Nouvelles données micropaléontologiques(Foraminifères planctoniques et petits Foraminifères benthiques) sur le stratotype bordelais du Burdigalien

The present work deals with the microfauna of small benthonic and planktonic Foraminifera from the Burdigalian stratotype of Aquitaine basin (France) and from a few outcrops in the stratotype vicinity showing the upper or lower boundary of the stratotype.Benthonic fauna is rich: more than 250 species divided in 92 genera have been collected. The most frequent are hyaline Foraminifera (Pararotalia, Elphidium, Asterigerina, Florilus, Virgulopsis, Bolivina). The miocene feature is more pronounced than in the Aquitanian stratotype.Planktonic Foraminifera are much less abundant:only 20 species. However, some of them authorize to place the stratotype (or its equivalent l. s.) in N5 Blow's zone and perhaps in the basel N6 zone.The figurations of many species are made withthe scanning electronic microscope.     

Découverte des sables à Mactres de la base du Burdigalien à Martillac (Nord Aquitaine ; SW France) ; données paléontologiques

The Early Burdigalian in the type area of the stage (Gironde, South of Bordeaux) comprises marine deposits with rather various facies, often rich in molluscs. Locally, the very basal Formation of “Sables à Mactres” is present, formerly known in Léognan, but very little studied in litteris. We have discovered first at Martillac deposits allocated to this Formation, and we study their paleontological contents. The macrofauna is more diversified than it was expected from the aspect of sediment; for instance, 210 mollusc species have been inventoried in these grey fine sands, bedded and very carbonatic, where Bivalvia shells are well preserved and dominant among the whole fauna. These shells are either scattered in the layers or accumulated in small beds. Echinoids, Asteroids, Crustacea, Annelida, Scleractinia, Brachiopoda, fishes, Alga Rhodophycea, are present, as well as an abundant microbenthos. Taphonomic observations are made on the sandy sequence, and taxonomic and biostratigraphic remarks concern some mollusc species. From a paleoecologic point of view, the endobiont forms are dominant within the malacofauna, they are accompanied by several epibiont and semi-endobiont taxa, and few pelagic and endolith ones. Concerning the trophics, the suspension-feeders molluscs are dominant in specimens number, notably amongst Bivalvia, and carnivores, detritivores/deposit-feeders, herbivores and commensal/parasites are more or less well represented. On the whole, the soft-substrate species are obviously in a majority. This paleobiofacies with Mactrids – Donax – Capsa – Pitar – Loripes – Ringicula corresponds to a deposit in a coastal tidal area, rather calm, of a shallow embayment type, with very few detritics, and submitted to a moderate hydrodynamism and to a subtropical to tropical climate. The reworking is insignificant in the sequence where shells are dispersed (parautochthonous species), and the transport has been limited to the falun beds (e.g. little channels, tides action). The conditions of settlement of the earliest phases of Burdigalian transgression are thus specified in this type area.     

Action de la «densonucléose» de Lépidoptères sur les mammifères

Summary The virus of Densonucleosis ofGalleria mellonella (Lepidoptera) is not virulent for mice and rabbits by inoculation and by feeding. Newly born mice are not contamined by intracerebral inoculation. These data are important for comparison of this virus with some Arthropod born viruses and for biological control.      

L'association à helichrysum stoechas dans les dunes du littoral du sud-ouest de la France

Résumé Etude floristique, écologique et systématique de l'Association à Helichrysum stoechas (Roseto-Ephedretum Kuhnholz-Lordat). Cette association thermophile est notée dans les dunes littorales due SW de la France. Elle y apparaît sur des sables calcarifères fixés en surface par une strate muscinale bien développée.     

Dépistage du cancer de la prostate : les arguments « contre »

The mass screening for prostate cancer is often a subject of passionate debates since the availability of prostate-specific antigen testing, twenty years ago. The supporters of the mass screening emphasize on the fact that early detection of a tumour offers a better quality and less invasive treatment. In reality, this reasoning relies on some long-term studies on certain groups of subjects in spite of the fact that comparison with control groups has never been done. To examine the relationship between the mass screening and the decrease of population mortality (principal criteria for judgment), it is necessary to have recourse to randomized studies. At present, there are two such studies whose results will be available within three or four years. In the meantime, there is no answer to the question of the place for mass screening. Meanwhile, analysis of different parameters that would support the use of mass screening for prostate cancer to reduce the number of deaths has shown that the probability that it would is very low. Considering these conditions as well as the recommendations by the authorities, the mass screening has not yet found its place. The early detection requested by a patient accompanied by the discussion about its advantages and inconveniences are for now the right way between negligence and excessive management.     

Variations saisonnières de la production primaire dans les eaux de surface de la rivière du Saguenay

Experiments of primary production were carried out at weekly intervals in the surface waters at one station (maximum depth of 20 m) in the Saguenay River, near Chicoutimi, during May–December 1978. The photic zone was very thin (maximum depth of 2 m). Phosphates are very low during the season sampling (maximum of 0.1 µat-g.^–1). Maximum of production rates and biomass are respectively 3.5 mg C.m^–3.h^–1 and 3.7 mg.m^–3. The river receives both industrial and urban runoff. Trace metals (Mercury, Copper, Lead, and Iron) seemed to be one of the important limiting factors for phytoplankton growth.

