Modalités d'installation et d'évolutiondes Harpocératinés (ammonitina A) au Domérien inférieur dans le sud-Ouest de l'Europe (France,Portugal)

In Mesogea, the Harpoceratinae were known asearly as the end of the Lower Carixian. They later reached the sub-boreal province through the Alps or the South of the Iberic Peninsula. The analysis of the populations met in four crosssections of the Lower Domerian (Causses, Mâconnais, Franche-Comté, Portugal) showed the settling down of the Protogrammoceras isseli group that set up and evoluated in a similar way in the different areas in spite of a certain originality.On the one hand, it gave the cladogenetic groupP. monestieri-nitescens by diminution of the ribing density, strengthening of the ribs and simplification of the suture.On the other hand, a slower evolution give, near the end of the Stokesi zone, P. normanianum in the Paris Basin and in Burgundy, and P. lusitanicum in Portugal. At the same time, a new invader, P. celebratum, arrived in the Causses (and in Portugal).     

Les faunes d'ammonites du Carixien inférieur et moyen du gisement des Cottards (Cher)

The study of the traditional Cottard layer forthe first time allows the exact succession of lower and middle Carixian ammonites to be established.The most striking fact is the evolution of the Tropidoceras-Acanthopleuroceras lineage, a regular modification of the ribbing density and L¹ structure, an iterative variation of section and tuberculization.Precisions are given on Polymorphites and Beaniceras and three new species are described: Polymorphites evolutus, Beaniceras cottardiense, Acanthopleuroceras alisiense.     

Ammonites diartianus d'Orbigny, 1850,Vascoceratidae du cénomanien supérieur de saint-calais (Sarthe)

Ammonites diartianus d'Orbigny is a Vascocerasoof late Cenomanian (Sciponoceras gracile Zone) age, occuring in both Sarthe (France) and southern England. It is the earliest vascoceratid known from France, and its recognition is of great significance, lending support to recent suggestions that the classic Vascoceras gamai - mundaeChoffat group are of Upper Cenomanian age.     

L’industrie du Paléolithique inférieur du site de Wujiagou,Hubei Province,République Populaire de Chine

The site of Wujiagou, Hubei Province in China, dated to just over 800,000 years, in sandy deposits and sandy-silt which covers a river terrace of the end of the Early Pleistocene, delivered a rich lithic industry, mainly composed of pebbles tools. This industry has an archaic aspect, consisted by the abundance of pebbles tools, the presence of hand-axes, and the small amount of small tools. The pebble tools include choppers and picks, in addition of band-axes. Small tools are relatively poor and have few simple retouched scrapers.     

Nouvelles interprétationsdes restes d'Équidés (Mammalia,Perissodactyla) de Nihowan (Pléistocène inférieur de la Chine du Nord): Equus teilhardi nov. sp.

The fauna yielded by the Nihowan lower pleistocene lacustrine deposits includes two species of Equus beside one Hipparion. Equus sanmeniensis was described in 1930 by Teilhard de Chardin and Piveteau; this species is characterized by its large size and the presence of cups on all incisors. Equus teilhardi nov. sp. is smaller and its lower incisors are devoid of cups. It is the first time that such an absence is noted among eurasiatic Equus; till now only some californian, south-american and african species were known to have lowers incisors without cups. The finding of several Equids in the same deposits and the significance of the lack of cups are briefly discussed.     

Ostéologie et position systématiquedu genre Thrissops Agassiz, 1833 (sensu stricto) (Jurassique supérieur de l'Europe occidentale) au sein des Téléostéens primitifs

