Dr. L.W. (Lars) van den Hoek Ostende
fossil microvertebrates
- Lars.vandenHoekOstende@NCBNaturalis.nl
- Phone
- +31 (0)71 5687685
- Fax
- +31 (0)71 5687666
Research interests
INSECTIVORES
The central theme of my research are the fossil insectivores of the Neogene, and mainly the Miocene. Projects I am currently involved in as an insectivore specialist are the study of Lower and Middle Miocene sections near the village of Daroca (Province of Zaragoza, Spain). Together with colleages from the Museo Nacional de Ciencas Naturales, Madrid and Utrecht University, the faunas from the Aragonian type section and adjacent sections are studied, in order to reconstruct the regional and global environmental changes in the timeframe covered by these sections. Also in Spain I am working on the insectivores from the Cerro de Batallones, an amazing site which has yielded numerous fossils of sabre tooth cats and other large mammals. Apart from those, I am working together with Oldrich Fejfar (Prague) in the insectivores from Merkur Nord (Lower Miocene, Czech Republic) and with Italian colleagues on the Late Miocene insectivores from Moncucco.
WINE
Together with other insectivore specialists I was involved in the Workinggroup on Insectivores from the Neogene of Eurasia (WINE), which published the fossil record of Eurasian insectivores for many countries in 2005. That work is not yet finished, as there are still some holes we need to fill in, like listings for the insectivores from France, Italy, Turkey and Hungary, to name but a few. Creating a second volume in the Scripta Geologica Special Issue with these data is still part of our planning, and anybody who wishes to be involved is welcome to join in. Together with my Catalan colleagues Marc Furió and Isaac Casanovas I am working a an analysis of the insectivore data, showing trends in diversity between Central Europe and Spain, as well as inside the Iberian Peninsula.
ECOSYSTEM DYNAMICS
Although as a specialist I am working on very detailed studies, in the end my interest lies in understanding the big picture, and why 'my' animals have been found on a particular location from a particular time period. Recreating ecosystems from the past involves bringing specialists and their data together. Excellent work has been done in this respect by NECLIME for the palaeobotany and the Helsinki based NOW program (http://www.helsinki.fi/science/now/) for mammal palaeontology. It is my ambition to create opportunities for specialists of different scientific fields to come together to create maps of the European ecosystems of the Neogene. This obviously also includes specialists from the marine realm, as we cannot understand the development of the continental system without knowing what happens in the European seas at the same time.
TAXONOMY ON THE WEB
I fervently believe that good taxonomy is the basis for any palaeontological studies. Without being able to put the right name to a fossil, any further analysis is worthless (taxa-free studies excepted of course). I am also very much aware that a lot needs to be done in this respect within mammal palaeontology, even though taxonomical studies are not the most sexy, and not always easily accepted in SCI-journals. This makes it very important that taxonomical data are availble for anyone, also those colleagues who cannot readily consult all literature. I found that the Paleobiology Database (http://paleodb.org/) provides a good platform for this type of data, and for some time now I have been entering basic data such as diagnoses and data on types for Eurasian (micro-)mammals. I can recommend anyone to join in for a number of altruistic reasons, as well as that it is a great place to make sure your own publications and taxonomic ideas are readily accesible on the web. Alternatively, I welcome any PDF files on new mammal taxa, so that I can enter them in the database.
INSULAR EVOLUTION
Naturalis has a long tradition in the study of island faunas. My current contribution to this is the study of the fossil micromammals of the island of Flores (Indonesia). This is a joint venture with Dr. Gert van der Bergh and Dr. Hanneke Meijer, and forms part of the Indonesian/Australian program Astride the Wallace Line: 1.5 million years of human evolution, dispersal, culture and environmental change in Indonesia. This program is co-ordinated by Prof. Dr. Mike Morwood (University of New England, Australia). The work now focuses on the Late Pleistocene/Holocene sections from the Liang Bua Cave, where the largest collection of microvertebrates from Indonesia until now has been excavated. Students of mine have also worked on fossil rodents from Java, Aruba and Bonaire, as well as on bats from Flores and Mauritius. Other than that, Naturalis houses the largest collection of fossils from the Neogene islands of Gargano (Italy).
DUTCH FOSSELS
Closer to home, I am involved in the study of the Dutch fossil record of micromammals, in particularly those from the Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene locality of Tegelen. In collaboration with Francien Dieleman and David Mayhew I work on voles from the Netherlands and abroad. A book on Ice Age mammals in the series Geology of the Netherlands is being prepared. This is the largest popular writing project I am involved in, but apart from that I regularly write articles for a wider public, including a column on the website of Naturalis.
