Prof. Bettina Reichenbacher

Research Interests

Ich untersuche Themen aus den zwei Forschungsgebieten Moderne Knochenfische und Miozäne Paläo-Umwelt, wobei sich oft interessante Schnittstellen wie das "Kenia-Projekt" ergeben.

Link zum Labor

Enlarge

Evolution of Modern Bony Fish – Fossil and Extant Species

We are interested in the causes of species emergence during recent Earth history. Our focus is on those fish groups that are characterized by particularly high species diversity today (killifish, gobies, cichlids). We try to understand when and why this diversity arose during evolution and which processes underlie the observable micro- and macroevolutionary changes. We work on the basis of comparative morphology and, where possible, also incorporate molecular data from extant species (a "total evidence approach"). We examine fossil and extant species, focusing on their hard parts (skeletons, otoliths, dentition, scales).

In the context of paleoenvironment, paleogeography, and paleoclimate, we study the phylogeny and evolution of the aforementioned groups:

• Killifish: Revision of the European Fossil Record of Killifish Aphanius and Aphaniops from Iran. Further information (in English) can be found on the external website Killi-Data.
• Gobies: Evolutionary history of European gobies
• Cichlids: Fossil cichlids from East Africa (Kenya). Further information (in English) can be found at the Kenya Project.

Ongoing research projects

• Entwirrung des skelettbasierten Killifisch-Fossilberichts aus Eurasien (DFG, seit 2022)

Reichenbacher, B., Vukić, J., Šanda, R., Schliewen, U. K., Esmaeili, H. R., & Kassar, A. (2023). Skeletal traits and otoliths can unravel the relationships within European Gobiidae (Gobius lineage sensu lato). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 199(3): 656-687. Link to article (free access)

Gierl, C., Dohrmann, M., Keith, P., Humphreys, M., Esmaeili, H. R., Vukić, J., Šanda, R., & Reichenbacher, B. (2022). An integrative phylogenetic approach for inferring relationships of fossil gobioids (Teleostei: Gobiiformes). PLOS ONE, 17(7), e0271121. Link to article (open access)

Herbert Mainero, A., Vasilyan, D., & Reichenbacher, B. (2024). Two new genera of killifish (Cyprinodontiformes) from the Middle Miocene of the Bugojno Basin, Bosnia and Herzegovina: insights into the lost diversity of Valenciidae. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 22(1). Link to article (open access)

Enlarge

Fish fossils from Miocene palaeolakes in the Central Kenya Rift and their palaeoenvironmental Implications ("Kenia-Projekt")

Im Rahmen des Projektes haben wir sehr gut erhaltene Fossilien von Cichliden (Buntbarsche) aus den miozänen Sedimenten der Tugen Hills (Baringo County) bergen können und im Hinblick auf die Evolutionsgeschichte der afrikanischen Cichliden ausgewertet.

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.

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.

The fossil record represents a very important source of direct information for the understanding of the evolutionary history of organisms. However, with regard to the ancestors of the approximately 3000 species that make up the modern fish fauna in African freshwater habitats, the known fossil record is poor. Even from the most recent epochs, i.e. the Miocene, Pliocene and Pleistocene, only about 60 fossil taxa are known.

The Miocene sediments in the Tugen Hills (Baringo, Kenya) provide the unique opportunity to collect well-preserved fish fossils. The goals of the Kenya project are (i) to explore these fossiliferous archives, (ii) to analyse the newly collected fish fossils, together with other co-occurring fossils and sedimentological data, and (iii) to make use of the findings for palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimate reconstructions. During two field campaigns in 2013 and 2014 we have assembled about 650 articulated fish fossils together with samples for palynological and sedimentological analyses from the middle and upper Miocene Ngorora Formation and the upper Miocene Lukeino Formation. The current aim is to identify the fish fossils from the different sites and to present them in a phlyogenetic context.

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. Link to 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. Link to article (open access)

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. Link to article (open access)

Publikationsliste

Enlarge

Miocene Paleoenvironment

Molasse research has a long tradition in Munich. Our focus is on the Upper Marine Molasse and the Upper Brackish Water Molasse.

We address questions relating to biostratigraphy, chronostratigraphy, paleogeography, regional geology, the paleoenvironment, and paleoclimate. Regionally, we work in Europe and West Asia, with a focus on the North Alpine Foreland Basin (Molasse Basin), the former Paratethys Ocean, and East Africa (Kenya).

Hofmayer, F., Hadler Boggiani, B., Soman, R., Andrade, J. D., Ćorić, S., & Reichenbacher, B. (2023). An integrative palaeoenvironmental and chronostratigraphic study of the Lower Miocene in the North Alpine Foreland Basin – Are global climate signals detectable? Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 627, 111719. doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo Link to article (free access until Sept 21, 2023)

Vernyhorova, Y. V., Holcová, K., Doláková, N., Reichenbacher, B., Scheiner, F., Ackerman, L., Rejšek, J., De Bortoli, L., Trubač, J., & Utescher, T. (2023). The Miocene Climatic Optimum at the interface of epicontinental sea and large continent: A case study from the Middle Miocene of the Eastern Paratethys. Marine Micropaleontology, 181, 102231. doi.org/10.1016/j.marmicro.2023.102231 Link to article (free access)