Palaeontology
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Research

Fieldwork

Fieldwork was conducted in the Tugen Hills (Baringo) in August 2011, February 2013 and 2014, in a joint campaign involving the Kenyan partners of the Orrorin Community Organisation and the German research group from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich. We collected numerous well-preserved fish fossils and several samples for analyses of pollen and clay mineralogy. In addition, several outcrops were mapped in detail.

Results 

The high preservation quality of the fish fossils from the Miocene sediments in the Tugen Hills is exceptional. Almost all fish fossils from the Ngorora Fm. belong to the Cichlidae, one of the most diverse tropical freshwater fish clades of the world. In contrast, an extinct aplocheiloid killifish dominates the fossil fish assemblage from the Lukeino Fm.

Publications (chronologically)

  • Kevrekidis, C., Ruthensteiner, B., Cerwenka A.F., Penk, S.B.R. & Reichenbacher, B. (in press). New cichlid fossils from the middle-late Miocene alkaline lakes of Africa. – Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
  • Altner, M. & Reichenbacher, B. (2020). A small cichlid species flock from the Upper Miocene (9–10 MYA) of Central Kenya. – Hydrobiologia. This article is open access, please click here.
  • Altner, M., Ruthensteiner, B. & Reichenbacher, B. (2020). New haplochromine cichlid from the upper Miocene (9–10 MYA) of Central Kenya. – BMC Evolutionary Biology 20:65. Download of article (open access).
  • Penk, S.B.R., Altner, M., Cerwenka A.F., Schliewen U.K. & Reichenbacher, B. (2019). New fossil cichlid from the middle Miocene of East Africa revealed as oldest known member of the Oreochromini. – Scientific Reports, 9:10198. This article is open access, please click here.
  • Kevrekidis, C., Valtl, M., Penk, S.B.R., Altner, M. & Reichenbacher, B. (2019). Rebekkachromis nov. gen. from the middle-upper Miocene (11 MYA) of Central Kenya: The oldest record of a haplotilapiine cichlid fish. – Hydrobiologia, 832: 39–64.
  • Altner, M., Schliewen, U., Penk, S.B.R. & Reichenbacher, B. (2017). † Tugenchromis pickfordi gen. et sp. nov. from the upper Miocene – a stem-group cichlid of the ‘East African Radiation’. – Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 37(2): e1297819. This article is open access, please click here.
  • Rasmussen, C., Reichenbacher, B., Lenz, O., Altner, M., Penk, S.B.R., Prieto, J., Brüsch, D. (2017). Middle–late Miocene palaeoenvironments, palynological data and a fossil fish Lagerstätte from the Central Kenya Rift (East Africa). – Geological Magazine, 154 (1), 24–56.
  • Altner, M. & Reichenbacher, B. (2015). †Kenyaichthyidae fam. nov. and †Kenyaichthys gen. nov. – First Record of a Fossil Aplocheiloid Killifish (Teleostei, Cyprinodontiformes). – PLoS ONE 10(4):e0123056. This article is open access, please click here.

Conference contributions (chronologically)