Publications
Naturalis Repository
Meulen, A.J. van der, García-Paredes, I., Álvarez-Sierra, M.A., Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, Hordijk, K., Oliver, A., López-Guerrero, P., Hernández-Ballarín, V., Peláez-Campomanes, P., 2011. Biostratigraphy or biochronology? Lessons from the Early and Middle Miocene small Mammal Events in Europe. Geobios, 44: 309–321.
Dam, J.A. van, Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, Reumer J.W.F., 2011. A new short-snouted shrew from the Miocene of Spain. Geobios, 44: 299–307.
Furió, M., Casanovas-Vilar, I., Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, 2011. Predictable structure of Miocene insectivore (Lipotyphla) faunas in Western Europe along a latitudinal gradient. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology , 304: 219–229.
Angelone, C., Colombero, S., Esu, D., Giuntelli, P., Marcolini, F., Pavia, M., Trenkwalder, S., Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, Zunino, M. & Pavia, G., 2011. Moncucco Torinese, a new postevaporitic Messinian fossiliferous site from Piedmont (NW Italy). Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie Abhandlungen, 259: 89–104.Zijlstra, J.S., Madern, P.A., Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, 2010. New genus and two new species of Pleistocene oryzomynines (Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae) from Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles. Journal of Mammalogy, 91 (4): 860-873.
Meijer, H.J.M., Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, Bergh, G.D.van den & Vos, J. de, 2010. The fellowship of the hobbit: the fauna surrounding Homo floresiensis. Journal of Biogeography, 37 (6): 995-1006.
Casanovas-Vilar, I., García-Paredes, I., Alba, D.M., Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den & Moyà-Solà, S., 2010. The European Far West: Miocene mammal isolation, diversity and turnover in the Iberian Peninsula. Journal of Biogeography, 37 (6): 1079-1093.
Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, Meijer, H.J.M., Van der Geer, A.A.E, 2009. A bridge too far. Comment on “Processes of island colonization by Oligo-Miocene land mammals in the central Mediterranean: New data from Scontrone (Abruzzo, Central Italy) and Gargano (Apulia, Southern Italy)” by P.P.A. Mazza and M. Rustioni [Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 267 (2008) 208–215]. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 279: 128-130
Bergh, G.D.van den, Meijer, H.J.M., Rokhus Due Awe, Morwood, M.J., Szabó, K., Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, Sutikna, T., Saptomo, E.W., Piper, P.J. & Dobney, K.M., 2009. The Liang Bua faunal remains: a 95 k.yr. sequence from Flores, East Indonesia. Journal of Human Evolution, 57 (5): 527-537.
Calloman, J.H., Donovan, S.K. & L.W. van den Hoek Ostende, 2009. Zenostephanus, a new name for the genus Xenostephanus Arkell and Callomon, 1963 (Mollusca, Cephalopoda), preoccupied by Xenostephanus Simpson, Minoprio and Patterson, 1962 (Mammalia). Palaeontology, 52 (3): 671-672.
Donovan, S.K. & Van den Hoek Ostende, L.W., 2009. What’s in a name? Or a namer’s name? A reply to Dubois (2008). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 96:709–711.
Van den Hoek Ostende, L.W., Furió, M. & García-Paredes, I., 2009. New data on Paenelimnoecus from the middle Miocene of Spain support the shrew subfamily Allosoricinae. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 54 (1): 159–164.
Rijsdijk, K.F., J.P. Hume, F. Bunnik, F.B.V. Florence, C. Baider, B. Shapiro, J. van der Plicht, A. Janoo, O. Griffiths, L.W. van den Hoek Ostende, H. Cremer, T. Vernimmen, P.D.B. De Louw, A. Bholah, S. Saumtally, N. Porch, J. Haile, M. Buckley, M. Collins & E. Gittenberger, 2009. Mid-Holocene vertebrate bone Concentration-Lagerstätte on oceanic island Mauritius provides a window into the ecosystem of the dodo (Raphus cucullatus). Quaternary Science Reviews, 28: 14-24Zijlstra, J.S., L. W. van den Hoek Ostende & Awe Due, R., 2008. Verhoeven’s giant rat of Flores (Papagomys theodorverhoeveni, Muridae) extinct after all? Contributions to Zoology, 77 (1): 25-31.
Mayhew, D.F. Dieleman, F.E. Boele, J. Verhaard L. & van den Hoek Ostende, L.W., 2008. Mimomys hajnackensis from the Pliocene of the Netherlands. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences, 87 (2): 181-188.
