Xenorhinos bhatnagari sp. nov., a new, nasal-emitting trident bat (Rhinonycteridae, Rhinolophoidea) from early Miocene forests in northern Australia.

A new Old World trident bat (Rhinonycteridae) is described from an early Miocene cave deposit in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, northwestern Queensland, Australia. Living rhinonycterids comprise a small family of insect-eating, nasal-emitting rhinolophoid bats from Africa, Madagascar, Seychelles, the Middle East, and northern Australia. The new fossil species is one of at least 12 rhinonycterid species known from the Oligo-Miocene cave deposits at Riversleigh. We refer the new species to the genus Xenorhinos (Hand, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 18, 430-439, 1998a) because it shares a number of unusual cranial features with the type and only other species of the genus, X. halli, including a broad rostrum, very wide interorbital region, pronounced ventral flexion of the rostrum, very constricted sphenoidal bridge, and, within the nasal fossa, reduced bony division, and relatively well developed turbinals. Xenorhinos species lived in northern Australia during the global Miocene Climatic Optimum, in closed wet forests, unlike the drier habitats that trident bats largely inhabit today. Our phylogenetic analysis suggests that more than one dispersal event gave rise to the Australian rhinonycterid radiation, with two lineages having sister-group relationships with non-Australian taxa.

Sheath-tailed bats (Chiroptera: Emballonuridae) from the early Pleistocene Rackham's Roost Site, Riversleigh World Heritage Area, and the distribution of northern Australian emballonurid species.

Sheath-tailed bats (Family Emballonuridae) from the early Pleistocene Rackham's Roost Site cave deposit in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, north-western Queensland are the oldest recorded occurrence for the family in Australia. The fossil remains consist of maxillary and dentary fragments, as well as isolated teeth, but until now their precise identity has not been assessed. Our study indicates that at least three taxa are represented, and these are distinguished from other Australian emballonurids based on morphometric analysis of craniodental features. Most of the Rackham's Roost Site emballonurid remains are referrable to the modern species Taphozous georgianus Thomas, 1915, but the extant species T. troughtoni Tate, 1952 also appears to be present, as well as a very large, as-yet undetermined species of Saccolaimus Temminck, 1838. We identify craniodental features that clearly distinguish T. georgianus from the externally very similar T. troughtoni. Results suggest that the distributions of T. georgianus and T. troughtoni may have overlapped in north-western Queensland since at least the early Pleistocene.

Siderophore-Assisted Dissolution of Iron(III) Hydroxide Oxides from Iron-Rich Fossil Matrices.

Current paleontological techniques to separate vertebrate fossils from encasing iron-rich cements by chemical means are limited by the low solubility of common iron(III) hydroxide oxides such as hematite and goethite. This study examines novel geochemical extractions capable of selectively dissolving iron(III) hydroxide oxides, in aqueous solutions of pH 9-11, without damaging fossilised bones or teeth (hydroxidecarbonate-apatite). This involves the siderophore ligands pyridoxal isonicotinoyl hydrazone (PIH), salicylaldehyde isonicotinoyl hydrazone (SIH), and acetohydroxamic acid (aHA), whose coordination complexes with iron(III) show exceptionally high formation stability constants. The methods have been tested on natural hematite and fossil containing samples from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area in Australia. Both 0.01 mol dm-3 aHA and 0.001 mol dm-3 PIH at pH 9.7 were able to dissolve over 0.1 mmol dm-3 of the goethite coating bone fragments.

The Burramys Project: a conservationist's reach should exceed history's grasp, or what is the fossil record for?

