also revised. Aliconchidium and Barrandina are known only from Yass, whereas Clorinda is cosmopolitan. Conchidium alsois widespread, but C. hospes is a species from the Prague Basin probably also known from the Urals and the Tien Shan. Ascanigypa is another Prague Basin taxon, recently recognised in Arctic Canada.     

Metaceratodus kaopen comb. nov. and M. wichmanni comb. nov., two Late Cretaceous South American species of an austral lungfish genus (Dipnoi)

Cione, A.L. & Gouiric-Cavalli, S., June 2012. Metaceratodus kaopen comb. nov. and M. wichmanni comb. nov., two Late Cretaceous South American species of an austral lungfish genus (Dipnoi). Alcheringa 36, 203–216. ISSN 0311-5518.

Metaceratodus wollastoni, an Australian species, was reported from Upper Cretaceous beds of Patagonia in 1997. Later, three new species (Ceratodus wichmanni, Ptychoceratodus kaopen and Ptychoceratodus cionei), based on scarce material, were described from the same region. Two of these species were later referred to Ferganoceratodus. After examining much more abundant and better-preserved material, we conclude that neither the occurrence of Metaceratodus wollastoni nor those of Ptychoceratodus and Ferganoceratodus in the Cretaceous of South America are supported. We consider that C. wichmanni and P. cionei are synonyms and we reassign the three putative species to Metaceratodus under two new combinations: M. kaopen comb. nov. and M. wichmanni comb. nov. Both differ from the other species of the genus in having pits over most of the occlusal surface and a different occlusal profile of the tooth plate, and most have four ridges in the lower and upper tooth plates. Metaceratodus wichmanni differs from M. kaopen in oclussal profile, inner angle, and symphysis development among other features. Metaceratodus kaopen is known from the upper Santonian–lower Campanian Anacleto Formation of Río Negro province and M. wichmanni from upper Campanian–lower Maastrichtian units of Chubut, Río Negro, Neuquén and Mendoza provinces, Argentina. The occurrence of Metaceratodus in southern South America corroborates a close biogeographical relationship with Australia in the latest Cretaceous.

Alberto Luis Cione [acione@museo.fcnym.unlp.edu.ar] and Soledad Gouiric-Cavalli [sgouiric@museo.fcnym.unlp.edu.ar], División Paleontología Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata, Paseo del Bosque s/n, W1900FWA La Plata, Argentina. Received 23.11.2010, revised 11.7.2011, accepted 7.8.2011.

     

Early Aptian (Early Cretaceous) freshwater bivalves from the Australian–Antarctic rift,southeast Victoria

The brissid echinoid Schizobrissus insignis (Duncan &; Sladen, 1883) is described from the Fulra Limestone (late middle Eocene), in Kachchh, India. Formerly assigned to Peripneustes or to Meoma it is shown that the species possesses a complete subanal fasciole throughout ontogeny, a characteristic feature of Schizobrissus. Eocene species of Schizobrissus and Meoma show several morphological similarities, but diverged during the late Paleogene and early Neogene.     

Fridtjof Nansen and the Aegean population exchange

This article examines Fridtjof Nansen’s role in elaborating the compulsory Greco-Turkish population exchange of 1923–1924. Thrust into a spiralling crisis, the League’s High Commissioner took on humanitarian, representational and negotiating roles having long-term as well as immediate impact, while the Norwegian’s emergence at Lausanne as chief spokesman for an agreement widely considered reprehensible invites scrutiny of his interventions. Drawing on recent publications and key archival sources, the analysis presses four strands of argument. First, while Nansen helped articulate the exchange idea along with Greece’s Eleftherios Venizelos, he neither originated it nor provided the essential political impetus. Second, Nansen’s oft-cited ‘first mention’ of making it compulsory assigns him a misleadingly strong role in a solution chiefly engineered by Kemal’s Turkey. Third, his impact on the agreement’s scope, involving exemptions for minority populations in Western Thrace and Constantinople, was limited. Fourth, Nansen’s ultimate push for a lasting settlement blended pragmatism with strategic vision. Subsequent delays and wider political failure not of his making to secure equitable property exchange highlighted the harsher aspects of a deal all the main parties in fact favoured, Nansen recognized as necessary and which thwarted a still worse calamity.     

Stocking Up: The Role of Temporal and Spatial R&D Stocks

Endogenous growth models are built around the concept of a knowledge stock. This knowledge stock can also be interpreted as a localized stock that operates at the regional level, as is common in the regional innovation systems literature. We use data from the second, third and fourth Community Innovation Surveys (covering 1994–1996, 1998–2000 and 2002–2004) to measure the build-up of knowledge at a very low regional aggregation level (“across streets and hallways”) in the Netherlands. In doing so, we account for regional agglomeration effects. We find that such local knowledge stocks have a small influence on innovation and are far outweighed by firm-specific characteristics.     

The Competitive Position of the Basque Aeroespatial Cluster in Global Value Chains: A Historical Analysis

In this paper, based on the case study of the aerospace cluster of the Basque Country (Spain), we aimed at analysing how local industries develop a new specialization, that is, how a cluster emerges, and how it evolves over time. For that purpose, apart from considering local factors (both forces that are internal to the cluster and to the territory), we explicitly consider the role of institutional and technological changes, and how they affect industry structure and governance patterns of global value chains (GVCs). We observe that global-scale regulations (deregulation and competition policy) and technological change, together with local factors such as the existence of anchor firms, local policies, related variety and social capital at regional and cluster levels played a significant role in the emergence of the cluster and how it became inserted in the GVCs. Later on, the development of suppliers' capabilities also had a relevant role in the evolution of the governance patterns of GVCs.     

An Element of Thought: Phosphorus and Mental Philosophy in the Nineteenth Century

Georges Cabanis (17571808), through his writings on the relation of the physical and moral, or psychological, aspects of man, left a legacy that made the study of mental activity a part of physiology. His views on the importance of phosphorus to the function of the brain thrust that element into a prominent stream of research that involved many investigators in several countries. Although that particular stream eventually dried up, its influence remained: by the beginning of the twentieth century basic medical science had become well set on studies of the mind-body relationship.