Distinctly Scottish Palaeoart: Borealestes Clan Crests

My colleagues and I recently published a new species of mammal from Jurassic Scotland, Borealestes cuillinensis. On the run up to publication I produced a palaeoart reconstruction using traditional methods (pencil, ink, paint), but when I saw the digital reconstructions by Matthew Humpage, I put mine aside in favour of his incredible work.

But I couldn’t stop thinking about my little beasties from Skye. Their evocative names, their discovery, and how these ancient beasts were wound into the rich cultural heritage of the Isle of Skye. Ruminating on all this, I ended up creating what I'm calling Borealestes Clan Crests. 

Borealestes Lucky Star, Clan Crest, by Elsa Panciroli

These palaeoart reconstructions were inspired in part by a mixture of Celtic and Pictish art and carving, and Scottish clan crests (e.g MacDonald, MacIntosh). Below, I’ll take you through the story behind each design. If you'd like a copy of the line-drawings of the images to colour-in (great activity for kids!) get in touch.

Borealestes of the Cuillin, Clan Crest, by Elsa Panciroli

The Borealestes Clan

The core of both images is a classic Celtic knot, seen in multiple sources. It forms a circle with a Pictish emblem at the top centre. The Picts were the people who lived in Scotland prior to the arrival of Gaelic-speaking peoples from Ireland, their culture having been merged into the Celtic and Norse that followed. The Pictish symbol is modelled on those found carved into stones on Skye, for example at Diurinish or Tote. It comprises a crescent with a V-rod through it, a symbol found elsewhere in Scotland as well.

Duirinish Pictish Stone (Source). Note the crescent and V-rod symbol at the top.

It’s not known what this symbol meant to the Picts – the meaning of Pictish carvings is lost to us. But it is thought that many Pictish symbols denoted particular tribes. I’ve used the idea here for the Borealestes ‘tribe’, or clan. I placed a Borealestes lower tooth at the apex of the V points, to show the shape of the lower molar, diagnostic for this genus. Within the crescent are two claw shapes pointing in opposite directions, traced from the actual fossil claw of B. cuillinensis (soon to be published), with a disc between them, symbolising the two species belonging to this genus.

The script around the top of the Celtic knot is based on Gaelic script, with some modifications. Gaelic script is a typeface used for printing Gaelic from the 16^th-18^th Century in Scotland (it survived a little later in Ireland). In the original script, a lower case ‘s’ resembled what in English is an ‘r’. This would have been confusing for modern readers, so I changed it to a smaller version of an upper case ‘S’.

Example of Gaelic Script (Source)

Borealestes serendipitus Crest

The dominant colour for this image is green, which matches the colour used in the paper for the figures of B. serendipitus. The name Borealestes means northern rogue (or brigand), so the dirk (a small Scottish dagger) pays tribute to this. It’s based on a specimen held at National Museums Scotland that came from the Highlands, and dates to the 18^th Century – truly, a time of rogues! The hilt of the original is wooden, but I’ve recreated it in horn.

An 18th Century dirk (small dagger) from the Scottish Highlands (NMS H.LC 63: source)

The wee bandit has the species name B. serendipitus, alluding to the serendipity of this lucky find (although it was not luck, Michael Waldman had done his research before seeking fossils there). To indicate this ‘luck’, I decided to incorporate a ‘lucky star’. I thought that seeing as this was the northern rogue, it’s lucky star would be Polaris, the northern star. It is the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor. 

Simplified constellations. Polaris is part of Ursa Minor, and can be found by orienting yourself using Ursa Major. (Source: Pintrest)

To honour the good luck of those who found this skeleton, I’ve depicted the constellations as they would have appeared looking directly north from Skye as darkness fell (at around 10pm) on the day the fossil was discovered (the 28^th of May, 1972, the fossil was collected the following year). I did this using a planisphere. The constellations depicted are, left to right: Ursa Major, Ursa Minor (with Polaris the ‘lucky star’), Draco above it, Cepheus, and finally Cygnus.

Behind the constellations, an aurora borealis glows green, signifying again that this is the northern rogue. It is an additional symbol of luck, because you need to be kind of lucky to see this phenomenon!