The fossil record provides important information about changes in species diversity, distribution, habitat and abundance through time. As we understand more about these changes, it becomes possible to envisage a wider range of options for translocations in a world where sustainability of habitats is under increasing threat. The Critically Endangered alpine/subalpine mountain pygmy-possum, Burramys parvus (Marsupialia, Burramyidae), is threatened by global heating. Using conventional strategies, there would be no viable pathway for stopping this iconic marsupial from becoming extinct. The fossil record, however, has inspired an innovative strategy for saving this species. This lineage has been represented over 25 Myr by a series of species always inhabiting lowland, wet forest palaeocommunities. These fossil deposits have been found in what is now the Tirari Desert, South Australia (24 Ma), savannah woodlands of the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, Queensland (approx. 24-15 Ma) and savannah grasslands of Hamilton, Victoria (approx. 4 Ma). This palaeoecological record has led to the proposal overviewed here to construct a lowland breeding facility with the goal of monitoring the outcome of introducing this possum back into the pre-Quaternary core habitat for the lineage. If this project succeeds, similar approaches could be considered for other climate-change-threatened Australian species such as the southern corroboree frog (Pseudophryne corroboree) and the western swamp tortoise (Pseudemydura umbrina). This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The past is a foreign country: how much can the fossil record actually inform conservation?'

Creation and Implementation of an Outpatient Pathway for Atrial Fibrillation in the Emergency Department Setting: Results of an Expert Panel.

Atrial fibrillation and flutter (AF) is a common condition among emergency department (ED) patients in the United States. Traditionally, ED care for primary complaints related to AF focus on rate control, and patients are often admitted to an inpatient setting for further care. Inpatient care may include further telemetry monitoring and diagnostic testing, rhythm control, a search for identification of AF etiology, and stroke prophylaxis. However, many patients are eligible for safe and effective outpatient management pathways. They are widely used in Canada and other countries but less widely adopted in the United States. In this project, we convened an expert panel to create a practical framework for the process of creating, implementing, and maintaining an outpatient AF pathway for emergency physicians to assess and treat AF patients, safely reduce hospitalization rates, ensure appropriate stroke prophylaxis, and effectively transition patients to longitudinal outpatient treatment settings from the ED and/or observation unit. To support local pathway creation, the panel also reached agreement on a protocol development plan, a sample pathway, consensus recommendations for pathway components, sample pathway metrics, and a structured literature review framework using a modified Delphi technique by a technical expert panel of emergency medicine, cardiology, and other stakeholder groups.

The identification of Oligo-Miocene mammalian palaeocommunities from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, Australia and an appraisal of palaeoecological techniques.

Fourteen of the best sampled Oligo-Miocene local faunas from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, north-western Queensland, Australia are analysed using classification and ordination techniques to identify potential mammalian palaeocommunities and palaeocommunity types. Abundance data for these faunas are used, for the first time, in conjunction with presence/absence data. An early Miocene Faunal Zone B and two middle Miocene Faunal Zone C palaeocommunities are recognised, as well as one palaeocommunity type. Change in palaeocommunity structure, between the early Miocene and middle Miocene, may be the result of significant climate change during the Miocene Carbon Isotope Excursion. The complexes of local faunas identified will allow researchers to use novel palaeocommunities in future analyses of Riversleigh's fossil faunas. The utility of some palaeoecological multivariate indices and techniques is examined. The Dice index is found to outperform other binary similarity/distance coefficients, while the UPGMA algorithm is more useful than neighbour joining. Evidence is equivocal for the usefulness of presence/absence data compared to abundance.

Osteological morphometrics of Australian chelonioid turtles.

Extant and fossil Australian chelonioid turtles were examined for 57 osteological morphometric variables. Data were analysed using principal components analysis and canonical variates analysis, after Burnaby isometric 'size' removal, as well as multivariate allometry. Results indicate that Lepidochelys spp. are proportionately differentiated from other Cheloniidae. The majority of chelonioid osteological variables scale isometrically, with less than a third exhibiting positive or negative allometry. Skull length and width, postero-ventral skull, mandible length, scapular and pubic variables are found to be useful for differentiating between extant and extinct chelonioids. Skull length and width, mandible height, jaw symphysis length, premaxilla height, femoral length, scapular, pelvic, plastral and rib variables are established as useful differentiators of cheloniids. Australian fossil protostegids are morphometrically more similar to cheloniids than dermochelyids, and no cranial morphometric evidence could be found for the presence of more than one protostegid species. Some osteological allometric variables may be valuable for use in determining the relationships of chelonioids; however these should be examined in conjunction with morphology-based cladistic analyses to test established phylogenies.