  • Altner, M., Ruthensteiner, B. & Reichenbacher, B. (2019). First record of a fossil predatory Haplochromini (Cichlidae) from the upper Miocene of Kenya. In Paleo & Life, Abstracts of the 90th Annual Meeting of the Paläontologische Gesellschaft, Munich 2019 (Paleontological Society), 15–18 September, p. 11.
  • Kevrekidis, C., Ruthensteiner, B. & Reichenbacher, B. (2019a). Evidence for the existence and diversification of a new group of cichlids in the Miocene lakes of the Tugen Hills, Kenya. In XVI European Congress of Ichthyology 2–6 September 2019, Lausanne, Switzerland, p. 96.
  • Kevrekidis, C., Ruthensteiner, B. & Reichenbacher, B. (2019b). Evidence for a new extinct group of African cichlid fish. In Paleo & Life, Abstracts of the 90th Annual Meeting of the Paläontologische Gesellschaft, Munich 2019 (Paleontological Society), 15–18 September, p. 79.
  • Penk, S. B. R. & Reichenbacher, B. (2019). Evaluating the phylogenetic potential of cichlid scales. In Paleo & Life, Abstracts of the 90th Annual Meeting of the Paläontologische Gesellschaft, Munich 2019 (Paleontological Society), 15–18 September, p. 109.
  • Altner, M. & Reichenbacher, B. (2018). Fossils of putative Haplochromini (Teleostei: Cichlidae) from the late Miocene Palaeolake Waril (Central Kenya, East African Rift system). Abstract Book of the 5th International Paleontological Congress, Paris, France.
  • Kevrekidis, C., Valtl, M., Penk, S.B.R., Altner, M. & Reichenbacher, B. (2018). New fossil cichlids from the middle-to-upper Miocene of Kenya: evidence for the first fossil representative of the Etiini. Abstract Book of the 5th International Palaeontological Congress, Paris, France.
  • Peng, Y., Penk, S.B.R., Gut, C. & Reichenbacher, B. (2018). Can species of Oreochromini (Cichlidae, Teleostei) be distinguished based on the morphological characters of the hard parts alone? Abstract Book of the 5th International Paleontological Congress, Paris, France.
  • Penk, S.B.R., Schliewen, U., Altner, M. & Reichenbacher, B. (2018). The earliest record of the Oreochromini (Cichlidae: Pisces) from a Miocene lacustrine deposit in the East African Rift Valley. Abstract Book of the 5th International Palaeontological Congress, Paris, France.
  • Kevrekidis, C., Valtl, M., Altner, M., Schliewen, U. & Reichenbacher, B. (2017). The First Record of the Etiini (Cichlidae: Pisces) from the Middle-Upper Miocene of Kenya. 15th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists, Munich, Germany. Zitteliana 91: 85.
  • Penk, S.B.R., Schliewen, U. & Reichenbacher, B. (2017). A Unique Oreochromine Cichlid from the Ngorora Fish Lagerstätte Kabchore (Middle Miocene, Central Kenya). - 15th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists, Munich, Germany, 1st to 3rd August 2017. Zitteliana 91: 70-71.
  • Altner, M. & Reichenbacher, B. (2016a). Neue Einblicke in die Evolutionsgeschichte der Tanganjikasee‐Buntbarsche. 43. Treffen Arbeitskreis Wirbeltierpaläontologie am Urweltmuseum GEOSKOP / Burg Lichtenberg (Pfalz).
  • Altner, M. & Reichenbacher, B. (2016b). The Ngorora Fish-Lagerstätte Waril – a unique window into the evolutionary history of cichlids. Abstract Book of the 87th Annual Conference of the Paläontologische Gesellschaft, Dresden, p. 28–29.
  • Penk, S.B.R. & Reichenbacher, B. (2016). A new exceptionally well-preserved fossil cichlid
of the Oreochromini (Cichlidae: Pseudocrenilabrinae: haplotilapiines) from the Middle Miocene of Central Kenya (East African Rift System). Abstract Book of the 87th Annual Conference of the Paläontologische Gesellschaft, Dresden, p. 125–126.
  • Altner, M. & Reichenbacher, B. (2015). A new fossil cichlid from the Middle Miocene in the East African Rift Valley (Tugen Hills, Central Kenya): First record of a putative Ectodini. Frontiers in Marine Science, XV European Congress of Ichthyology, Porto, Portugal. doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2015.03.00145
  • Penk, S.B. & Reichenbacher, B. (2015). New record of a fossil haplotilapiine cichlid from Central Kenya. Frontiers in Marine Science, XV European Congress of Ichthyology, Porto, Portugal. doi: 10.3389/conf.fmars.2015.03.00121
  • Altner, M., Schliewen, U., Reichenbacher, B. (2014). Exceptionally well-preserved Haplochromini-like fossils (Cichlidae: Pseudocrenilabrinae: Haplotilapiini: East African radiation) with otoliths in situ from the middle Miocene Lagerstätte Waril in the Tugen Hills (Central Kenya, East African Rift Valley). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Program and Abstracts, 2014, p. 79.
  • Penk, S.B., Rasmussen, C., Schliewen, U., Reichenbacher, B. (2014). A new Middle Miocene Conservatlagerstätte in the Tugen Hills (Central Kenya, East African Rift Valley) reveals a unique record of fossil Haplotilapiini (Cichlidae: Pseudocrenilabrinae). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Program and Abstracts, 2014, p. 203.
  • Rasmussen, C. & Reichenbacher, B. (2014). Sedimentological and Paleoenvironmental Implications of the Ngorora Formation, Tugen Hills (Central Kenya Rift). – 2014 GSA Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia (19–22 October 2014).
  • Altner, M. & Reichenbacher, B. (2013). An enigmatic aplocheiloid killifish from the Upper Miocene. - Annual Joint Meeting of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologist, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 15 July 2013 [invited talk].
  • Altner, M. & Reichenbacher, B. (2013). How to deal with polymorphism/intraspecific variation. - Joint Conference of the Paläontologische Gesellschaft and the Palaeontological Society of China, Göttingen, Germany, 23-26 September 2013.
  • Reichenbacher, B., Rasmussen, C., Penk, S.B.R. & Altner, M. (2013). New Fossil Lagerstätte Tugen Hills (Kenya, Africa): Exceptional preservation of Miocene freshwater fishes. - Joint Conference of the Paläontologische Gesellschaft and the Palaeontological Society of China, Göttingen, Germany, 23-26 September 2013.

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