Borealestes cuillinensis Crest

The dominant colour for this image is blue, which matches the colour used in the paper for the figures of B. cuillinensis. This crest is simpler than the other, and focuses on the species name. The animal is named for the Cuillin, a mountain range on Skye famous for their beauty. These are the peaks in dark blue below this image. I traced the outline of their iconic ridge from my own photographs, taken during fieldwork. The sun is just setting behind them, creating a warm glow on the Western horizon.

Me enjoying the sunset, with the Cuillin mountains behind, above Loch Scavaig. (Photo: my own)

New Species of Jurassic Mammal from Scotland

This week my colleagues and I published a new species of fossil mammal, found in the Jurassic-aged rocks on the Isle of Skye. It's a sister to Scotland's first Jurassic mammal, Borealestes serendipitus, but is smaller, with differences in the upper teeth and bones of the skull. We named it for the stewards of the landscape, the Cuillin mountains, that watch over our team during fieldwork. We named it, Borealestes cuillinensis.

This is a publication I've been working towards for a long time. It incorporates some material from my PhD, which included mammal material from the richest vertebrate fossil site on the Isle of Skye, on the Strathaird Peninsula. The main specimen I was interested in was a fossil mammal skeleton, found in 1972 (collected in 1973) by Dr Michael Waldman (Stowe School) and Prof Robert Savage (University of Bristol), and their fieldwork team. Despite it being the most complete mammal from the Mesozoic known in the UK, this skeleton wasn't studied, but remained in the collections at National Museums Scotland (NMS). In the 1990s researchers at the museum rediscovered it, and then Drs Nick Fraser and Stig Walsh at NMS later teamed up with Dr Stephen Brusatte at the University of Edinburgh to offer a PhD on the fossil. I was the lucky candidate.

The skeleton belonged to B. serendipitus. It proved difficult to CT scan due to the size of the rock that contained it, so Stig and I (along with Dr Ian Corfe) took it to the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), where Dr Vincent Fernandez obtained amazing scans of the fossil. I've now used those to study the skeleton. With my co-authors I've gone on to publish papers on its ear bones, jaws, and now the skull.

The fossils of Borealestes serendipitus (left), and Borealestes cuillinensis (right). Above are digital reconstructions from ct and synchrotron scans, showing the skull bones inside the rock. Below are the skull reconstructions. The coloured areas (blue and green) show which bits are preserved in the specimens.

But there is a lot more to our new paper than just this specimen. The team I work with on the Isle of Skye - comprising researchers from National Museums Scotland and the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham - discovered another amazing mammal skeleton from the same locality. It was found by Prof Richard Butler (University of Birmingham) in 2018, and upon first examination appeared to be another B. serendipitus skeleton. But when we CT scanned it, I realised this was a new species of Borealestes. The upper teeth were slightly differently shaped, and in the skull the sutures between the very front of the upper jaw (premaxilla) and the main part of the upper jaw (maxilla) were in a different position. Along with other minor differences, and the smaller size of the animal, we realised we had a new species!

The fossil of Borealestes cuillinensis, moments after discovery. Only the tiny jaw was visible on the surface, Richard has great eyesight to spot such a wee beastie! (Photo by Elsa Panciroli)

The rest of the skeleton is still being studied, but the skulls are now published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. In the paper we outline the diagnostic features for the two species, and use the jigsaw of the broken skull to reconstruct the crania. As well as erecting this new species, we also realised that a species previously assigned to Borealestes, 'B.' mussettae, doesn't belong in that genus at all, so we renamed it Dobunnodon mussettae, after the Iron Age Celtic tribe that occupied the area in Oxfordshire where it was found, the Dobunni.

The molar tooth of Dobunnodon mussettae (previously 'Borealestes' mussettae), the new genus named for the Celtic tribe, the Dobunni.

One thing that threw us at first, is that the lower teeth of these two species are incredibly similar. Usually, we expect lower molar teeth (the ones at the back) to be different, which helps us name new species. But these are almost indistinguishable. We are certain the new specimen is a new species though, as I said previously, because the upper teeth are different, and the sutures in the skull are not the same. Also, we know the new fossil is an adult because it has all of it's teeth fully erupted, so it's not just a young serendipitus! This discovery teaches us that we might not be making accurate estimates of the number of species at a locality if all we have to go on are isolated fossil lower teeth and jaw fragments. Only with more complete skeletons can we be sure... but they are so rare, so we just have to do our best!