Morales, J., Pozo, M., Silva, P.G., Domingo, M.S., López-Antoñanzas, R. Álvarez Sierra, M.A., Antón, M., Martín Escorza, C., Quiralte, V., Salesa, M.J., Sánchez, I.M., Azanza, B., Calvo, J.P., Carrasco, P., García-Paredes, I., Knoll, F., Hernández Fernández, M., van den Hoek Ostende, L., Merino, L., van der Meulen, A.J., Montoya, P., Peigné, S., Peláez-Campomanes, P., Sánchez-Marco, A., Turner, A., Abella, J., Alcalde, G.M., Andrés, M., DeMiguel, D., Cantalapiedra, J. L., Fraile, S., García Yelo, B.A., Gómez Cano, A.R., López Guerrero, P., Oliver Pérez, A. & Siliceo, G. 2008. El sistema de yacimientos de mamíferos miocenos del Cerro de los Batallones, Cuenca de Madrid: estado actual y perspectivas. Seminario de Paleontología de Zaragoza, 8: 41-117.
Gassó Miracle, M.E., van den Hoek Ostende, L. W. & Arntzen, J.W., 2007. Type specimens of amphibians in the National Museum of Natural History, Leiden, The Netherlands. Zootaxa, 1482: 25-68.
Bruijn, H. de, van den Hoek Ostende, L. W. & Donovan, S.K. 2007. Mirrabella, a new name for the genus Mirabella De Bruijn et al., 1987 (Mammalia), preoccupied by Mirabella Emeljanov, 1982 (Insecta). Contributions to Zoology, 76 (4): 279-280.
Garcia Paredes, I., Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, 2007. A nomenclatural note on the Miocene dormouse Quercomys parsani Daams, 1991. Contributions to Zoology, 76 (3): 205-206.
López Guerrero, P., Oliver Pérez, A., Álverez Sierra, M.A., Garcia Paredes, I., Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, Peláez-Campomanes de Labra, 2007. Paleontológia del yacimiento de vertebrados Aragoniense de Casa Montero (Madrid). In: Cambra-Moo, O., Martínez-Pérez, C., Chamero, B., Escaso, F., de Esteban Trivigno, S. & Marugán-Lobón (eds). Cantera Paleontológia: 247-254, Diputación Provincial de Cuenca, Cuenca
Alvarez Sierra, M.A., Garcia Paredes, I., Hoek Ostende, L. van den, Meulen, A.J. van der, Peláez-Campomanes, P. & Sevilla, P., 2006. The Middle Aragonian (Middle Miocene) micromammals from La Retama (Intermediate Depression, Tagus Basin) Province of Cuenca, Spain. Estudios Geológicos, 62 (1): 401-428.
Bruijn, H. de, Mayda, S., Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, Kaya, T. & Saraç, G. 2006. Small mammals from the Early Miocene of Sabuncubeli (Manisa, S.W. Anatolia, Turkey). Beiträge zur Paläontologie, 30: 57-87.
Doukas, C.S. & Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den. 2006. Insectivores (Erinaceomorpha, Soricomorpha; Mammalia) from Karydia and Komotini (Thrace, Greece; MN 4/5). Beiträge zur Paläontologie, 30: 109-131.
Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den & Fejfar, O. 2006. Erinaceidae and Talpidae (Erinaceomorpha, Soricomorpha, Mammalia) from the Lower Miocene of Merkur-Nord (Czech Republic, MN 3). Beiträge zur Paläontologie, 30: 175-203
Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den & Vos, J. de, 2006. A century of research on the classical locality of Tegelen (province of Limburg, The Netherlands. Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, 256: 291-304.
Dam, J.A., van, Aziz, H.A., M. Ángeles Álvarez Sierra, M., Hilgen, F.J., Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, Lourens, L.J., Mein, P., Meulen, A.J. van der & Pelaez-Campomanes, P. 2006. Long-period astronomical forcing of mammal turnover. Nature, 443: 687-691.
Smith, R. & Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den. 2006. A new heterosoricid shrew form the lowermost Oligocene of Europe. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 51 (2): 381-384.
Van den Hoek Ostende, L.W., van der Bergh, G., Rokus Awe Due, 2006. First fossil insectivores from Flores. Hellinique Journal of Geosciences, 41: 67-72.
Paul Storm, P., Aziz, F., Vos, J. de, Kosasih D., Baskoro, S., Ngaliman & Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den., 2005. Late Pleistocene Homo sapiens in a tropical rainforest fauna in East Java. Journal of Human Evolution 49: 536-545.
Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, Doukas, C.S. & Reumer, J.W.F. 2005 WINE: putting the fossil insectivores on record. In: Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, Doukas, C.S. & Reumer, J.W.F. (eds), The Fossil Record of the Eurasian Neogene Insectivores (Erinaceomorpha, Soricomorpha, Mammalia), Part I.Scripta Geologica Special Issue 5: 3-9.
Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den & Furió, M. 2005. Spain. In: Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, Doukas, C.S. & Reumer, J.W.F. (eds), The Fossil Record of the Eurasian Neogene Insectivores (Erinaceomorpha, Soricomorpha, Mammalia),Part I. Scripta Geologica Special Issue 5: 149-284.
Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den 2005. The case of the shrinking mammoth. Mitteilungen der Kommission für Quartärforschung der Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften 14:59-65.
Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, 2004. The Tegelen clay-pits: a hundred year old classical locality. - In: Winkler Prins, C.F. & Donovan, S.K. (eds.) VII Symposium Culteral Heritage in Geosciences, Mining and Metallurgy: Libraries - Archives - Museums: "Museums and their collections", Leiden (The Netherlands), 12-23 May 2003. Scripta Geologica Special Issue, 4: 127-141.
Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den & C.D. Doukas, 2003. Distribution and evolutionary history of the Early Miocene erinaceid Galerix symeonidisi Doukas, 1986. In: J.W.F. Reumer & W. Wessels (eds). Distribution and migration of Tertiary mammals in Eurasia. A volume in honour of Hans de Bruijn. Deinsea 10: 287-303
Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, 2003. Insectivores from the Ramblian of the Daroca-Calamocha area. In: N. Lopez-Martinez, P. Pélaez-Campomanes & M. Hernández Fernández (eds.). Homage to late Dr. Remmert Daams. Coloquios de Paleontología Spec. Vol. 1: 281-310
Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, 2003. Riddleria atecensis nov. gen. nov. sp., a peculiar erinaceid (Erinaceomorpha, Mammalia) from the Lower Miocene of Spain. Beiträge zur Paläontologie 28: 1-7.
Reumer, J.W.F. & L.W. van den Hoek Ostende, 2003. Petauristidae and Sciuridae (Mammalia, Rodentia) from Tegelen, Zuurland, and the Maasvlakte (the Netherlands). In: J.W.F. Reumer & W. Wessels (eds). Distribution and migration of Tertiary mammals in Eurasia. A volume in honour of Hans de Bruijn. Deinsea 10: 455-467.
Bruijn, H. de, L.W. van den Hoek Ostende, E. Kristkoiz-Boon, M. Rummel, C. Theocharopoulos & E. Ünay, 2003. Rodents, lagomorphs and insectivores from the middle Miocene hominoid locality of Çandir (Anatolia). Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg 240: 51-87, 9 Pl. 2 figs.
Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, 2003. Gliridae (Rodentia, Mammalia) from the Upper Pliocene of Tegelen (province of Limburg, The Netherlands). Scripta Geologica 126: 203-215.
Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, 2001. A revised generic classification of the Galericini (Insectivora, Mammalia) with some remarks on their palaeobiogeography and phylogeny. Geobios 34 (6): 681-695.
Van Cleef-Roders, J.T. & L.W. van den Hoek Ostende, 2001. Dental morphology of Talpa europaea and Talpa occidentalis (Mammalia: Insectivora) with a discussion of fossil Talpa in the Pleistocene of Europe. Zoologische Mededelingen 75 (2): 51-68.
Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, 2001. Insectivore faunas from the Lower Miocene of Anatolia. Part 5: Talpidae. Scripta Geologica 122: 1-45
Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, 2001. Insectivore faunas from the Lower Miocene of Anatolia. Part 6: Crocidosoricinae (Soricidae). Scripta Geologica 122: 47-81
Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, 2001. Insectivore faunas from the Lower Miocene of Anatolia. Part 7: The Kargi assemblages. Scripta Geologica 122: 83-99
Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, 2001. Insectivore faunas from the Lower Miocene of Anatolia. Part 8: Stratigraphy, palaeoecology, palaeobiogeography. Scripta Geologica 122: 101-122.
Popular articles:
Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, Morlo, M. & Nagel, D. 2006. Fossils explained 52. Majestic killers, the sabre-toothed cats. Geology today, 22 (4): 150-157.
Van den Hoek Ostende, L.W. & D. Nagel, 2004. Van de leeuw die geen manen had. Cranium 21 (1): 12-18.
Nijholt, K.J. & Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, 2004. Nieuwe vondsten van fossiele zoogdieren van het strand van Cadzand. Grondboor & Hamer 58 (3/4): 61-65
Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, 2003. Fossils explained: Micromammals. - Geology Today 19 (2): 70-76.
Det, M.E. van & Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, 2002. Antje Schreuder (1887-1952): een bescheiden pionier. Cranium 19 (2): 123-129.
Hoek Ostende, L.W. van den, J. de Vos & J. Leloux, 2002. De Rijn als vindplaats van fossiele zoogdieren. Grondboor & Hamer 56 (3/4): 77-81.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011