A “beautiful chimera” from the mid-Cretaceous sheds light on the evolution of novel forms and forces a rethink of what a crab is.

In this paper, we report the characterization of a genetically modified live-attenuated African swine fever virus (ASFV) field strain isolated from Vietnam. The isolate, ASFV-GUS-Vietnam, belongs to p72 genotype II, has six multi-gene family (MGF) genes deleted, and an Escherichia coli GusA gene (GUS) inserted. When six 6–8-week-old pigs were inoculated with ASFV-GUS-Vietnam oro-nasally (2 × 10⁵ TCID₅₀/pig), they developed viremia, mild fever, lethargy, and inappetence, and shed the virus in their oral and nasal secretions and feces. One of the pigs developed severe clinical signs and was euthanized 12 days post-infection, while the remaining five pigs recovered. When ASFV-GUS-Vietnam was inoculated intramuscularly (2 × 10³ TCID₅₀/pig) into four 6-8 weeks old pigs, they also developed viremia, mild fever, lethargy, inappetence, and shed the virus in their oral and nasal secretions and feces. Two contact pigs housed together with the four intramuscularly inoculated pigs, started to develop fever, viremia, loss of appetite, and lethargy 12 days post-contact, confirming horizontal transmission of ASFV-GUS-Vietnam. One of the contact pigs died of ASF on day 23 post-contact, while the other one recovered. The pigs that survived the exposure to ASFV-GUS-Vietnam via the mucosal or parenteral route were fully protected against the highly virulent ASFV Georgia 2007/1 challenge. This study showed that ASFV-GUS-Vietnam field isolate is able to induce complete protection in the majority of the pigs against highly virulent homologous ASFV challenge, but has the potential for horizontal transmission, and can be fatal in some animals. This study highlights the need for proper monitoring and surveillance when ASFV live-attenuated virus-based vaccines are used in the field for ASF control in endemic countries.

The extinct neoteleost family Dercetidae includes elongate, long-jawed marine fishes that are known from the Late Cretaceous to Paleocene in deposits from the Levant, Europe, North Africa, England, Mexico and Brazil. The fossil record of the family in South America is very sparse and previously was restricted to outcrops in Brazil. Herein we describe a new dercetid fish from the Turonian of Colombia, †Candelarhynchus padillai gen. et sp. nov. A single articulated specimen is preserved in part and counterpart; the posterior part of the fish is missing. The specimen differs from other dercetid species by the following unique combination of morphological features: lack of scutes on the flanks of the body, presence of a single pair of transverse processes associated with the abdominal vertebrae, roofed posttemporal fossa, single row of small conical teeth on the dentary and maxilla, toothless premaxilla ornamented with pronounced longitudinal striations and protruding forward far beyond the anterior end of the dentary, and relatively large pectoral fins positioned high on the body. When included in a phylogenetic analysis of †Enchodontoidei, †C. padillai gen. et sp. nov. falls within a monophyletic family Dercetidae and is placed as sister taxon to the Late Cretaceous dercetid †Hastichthys from Israel, indicating faunal connections between the Eastern and Western Tethys. The new taxon provides novel insights into the distribution of dercetid fishes in the Western Tethys region during the early Late Cretaceous. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:29F97139-98BD-48E5-AAC0-091980F866E2

A new species of the genus Armigatus is described from the Cenomanian/early Turonian Akrabou Formation of Morocco. Similar to other ellimmichthyiforms, Armigatus oligodentatus, sp. nov., has parietals in contact with each other along the midline, has a beryciform foramen in the anterior ceratohyal, and lacks the recessus lateralis. The new species is placed in the genus Armigatus based on the incomplete predorsal series of heart-shaped scutes with rounded and smooth posterior border. However, this new species differs from the other known members of the genus in the lack of teeth on the parasphenoid and endopterygoid bones. This is the first report of a species of Armigatus from southeastern Morocco; previously, the genus was known only from the Late Cretaceous deposits of the eastern part of the Tethys. Therefore, Armigatus oligodentatus sp. nov. extends the distribution of the genus across the Tethys Sea and provides valuable information about the evolutionary history and paleoecology of the Ellimmichthyiformes. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:FD65FEA4-E219-4892-8AA4-6254E60EE5DB SUPPLEMENTAL DATA—Supplemental materials are available for this article for free at www.tandfonline.com/UJVP Citation for this article: Vernygora, O., and A. M. Murray. 2015. A new species of Armigatus (Clupeomorpha, Ellimmichthyiformes) from the Late Cretaceous of Morocco, and its phylogenetic relationships. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2015.1031342.

Senecavirus A (SVA) continues to cause vesicular lesions in swine in Canada and many regions worldwide. Since the vesicular lesions caused by SVA are similar to those caused by foot and mouth disease virus, swine vesicular disease virus and vesicular stomatitis virus, a foreign animal disease investigation must be initiated to rule out these diseases. SVA isolates from pigs displaying vesicular lesions in Canada from 2015 to 2023 were sequenced, and phylogeographic analysis was performed using the complete genome sequences. The results infer that SVA has spread between the United States and Canada several times. In addition, the results suggest that SVA spreads from different regions. SVA spread was inferred from Canada into Thailand, India and Mexico and inferred from the United States to Brazil, Columbia, Chile and China with ten separate introductions. Furthermore, recombination was observed in SVA genomes from Canada, the United States and China.