Douglass S. Rovinsky

Bio: Douglass S. Rovinsky is an academic researcher from Monash University, Clayton campus. The author has contributed to research in topics: Paranthropus robustus & Thylacine. The author has an hindex of 6, co-authored 10 publications receiving 132 citations. Previous affiliations of Douglass S. Rovinsky include Monash University & Grand Valley State University.

Contemporaneity of Australopithecus, Paranthropus, and early Homo erectus in South Africa.

Abstract: Understanding the extinction of Australopithecus and origins of Paranthropus and Homo in South Africa has been hampered by the perceived complex geological context of hominin fossils, poor chronological resolution, and a lack of well-preserved early Homo specimens. We describe, date, and contextualize the discovery of two hominin crania from Drimolen Main Quarry in South Africa. At ~2.04 million to 1.95 million years old, DNH 152 represents the earliest definitive occurrence of Paranthropus robustus, and DNH 134 represents the earliest occurrence of a cranium with clear affinities to Homo erectus These crania also show that Homo, Paranthropus, and Australopithecus were contemporaneous at ~2 million years ago. This high taxonomic diversity is also reflected in non-hominin species and provides evidence of endemic evolution and dispersal during a period of climatic variability.

Macromammalian faunas, biochronology and palaeoecology of the early Pleistocene Main Quarry hominin-bearing deposits of the Drimolen Palaeocave System, South Africa

Abstract: The Drimolen Palaeocave System Main Quarry deposits (DMQ) are some of the most prolific hominin and primate-bearing deposits in the Fossil Hominids of South Africa UNESCO World Heritage Site. Discovered in the 1990s, excavations into the DMQ have yielded a demographically diverse sample of Paranthropus robustus (including DNH 7, the most complete cranium of the species recovered to date), early Homo, Papio hamadryas robinsoni and Cercopithecoides williamsi. Alongside the hominin and primate sample is a diverse macromammalian assemblage, but prior publications have only provided a provisional species list and an analysis of the carnivores recovered prior to 2008. Here we present the first description and analysis of the non-primate macromammalian faunas from the DMQ, including all 826 taxonomically identifiable specimens catalogued from over two decades of excavation. We also provide a biochronological interpretation of the DMQ deposits and an initial discussion of local palaeoecology based on taxon representation.The current DMQ assemblage consists of the remains of minimally 147 individuals from 9 Orders and 14 Families of mammals. The carnivore assemblage described here is even more diverse than established in prior publications, including the identification of Megantereon whitei, Lycyaenops silberbergi, and first evidence for the occurrence of Dinofelis cf. barlowi and Dinofelis aff. piveteaui within a single South African site deposit. The cetartiodactyl assemblage is dominated by bovids, with the specimen composition unique in the high recovery of horn cores and dominance of Antidorcas recki remains. Other cetartiodactyl and perissodactyl taxa are represented by few specimens, as are Hystrix and Procavia; the latter somewhat surprisingly so given their common occurrence at penecontemporaneous deposits in the region. Equally unusual (particularly given the size of the sample) is the identification of single specimens of giraffoid, elephantid and aardvark (Orycteropus cf. afer) that are rarely recovered from regional site deposits. Despite the diversity within the DMQ macromammalian faunas, there are few habitat- or biochronologically-sensitive species that provide specific ecologic or age boundaries for the deposits. Recovered species can only support the non-specific, mixed open-to-closed palaeohabitats around Drimolen that have been reconstructed for the other penecontemporaneous South African palaeokarst deposits. The identified Equus quagga ssp. specimens recovered from the floor of the current excavation (∾-4.5-5 m below datum) suggests that most, if not all the DMQ specimens, were deposited after 2.33 Ma. Simultaneously, the carnivore specimens (D. cf. barlowi, L. silberbergi) suggest earlier Pleistocene (pre- 2.0-1.8 Ma) to maximally 1.6 Ma deposition (D. aff. piveteaui) for most of the DMQ fossil assemblage.

First description of in situ primate and faunal remains from the Plio-Pleistocene Drimolen Makondo palaeocave infill, Gauteng, South Africa

