Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments - A Tribute to Hans de Bruijn (1931-2021)

Hans de Bruijn, long-time and foremost specialist in fossil rodents of Eurasia at the University of Utrecht died at his home in Huizen, the Netherlands on 11 September 2021. He was 90 years old. Hans studied geology at the University of Utrecht and obtained his PhD under von Koenigswald at the department of palaeontology and stratigraphy in 1965. He joined the staff of this department in 1963. Hans retired in 1992 but kept a research position at the university until his death. Many students prepared their PhD under his supervision while numerous local or foreign students studied fossil small mammals under his guidance.

Hans was an outdoor man, loved collecting fossil rodents in far-away countries. He went to the field at least one month each year. Initial focus of his fieldwork were the Tertiary basins of Spain, later Greece and Turkey. He also conducted fieldwork on the isle of Wight (UK), Sardinia (Italy), the Miocene and Eocene of Pakistan, Kazakhstan, the Emirates, Libya, Georgia and Croatia. His last major project was the Paleogene of the Balkans. This project was initiated by Zoran Marković and Miloš Milivojević of the Museum of Natural History in Belgrade and resulted in joint field campaigns in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first joint campaign was in 2003, the last in 2019 when Hans was 88. Fifteen papers on the Paleogene of the Balkans have been published so far and several are forthcoming. Up to now seven of these were published in Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments in the series “The Paleogene rodent faunas from south-east Serbia”. The scientific results are spectacular, late Eocene and Oligocene faunal assemblages show a strong Asian influence, showing that the Paleogene Balkans formed a biogeographic entity different from western Europe. His death is a great loss for the palaeontology of small mammals.

Papers on the Paleogene of the Balkans in chronological order

• Leeuw, J.H.W.M. de, Mandic  O., Bruijn H. de, Marković Z., Reumer J., Wessels  W., Šišić  E. & Krijgsman W. (2011). Magnetostratigraphy and small mammals of the Late Oligocene Banovići basin in NE Bosnia and Herzegovina. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 310(3-4): 400-412
• Bruijn, H. de, Marković, Z. & Wessels, W. (2013). Late Oligocene rodents from Banovići (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Palaeodiversity 6: 63–105
• Marković, Z., Bruijn, H. de & Wessels, W. (2016): A revision of the new rodent collections from the Early Miocene of Sibnica, Serbia. In: Marković, Z. & Milivojević, M. (eds.): Life on the shore – geological and paleontological research in the Neogene of Sibnica and vicinity (Levač basin, Central Serbia). Part 1. Special Issue of the Natural History Museum in Belgrade: 63–117
• Sar, N. van der, Glabbeek, R. van, Wessels, W., Markovic, Z. & Bruijn, H. de (2017): Insectivores and marsupials from the upper Oligocene of Banovići (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology,  37(6)DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2017.1368529
• Bruijn, H. de, Marković, Z., Wessels, W. & Weerd, A. A. van de (2018). Rodent faunas from the Paleogene of south-east Serbia. Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments, 98 (3), pp. 441-458. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-017-0305-0 (this opens in a new tab)
• Marković, Z., Milivojević, M., Bruijn, H. de, Wessels, W., Weerd, A.A. van de, Renovica, S., Šišic, E. & Modrić, K. (2018). Paleontological research on fossil small mammals from the open-pit coal mines of Bosnia and Herzegovina – overview of results.  Bulletin of the Natural History Museum, 2018, 11: 7-17
• Marković, Z., Wessels, W., Weerd, A. A. van de & Bruijn, H. de (2018). On a new diatomyid (Rodentia, Mammalia) from the Paleogene of south-east Serbia, the first record of the family in Europe. Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments, 98(3). 459-469. DOI 10.1007/s12549-017-0301-4 (this opens in a new tab)
• Weerd, A. A. van de, Bruijn, H. de, Marković, Z. & Wessels, W. (2018). Paracricetodontinae (Mammalia, Rodentia) from the late Eocene and early Oligocene of south-east Serbia. Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments (2018) 98,. 489–508. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-017-0317-9 (this opens in a new tab)
• Wessels, W.,  Weerd, A. A. van de, Bruijn, H. de & Marković, Z. (2018).  New Melissiodontinae (Mammalia, Rodentia) from the Paleogene of south-east Serbia, Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments, 98(3), 471-487. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-017-0311-2 (this opens in a new tab)
• Wessels, W., van de Weerd, A.A., Bruijn, H. de & Markovic, Z., (2019). Dipodidae (Mammalia, Rodentia) from the Paleogene of south-east Serbia. Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-019-00392-5 (this opens in a new tab)
• Bruijn, H. de, Markovic, Z., Wessels, W. & Weerd, A.A. van de (2019). Pappocricetodontinae (Rodentia, Muridae) from the Paleogene of south-east Serbia. Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments 99: 511–526. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-018-0343-2 (this opens in a new tab)
• Wessels, W., Bruijn, H. de, Marković, Z. & Milivojević, M. (2019). Small mammals from the opencast lignite mine Gračanica (Bugojno, middle Miocene), Bosnia and Herzegovina. Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-018-0366-82 (this opens in a new tab)
• Marković, Z., Wessels, W., Weerd, A. A. van de & Bruijn, H. de (2020). Deperetomys (Rodentia, Muridae) from the Oligocene of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-019-00389-0 (this opens in a new tab)
• Marković, Z., Wessels, W., Weerd, A. A. van de & Bruijn, H. de (2020). Pseudocricetodontinae (Mammalia, Rodentia) from the Paleogene of south-east Serbia. Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-019-00373-8 (this opens in a new tab)
• Weerd, A. A. van de, Bruijn, H. de, Wessels, W. & Marković, Z. (2021). New late Oligocene rodent faunas from the Pannonian basin. Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-021-00487-y (this opens in a new tab)