The osteological study of the genus ThrissopsAgassiz, 1833 (sensu stricto) from the Upper Jurassic of Germany and France allows to define the systematic position of that fossil fish within the primitive Teleosts. The general shape of the skull, the jaws, the ethmoidal area, the circumorbital bones, the fronto-parieto-supra occipital area, the parasphenoid and the opercular bones are all characters which prove that Thrissops belongs to the family Ichthyodectidae (order Ichthyodectiformes, super-order Osteoglossomorpha). However Thrissops is more primitive than the other Ichthyodectidae which are all of Cretaceous age. It possesses indeed two parietals bearing pit-lines, a premaxillary and a maxillary normally developed, a palatine and a metapterygoid without any contact, a denticulated entopterygoid, three free epurals and six uroneurals, while, in the Cretaceous Ichthyodectidae, the parietals are fused in one bone without any pit-line, the premaxillary and the maxillary are hypertrophic, the palatine touchs the metapterygoid, the entopterygoid is toothless, the epural disappear or fuse with the terminal neural arches to form supplementary neural spines, and the uroneural are only five.     

Le genre Tornquistes(Ammonitina,Pachyceratidae) á l'Oxfordien inférieur et moyen en Europe occidentale

TornquistesLemoine, considered still now as a subgenusof Pachyceras is up graduated to a genus level in the family PachyceratidaeBuckman. The study of this genus, only known in the upper part of Lower Oxfordian and the lower part of the Middle Oxfordian, shows six species; one of them, T. multicostatum, is new. These species are put in two sub-genus, Tornquistes s. str. and a new subgenus, Pachytornquistes. Some species are polymorph and for the first time, macroconch-microconch dimorphism is proved. Phyletic connections, stratigraphic repartition, paleobiogeographic distribution and their consequences are pointed out in conclusion.     

Révision de l'ichnogenre Coprulus Richter & Richter, 1939, et description de quelques nouvelles espèces du Jurassique supérieur

Coprulus, described by R. Richter & E. Richter (1939a) is very abundant in the Oxfordian marls and muddy limestones of the French Jura Mountains. These small cylindrical calcareous bodies are characterised by longitudinal grooves. They have been often found in washings but are also visible in thin sections. Coprulus is rarely mentioned by micropaleontologists but its stratigraphical and geographical range is certainly very extended. Often considered as Problematica, this trace fossil has been differently interpreted. This work confirms and specifies the results of F. Gramann (1966): Coprulus represents a fecal pellet of a deposit-feeder mollusc (Nuculidae?). Three new ichnospecies are described herein and the ichnogenus Coprulus is compared with Bactryllium, Coptocampylodon and Tomaculum.     

Suoidea du Miocène inférieur de Laugnac (Lot-et-Garonne, France)

The fossil vertebrate locality of Laugnac is the type locality of the Neogene mammalian zone MN2b. It has yielded many remains of Suoidea belonging to two different genera.Xenohyus venitor is characterized by its large size and especially its large central upper incisors, I1/ and I2/. It is quite difficult to know its phyletic relationships because the material is not abundant.Hyotherium cf.meisneri is more abundant with a quite good skull, pieces of skull, jaws and isolated teeth. It belongs to a peculiar lineage different from that ofH. major from Saint Gérand-le-Puy, France. It has some similarities withAureliachoerus aurelianensis from later geological levels (MN3-MN5).     

Réinterprétation de Peltoceratoides athletoides (Lahusen), 1883 (Ammonitina,Aspidoceratidae). Conséquences sur la biozonation du Callovien supérieur et de l'Oxfordien inférieur

Peltoceratoides athletoides (Lahusen) is currently used in the Tethyan domain (Submediterranean province) as an index-species for two separate biochronological units: one a horizon near the top of the Callovian, the other a zone at the base of the Oxfordian. Paleontological revision of the species, from specimens collected in situ in South East France and in Normandy shows that species is strictly localized in the lowermost Oxfordian. Consequently, the Callovian horizon, originally defined in Anjou, should be renamed the Schroederi horizon. The usefulness of Peltoceratoides athletoides as an indicator of the first Oxfordian zone in the Tethyan domain, the counterpart of the Mariae zone, is confirmed. In addition, strict localization of the species makes it is possible to define a subzone and a horizon for the base of the Oxfordian, which are the boreal equivalents of the Scarburgense subzone and Scarburgense horizon. These new data contribute to build a standard West Tethyan scale entirely independant of the boreal zonation for the Upper Callovian and Lower Oxfordian.     