The digital reconstructions by Matt Humpage are exceptional. They show Borealestes serendipitus (left) and Borealestes cuillinensis (right), with a 5 pence coin for scale.

The incredible digital reconstructions are by Matt Humpage, and they really blow all my amateurish attempts at drawing extinct animals (as I did for previous publications) out of the water! I highly recommend you check his work out. He also does beautiful digital renders of plants, and he produces videos (including the one for this paper) - plus he's open for commissions!

Stay tuned for more wonderful fossil discoveries from Scotland!

 

Reference

Panciroli E, Benson R, Fernandez,V, Butler RJ, Fraser NC, Luo Z-X and Walsh S. 2021. New species of mammaliaform and the cranium of Borealestes (Mammaliformes: Docodonta) from the Middle Jurassic of the British Isles. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society [online].

 

Scotland's First Jurassic Mammal - our paper is out!

The first mammal fossil ever found from the ‘time of dinosaurs’ was announced almost 200 years ago*. It was a small jaw just a couple of centimetres across, which emerged from Middle Jurassic rocks in Oxfordshire, England. It was 150 years later that the first such beast was found in Scotland. This week my colleagues and I described that Scottish specimen in detail for the first time, along with stunning new material from the same species.

The most complete Mesozoic-aged mammal jaw found in Scotland so far, belonging to Borealestes serendipitus, a small insectivorous animal.

The animal these fossil bones belong to is delightfully called Borealestes serendipitus, the ‘northern rogue, found by chance’. But it was not just luck, its founder Dr Michael Waldman tells me. Mike was leading a group of school pupils on an outdoor skills trip to the Isle of Skye in the 1970s, and he knew from his research that there were fossils in the area. He never imagined they would be so spectacular or rare of course. Upon finding the first jaw, Mike brought the tiny fossil, no bigger than a thumbnail, to his mentor and friend, Professor Robert ‘Bob’ Savage at the University of Bristol. Together they returned to Skye find more fossils from Scotland’s Jurassic heyday.

Since the first publication on Borealestes in 1972, very little work has been done on it. Several jaws, a partial skeleton, and some isolated teeth were found, but only two partial jaws were published, and the descriptions were sparse. This new paper in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology is part of my ongoing research on the mammals of Jurassic Scotland, begun while I was at National Museums Scotland (NMS) and the University of Edinburgh. I’m part of a team from NMS and the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham who have been working on the Isle of Skye since 2010, and finding yet more of this animal and the many creatures that lived alongside it.

A new fossil jaw I found in 2016. Only the tooth tips were protruding from the rock.

Our paper is first and foremost anatomical, clarifying the identification (diagnosis) of Borealestes. In other words, how do you recognise Borealestes if you find it? This is predominantly based on the shape of the teeth. In 2003 a close relative, Borealestes mussettae, was named from isolated teeth from the English Jurassic-aged site of Kirtlington. Our new paper sets out the differences between the two species, and re-evaluates all previously known specimens in light of this new information (some were previously misidentified). 

The fossil specimens are quite exceptional. They include the most complete Mesozoic mammal jaw found so far in Scotland: a very long and slender dentary with delicate jaw hinge and perfect insect-munching teeth. There is also a Borealestes specimen I found myself during fieldwork and so feel a personal connection to, as well as the upper tooth row of a partial skeleton that I’m currently completing work on with my colleagues (watch this space!) 

The micro CT-scan of the jaw I found in 2016 revealed the rest of the bone hiding below the surface. Without computed tomography (CT) it is unlikely we could have studied this fossil intact.

This publication is the next in a series of papers on Borealestes. In 2018 my colleagues and I described the ear bones of this Jurassic animal, whereas this paper focuses on the jaw and dentition. With five jaws figured in this publication, all from micro CT-scans, the upper molar row and incisors known for the first time, and countless individual teeth re-evaluated, this paper expands our understanding of this modest docodontan, and adds significantly to the number of Mesozoic mammal specimens known from Scotland. 

*The jaw belonged to Phascolotherium. Other mammal jaws were found previous to this one, but it was the first one recognised for its significance, and was announced (alongside Megalosaurus) during the inaugural address of the Geological Society of London by its first President, William Buckland, in 1824.

References

Panciroli, E, Benson, R, and Luo, Z-X. 2019. The mandible and dentition of Borealestes serendipitus (Docodonta) from the Middle Jurassic of Skye, Scotland. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2019.1621884