Abstract: The Drimolen palaeocave system has been actively excavated since the 1990s and has produced a demographically-diverse record of Paranthropus robustus, early Homo, and a substantial record of early Pleistocene bone tools; all recovered from the Main Quarry, a single fossil bearing deposit within the system. Early surveys identified an isolated solution-tube 55 meters west of the Main Quarry filled with decalcified matrix and fossils (the Drimolen Makondo). Recent excavations into the Makondo have started to address the geology, depositional history, and faunas of the deposits; particularly whether the Makondo represents a distant uneroded part of the Main Quarry infill, or deposits in-filled into a separate entrance within the same system. We present the first description of fossil macromammalian faunas from the Makondo, excavated 2013–2014. A total of 531 specimens were recovered, 268 (50.5%) of which are taxonomically identifiable. The resulting list is diverse given the sample size and includes primate and carnivore taxa frequently recovered at other terminal Pliocene and earlier Pleistocene localities, as well as more rarely encountered species and elements like the first postcranial remains of the hunting hyaenid (Chasmaporthetes ?nitidula) from the Cradle. While some of the Makondo fauna overlaps with taxa recovered from the Main Quarry, there are key differences between the described samples that may reflect differences in the age of the deposits and/or taphonomic processes between these deposits at Drimolen. Douglass S. Rovinsky. Biology Department, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan 49401, USA rovinsdo@gvsu.edu. Andy I.R. Herries. The Australian Archaeomagnetism Laboratory, Dept. Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Melbourne Campus, Bundoora, Victoria 3086, Australia. a.herries@latrobe.edu.au and Centre for Anthropological Research, Humanities Research Village, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park 2006, South Africa. Colin G. Menter. Centre for Anthropological Research, Humanities Research Village, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park 2006, South Africa. menterc@drimolen.org Justin W. Adams. Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia. justin.adams@monash.edu. Rovinsky, Douglass S., Herries, Andy I.R., Menter, Colin G., and Adams, Justin W. 2015. First description of in situ primate and faunal remains from the Plio-Pleistocene Drimolen Makondo palaeocave infill, Gauteng, South Africa. Palaeontologia Electronica 18.2.34A:

The pre-Pleistocene fossil thylacinids (Dasyuromorphia: Thylacinidae) and the evolutionary context of the modern thylacine.

Abstract: The thylacine is popularly used as a classic example of convergent evolution between placental and marsupial mammals. Despite having a fossil history spanning over 20 million years and known since the 1960s, the thylacine is often presented in both scientific literature and popular culture as an evolutionary singleton unique in its morphological and ecological adaptations within the Australian ecosystem. Here, we synthesise and critically evaluate the current state of published knowledge regarding the known fossil record of Thylacinidae prior to the appearance of the modern species. We also present phylogenetic analyses and body mass estimates of the thylacinids to reveal trends in the evolution of hypercarnivory and ecological shifts within the family. We find support that Mutpuracinus archibaldi occupies an uncertain position outside of Thylacinidae, and consider Nimbacinus richi to likely be synonymous with N. dicksoni. The Thylacinidae were small-bodied (< ~8 kg) unspecialised faunivores until after the ~15-14 Ma middle Miocene climatic transition (MMCT). After the MMCT they dramatically increase in size and develop adaptations to a hypercarnivorous diet, potentially in response to the aridification of the Australian environment and the concomitant radiation of dasyurids. This fossil history of the thylacinids provides a foundation for understanding the ecology of the modern thylacine. It provides a framework for future studies of the evolution of hypercarnivory, cursoriality, morphological and ecological disparity, and convergence within mammalian carnivores.

Taphonomic and Ecologic Information Form Bone Weathering

Abstract: Bones of recent mammals in the Amboseli Basin, southern Kenya, exhibit distinctive weathering characteristics that can be related to the time since death and to the local conditions of temperature, humidity and soil chemistry. A categorization of weathering characteristics into six stages, recognizable on descriptive criteria, provides a basis for investigation of weathering rates and processes. The time necessary to achieve each successive weathering stage has been calibrated using known-age carcasses. Most bones decompose beyond recognition in 10 to 15 yr. Bones of animals under 100 kg and juveniles appear to weather more rapidly than bones of large animals or adults. Small-scale rather than widespread environmental factors seem to have greatest influence on weathering characteristics and rates. Bone weathering is potentially valuable as evidence for the period of time represented in recent or fossil bone assemblages, in- cluding those on archeological sites, and may also be an important tool in censusing populations of animals in modern ecosystems.

Anatomy Of The Dog

Abstract: THE dog has played by far the most important part in the elucidation of the difficult problems of physiology and pathology presented by the higher animal organism. It is by a firm reliance on the results of experimental researches, conducted largely upon this animal, that the modern physician is enabled to form some idea as to the causation of the symptoms of disease in man, and the mode of action of the remedies which he employs; while the modern surgeon, after a preliminary testing of an operation upon the dog, fearlessly proceeds to attack the most deeply-seated tumour, and to explore the most hidden recesses of the human organization. What, after all, are the services of friendship and companionship, or the more menial duties which are often laid upon the dog, compared with the alleviation of human suffering and the advancement of human knowledge for which he has served as the passive instrument, and this (pace the mendacious asseverations of fanatical essayists) at the expense of the least possible amount of suffering to himself?

Contemporaneity of Australopithecus, Paranthropus, and early Homo erectus in South Africa.

Abstract: Understanding the extinction of Australopithecus and origins of Paranthropus and Homo in South Africa has been hampered by the perceived complex geological context of hominin fossils, poor chronological resolution, and a lack of well-preserved early Homo specimens. We describe, date, and contextualize the discovery of two hominin crania from Drimolen Main Quarry in South Africa. At ~2.04 million to 1.95 million years old, DNH 152 represents the earliest definitive occurrence of Paranthropus robustus, and DNH 134 represents the earliest occurrence of a cranium with clear affinities to Homo erectus These crania also show that Homo, Paranthropus, and Australopithecus were contemporaneous at ~2 million years ago. This high taxonomic diversity is also reflected in non-hominin species and provides evidence of endemic evolution and dispersal during a period of climatic variability.