A propos des fossiles du Pliocène d'Aguilas(Sud d'Almeria,Espagne) découverte de Cirripèdes operculés (Crustacés) et discussion sur l'étho-écologie des formes épizoaires

A benthic taphocoenose from the Pliocene I of Aguilas (provinces of Murcia-Almeria, Southern Spain) conseals four Cirripedia (family of BalanidaeLeach): Balanus (Balanus) perforatus angustusGmelin, B. (B.) amphitriteDarwin, B. (Megabalanus) tintinnabulum tintinnabulumLinné and Creusia (Withersia) phryxaPajaud.The study of the last one is especially interestingfrom an ecological point of view. Indeed, all species, well-known in the Creusia-Pyrgoma group are more or less dependent on Anthozoa since Miocene, the cuplike basis of their shell buried on corallites. But not corallites were gathered in the deposits of Aguilas and the morphology of Creusia phryxa leads us to believe a fixation of the shell on a flaccid substratum. From which we may suppose that the host of this Cirriped was perhaps an Actiniaria.     

Analyse biostratigraphique et paléontologique de l'Albien marin d'Estremadura (Portugal)

The marine Albain from Estremadura is splited up into four Orbitolinidae zones, adjusted to biostratigraphic scales from mesogean province: zone with Orbitolina (Mesorbitolina) minuta (lower to middle Albian); zone with Neorbitolinopsis conulus (base of upper Albian); zone with Orbitolina (Orbitolina) concava (top of upper Albian) and zone with Orbitolina (Orbitolina) duranddelgai (Vraconian). The vertical extension of the main fossils is replaced in the framework of these zones. The most interesting species for biostratigraphy, paleoecology or taxinomy are summarily described.     

Sur l'âge westphalien inférieur des couches de charbon sous la faille du midi de la galerie −200/34400A des mines de caydamar (turquie) d'après leur étude palynologique (microspores et megaspores)

A new succession of about fifteen coal seams has been discovered, in overturned position, between the “faille du Midi” and the classical Kilits Series in the Caydamar mines, Heraclee Basin, Turkey (gallery ?200/3400A). These beds, on the basis of plant spores, are Westpphalian A in age. The flora too is listed. Sixty-eight microspore and eighteen megaspore species were found. Comparison is made with spore assemblages from northern France.     

Répartition stratigraphique et biozones des kystes de dinoflagellés au passage Jurassique moyen–Jurassique supérieur (Bathonien supérieur–Oxfordien inférieur) dans le Bassin de Guercif,Maroc nord-oriental

Despite the stratigraphical significance of dinoflagellate cysts as reliable markers for correlating and dating Jurassic–Cretaceous strata, investigations into this palynomorph group in the southern Tethyan Realm, specifically northwest Africa, are sparse and somewhat parochial. Most research on Jurassic dinoflagellate cysts is focussed on European depocentres in the Boreal and Sub-Boreal realms. This study is on biostratigraphical data from two petroleum boreholes (MSD1 and KDH1) drilled during 1985 in the Guercif Basin, northeast Morocco by ONAREP (Office National de Recherche et d’Exploitation Pétrolier), now ONHYM (Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines). These boreholes penetrated a thick siliciclastic succession, attributed to the Middle and Upper Jurassic, below Miocene marls. Over sixty dinoflagellate cyst taxa were identified. Four dinoflagellate cyst biozones, named GI to GIV, are established for the late Bathonian to early Oxfordian interval. These biozones are defined on the basis of the first appearance datum (FAD) and/or the last appearance datum (LAD) of some biomarker taxa which have wide geographical distributions. These are: Ctenidodinium combazii and Ctenidodinium sellwoodii for the GI Biozone (late Bathonian–early Callovian); Ctenidodinium continuum and Meiourogonyaulax caytonensis for the GII Biozone (middle Callovian); Gonyaulacysta centriconnata and Wanaea thysanota for the GIII Biozone (late Callovian–earliest Oxfordian); and Liesbergia liesbergensis and Systematophora penicillata for the GIV Biozone (early Oxfordian). These biozones are correlated to those already established for the respective intervals in other palaeogeographic regions, such as the Boreal, Sub-boreal and Tethyan realms.     

