Le gisement de Freiria de Rio Maior,Portugal, et sa faune de Mammiferes; Nouvelle espece de Rotundomys,consequences stratigraphiques

A new locality, close to Freiria de Rio Maior, provided a mammalian fauna associated with Charophytes, secds,Ostracods, Gastropods and Urodels. The most abundant remains correspond to a new species: Rotundomys freiriensis. This fauna has been dated as the Upper Vallesian base (MN 10), corresponding to the most recent level with small mammals found in the portuguese Miocene. Thus, the Freiria limestone succession is correlated to Cartaxo, Almoster, etc., limestones which are so developed in the Ribatejo area.     

Cherasco (Piemont):un nouveau gisement de poissons fossiles du Messinien continental d'Italie

The study of the material gathered in a new locality of fossil Fishes found in the messinian marls, near Cherasco (Piedmont, Italy), leads one to point out the occurrence of three different species (one of which is new) in this locality. The analysis of the process of pachyostosis which seems to have affected in a selective way some of their representatives is made possible by the detailed investigation of the Cyprinodontid and Gobiid Fishes. In the light of this analysis, the taxonomic status of the genus Pachylebias WOODWARD is reevaluated. From a palaeoecological and palaeogeographical point of view, the locality of Cherasco seems to fit with an ancient water-body with a variable salt-content, which may have been more or less temporarily connected with the sea.     

Le Crocodilien longirostre Gavialosuchus dans le Miocène moyen de Polastron (Gers,France)

A left maxilla fragment from the newly discovered Miocene vertebrate locality of Polastron (Gers, southwestern France) is described and referred to the longsnouted eusuchian crocodilian Gavialosuchus, which had never been reported from the Miocene of this area, in which crocodilian remains are scarce. On the basis of its mammal fauna, the locality is slightly older than Sansan. Although Gavialosuchus is usually found in marine beds, its occurrence in the fluviatile deposits of Polastron shows that it also inhabited rivers.     

Introduction de l'analyse multifactorielle dans le traitement de données palynofloristiques santoniennes (Crétacé supérieur)

The data processing, with multifactorial analysis, of palynofloras yielded by seven Santonian lignitic levels in the Dieulefit locality (Drôme, France) and by eight levels of same facies in the Nyons locality (Drôme, France) enables us to establish relations within a basin (deposit) between the variations in the relative frequencies of Normapolles taxa and the sedimentary factors, especially the facies and the alluvial deposits.The comparison, with the same method, between Nyons and Dieulefit deposits on the basis of their common taxa emphasizes the phytogeographical differences existing between these Santonian deposits (Upper Cretaceous)     

La paléoflore du Stéphanien de l'Oued zat(Haut-Atlas de Marrakech — versant nord — Maroc)

The presence of Stephanian was discovered in 1930, on the North side of High Atlas of Marrakesh, while prospecting coal. In this work, we have studied in detail the paleoflora collected in Oued Zat, and for the first time are described and pictured 18 species. The paleofloristic association of seven species leads to an upper Stephanian locality.     

Presence de Gazella deperdita (Gervais) 1847 du gisement du Miocene superieur (Turolien) des Mistrals (Vaucluse,Sud-Est de la France)

Among the two bovid genera represented in the turolian locality Mistrals I, Gazella and Miotragocerus, the most abundant is a gazelle which, after comparison with Gazella deperdita from the Mont-Luberon, turns out to belong to this species. Resemblances between the two faunas, already noticed in the study of the Hipparions, are thus comfirmed.     

Les gisements continentaux de Plaissan et de la Nouvelle Faculté de Médecine (Hérault) leur position stratigraphique

The study of Plaissan rodent fauna and the discoveryof a new fossiliferous locality, 〈Nouvelle Faculté Médecine〉, allow us to contribute to a more accurate biochronological mammalian scale, for the Bas-Languedoc Lower Miocene. Nouvelle Faculté Médecine, contemporaneous of La Paillade or slighthy older has a Aquitanian age; Plaissan, equivalent to Paulhiac, ist older than the oldest known interbedded marine level in the Languedocian marine Aquitanian (Les Cévennes); it should be contemporaneous with the ante-stratotypic Aquitanian of Carry-le-Rouet.     

Rediscovery and Redescription of Tropidophorus micropus van Lidth de Jeude, 1905(Squamata: Sauria: Scincidae) from Sarawak,East Malaysia(Borneo)

Tropidophorus micropus van Lidth de Jeude, 1905, described from the upper Mahakkam River, Kalimantan, Indonesia, is here redescribed, based on new material from upper Baleh, Sarawak, East Malaysia(Borneo), collected after over 100 years. The new locality is ca. 94 km to the north of the type locality, and comprises a new national record.     

Les nodules du Carbonifère supérieur du Lagerstätte de Montceau-les-Mines,France : historique de la Collection Sotty 2

The Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris (France), housed in its palaeontological collections numerous fossil specimens from a French locality of exceptional fossil preservation: the Montceau-les-Mines Lagerstätte (Late Carboniferous). The collection on the Montceau-les-Mines Lagerstätte was given to the Museum of Paris in 1997. Under the MNHN direction, it is managed in the regional museum of Autun. It contains more than 100,000 nodules bearing animal and fossil plants, three-dimensionally preserved in sideritic concretions. These collections are computerized and regularly consulted and studied by scientists from the whole world.     