Structure d'adhérencedes grains de pollen en tétrade du genre Classopollis PFLUG, 1953, de l'Hettangien de Saint-Fromont,Manche (France)

Palynological inventory of Saint-Fromont pit 0815 (Manche, France) related to Hettangian seems to show the conspecificity of Classopollis chateaunoviReyre, 1970, Classopollis kieseriReyre, 1970 and Classopollis harisiiMuir & Van Konijnenburg-Van Cittert, 1970. SEM pictures exibit some sculptural elements interpreted as structural attachments of grains in tetrad and compared to those of genus DicheiropollisTrevisan, 1971.     

Figures sédimentaireset traces d'origine biologique du Trias moyen de la bordure orientale du Massif Central signification sédimentologique et paléoécologique

The sandstones with foot-prints of reptiles and saltcasts from the Middle Triassic of the eastern border of the Massif Central (France) show a striking reptilian ichnofauna. The numerous sedimentary figures and trace fossils which are described here allow to deduce the following characteristics of the depositional environment: shallow water, lower flow regime, periodical increase of salinity. The reptiles used to pass through that environment where numerous stretches of water alternated with emerged, plant overgrown areas.     

Charles de Gerville et les premiers restes de Plesiosauria signalés dans le Jurassique inférieur de France (Hettangien,région de Valognes,Manche)

The historian, archaeologist, and naturalist Charles de Gerville (1769–1853) reported as early as January 1816 the presence of fossil bones in the quarries of the region of Valognes, in the department of Manche. These quarries exploited the “Calcaire de Valognes” and the underlying “Argiles et Calcaires d’Huberville”, both formations dated as Lower Hettangian (Lower Jurassic). De Gerville communicated to Jacques-Louis-Marin Defrance a watercolour drawing of one of these fossil bones, discovered in July 1820, in which it is possible to recognize a plesiosaur femur. This femur, as well as a fragment of rib and three vertebrae of Plesiosauria from de Gerville's collection, was then figured in a publication by Arcisse de Caumont, in 1825. The plesiosaur femur was later acquired by Pierre Tesson of Caen, who owned one of the most important collections of fossils in Normandy. The Tesson collection was later purchased in 1857 by the British Museum (now The Natural History Museum, London), where the femur has been rediscovered. This specimen is the first known plesiosaur specimen ever discovered in the Lower Jurassic of France, before the genus Plesiosaurus was established upon material from the Lias of southwestern England. One of the vertebrae figured by de Caumont has been rediscovered in the “Muséum Emmanuel-Liais” (Cherbourg-en-Cotentin), which had acquired part of de Gerville's collection. The interpretation of the “fossil bones of Valognes” by Georges Cuvier, Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville, Arcisse de Caumont, Jacques-Amand Eudes-Deslongchamps and Constant Duméril is revealed through unpublished documents.     

Nouvelles espèces de dasycladales du crétacé inférieur de provence (S.E. France)

In the Lower Cretaceous of Provence Cylindroporella faronensis n. sp. and Cylindroporella massiliana n. sp. represent small size species with a limited number of branches. The former ranges from the Middle (or Lower p.p. ?) Berriasian to the Lower Valanginian, the latter is found in the Lower Hauterivian, but could appear earlier in other regions. Clypeina isabellae n. sp. is also a small size form with a fibrous, yellowish microstructure, close to Clypeina sulcata, it is restricted to the Middle (or Lower p.p. ?) and Upper Berriasian. Besides their biostratigraphic and palaeobiogeographic potential value this material from Provence is also interesting from an evolutionary point of view. At generic levels it shows distinctive patterns relatively to the “Cope law”.