Note preliminaire concernant la decouverte d'une faune et d'une flore du niveau de Ronzon dans l'Oligocene inferieur du Bassin d'Aquitaine

The new locality of Ruch (Gironde), from a lateral facies of the “Calcaire de Castillon” formation has yielded an important flora and fauna. From the biostratigraphic point of view the mammalian fauna allows to show that Ruch is contemporaneous of the reference locality of Ronzon (Auvergne).     

L’ambre cénomanien d’Anjou : stratigraphie et paléontologie des carrières du Brouillard et de Hucheloup (Ecouflant,Maine-et-Loire)

The Ecouflant area (Maine-et-Loire, France) shows the last outcrops from the Anjou region that allow the study of early Cenomanian lignites and the associated amber. The quarry of Le Brouillard was historically the most studied locality, but it is now partly covered by bulky waste. No fossil arthropod has been found in the amber collected in this locality, and only a few bacterial filaments and plant fragments were detected among the microinclusions. The quarry of Hucheloup shows a wider exposure. Amber is poor, but fossil plants and bivalve are frequent. Based on the sedimentological series and the palaeontological contents of the lignitic clay, we suggest that it corresponds to estuarine to coastal depositional environments with variable salinity.     

Découverte de nouveaux rongeurs dans la formation Miocène de Bou Hanifia (Algérie occidentale)

A new rodent level has been discovered in the Bou Hanifia formation, well known for its Hipparion and Progonomys levels. The importance of this new locality lies in the presence of a new rodent, Senoussimys hanifiae nov. gen., nov. sp., Dendromuridae, the oldest representative of this group in North West Africa and of a new species of Zramys, Zramys gueltae probable descent of Zramys dubiusJaeger, from the oldest BH.II level.     

L'ichthyofaune des marnes messiniennes des environs de Gabbro (Toscane,Italie): Signification paleoecologique

Five species of fossil Fishes, of which three are new (Aphanius italicus nov. sp., Palaeoatherina etrusca nov. sp. and Gobius ignotus nov. sp.) occur in the Messinian marls from Gabbro (Tuscany, Italy). This association allows to consider this locality as constituted in a continental basin with a variable salt content.     

Réévaluation de la présence humaine au Pléistocène inférieur dans le Sud de l'Espagne

The Early Pleistocene locality at Venta Micena (Orce, Guadix-Baza basin, province of Granada, Spain) has provided four fossil remains - skull fragment VM-0, and long bone diaphyses VM-1960, VM-3691, and VM-12000 - which have been tentatively attributed to the hominids. Although several methodologies have been used to ascertain the human affinities of these specimens - including anatomical, morphometric and immunological analyses - the results obtained have not been conclusive, instigating a persistent debate. A taphonomic approach is used here for estimating the probability that a taxon the size of Homo sp. (~ 50 kg) could be represented in the fossil assemblage by four bone fragments and no tooth remain. A least-squares regression analysis between the percentage of teeth and the body mass estimated for each taxon of large mammals (N = 20) predicts a raw abundance of six teeth for Homo sp. in the assemblage. Given that up to the present moment no tooth remains attributable to the hominids has been unearthed during systematic excavations in the Venta Micena quarry, which has provided more than 15,000 fossils of large mammals, this argues strongly against the possibility that the three bone specimens could belong to Homo sp. The phalanx CV-0 from the Early Pleistocene site of Cueva Victoria (Cartagena, Spain) has also been attributed to the genus Homo. The taxonomic assignment of this specimen is biased, however, because it was not compared with Theropithecus oswaldi, the only primate species actually recorded from this karstic locality. A comparative anatomical and morphometric analysis of fossil and modern specimens of Theropithecus suggests that CV-0 can be attributed to T. oswaldi. As a result, Cueva Victoria does not contribute additional information concerning the first human settlements in Europe. By these reasons, apart from the paleoanthropological and archaeological findings from Atapuerca (TD lower levels and Sima del Elefante), the rich archaeological assemblages from Barranco León and Fuente Nueva-3 in Orce, dated 1.3-1.2 Myrs, which include fourteen hundred stone tools of Oldowan technology, constitute at present the only unequivocal evidence of human presence in Southeast Spain during Early Pleistocene times.     

A new protictithere from the late Miocene hominoid locality Ravin de la Pluie of Axios Valley (Macedonia, Greece)

This article concerns the study of a protictithere from the late Miocene of Axios Valley (Macedonia, Greece). The material was found in the hominoid-bearing mammal locality Ravin de la Pluie (RPl), which is corellated with the late Vallesian, MN 10. The available material, including maxillary and mandibular elements, is described and compared morphologically and metrically with the known Eurasian protictitheres. The small size, the low cusps(-ids) of the teeth, the protocone of the P4, which is in line with the mesial border of the parastyle, the large molars (especially the M2), the small buccal projection of the M1 paracone, the strongly molarized p4, the strong metaconid and large talonid with high entoconid of the m1 separate the RPl protictithere from the known Eurasian protictitheres and allow the erection of a new species, named P. thessalonikensis n. sp.     

L'Ichthyofaune des marnes messiniennes des environs de senigallia (Marche,Italie): Signification paleoecologique et paleogeographique

The revision of the fish fauna from the Messinian marls of Senigallia (Marche, Italy) leads to the reduction of the faunal list of the fossil Fishes found in this locality to only four species. One new genus is created: Cryptolebias new. gen.. This fish fauna characterizes an environment with a variable salt content: it may have been more or less temporarily connected with the sea, although it was also exposed to noticeable continental influences, as demonstrated by the occurrence of Amphibians and Reptiles (Ophidians).