     

Nouvelles données micropaléontologiques(Foraminifères planctoniques et petits Foraminifères benthiques) sur le stratotype de l'Aquitanien

The authors study the microfauna of small benthonic and planktonic Foraminifera from the Aquitanian stratotype and of a few exposures in the stratotype vicinity.Benthonic microfauna is rich: more than 150species have been collected; among them Miliolidae mainly belonging to the genera Quinqueloculina and Miliola.Planktonic Foraminifera are much less abundant:only 20 species. They authorize to place the stratotype at the boundary of N4–N5 Blow's zones.The figurations of many species are made withthe scanning electronic microscope.     

Sur la presence de dents de Characidae (Poissons teleosteens,Ostariophysi) dans les “Calcaires a Bythinies” et les “Sables bleutes” du Var

The occurrence of isolated Characid teeth is pointed out both from the “Calcaires à Bythinies” and “Sablesbleutés” of Var (France), which are probably Lower Oligocene in age. These teeth strongly differ from those already known in the Lower Eocene of Western Europe.     

Sur quelques hyménoptères intervenant dans la biocoenose de ravageurs de l’Artichaut dans le sud-est de la France

Summary No discovery of any parasite ofSphaeroderma rubidium Graell.,Ceratapion carduorum Kirbi, andDepressaria subpropinquella Stain. has been mentioned for France. However considerable collections ofMymaridae obtained on layings ofS. rubidium, show that parasitism may have a part in the limitation of this species. The few parasites of larvae and pupae ofC. carduorum obtained do not seem to have any considerable regulating influence. Although the parasitism of caterpillars ofD. subpropinquella byAngitia is frequent, the latter do not seem to be the essential factor in the evolution of the population of this species. The caterpillars ofChoreutis bjerkandrella thnb. may be used as a refuge by manyHymenoptera in summer, as a consequence of the scarcety ofMicrolepidoptera at a vulnerable stage.      

Sur des microfossiles calcaires problématiques du stratotype de la limite Campanien–Maastrichtien de Tercis (Sud-Ouest,France) : les gilianelles

Enigmatic calcareous microfossils are present in the stratotype section at Tercis, Landes, France (Campanian–Maastrichtian boundary). Thirty to thirty-five forms have been pictured and 1 to 100 specimens have been picked for each of them. The single-chambered tests show a small aperture. They present an axial symmetry, which is altered when radial equatorial expansions are added to the 75 to 200 μm-large bodies of discoidal, spheroidal, cupuliform, conical or barrel-like shapes. These peculiar characters are those of the gilianelles, a group of uncertain status created here. In addition to their palaeontological interest, these microfossils display a short time distribution and might have a stratigraphical interest. Gilianella stellata n. gn. n. sp. is described as a type form and illustrated.     

Lobateuchus,un nouveau genre de «bousier» fossile du nord de la France (Coleoptera : Scarabaeidae,Scarabaeinae)

Lobateuchus parisii n. gen., n. sp. est décrit de l’ambre de l’Eocène basal de l’Oise (Bassin parisien). La découverte de ce fossile remet en question la répartition strictement gondwanienne de la tribu des Ateuchini.     

Répartition des rotifères dans deux lacs-tourbières du Massif Central (France)

In rotifer communities of two french peat-bogs, characteristic species associations can be described for each stage in the formation of this ecosystem. The oligotrophic lowmoor with Sphagnum angustifolium has the highest proportion of characteristic species.The affinity between the open water fauna (used as a standard) and the Sphagnum fauna decreases with a gradient in water content. The latter was a dominant factor in the distribution of rotifer species in the peat-bog.

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Répartition des rotifères dans deux lacs-tourbières du Massif Central (France)

     

Sur la disparition progressive de Laminaria digitata sur les côtes du Calvados (France)

In comparison with results from 1983–1988, when a cartographic study was made on the distribution of the Laminariales and of Sargassum muticum in Lower Normandy (France), we note, on the Calvados coast, a regression of Laminaria digitata which has almost disappeared on the Grandcamp rocks. On the contrary, the growth of the populations of Sargassum muticum is very spectacular at Grandcamp; in summer, 80 % of the substratum in the lower parts of the intertidal zone and in the subtidal are covered by this species.     

Quelques apports à la théorie de l’Évolution,de la « Synthèse orthodoxe » à la « Super synthèse évo-dévo » 1970–2009 : un point de vue

Some contributions to evolutionary theory, from the “orthodox” Synthesis to the “Evo-devo Super synthesis” 1970–2009: A point of view. The “Modern Synthesis” of evolutionary biology coalesced and revitalized evolutionary theory beginning in the 1930s. It stressed the explanatory power of natural selection and gradual change to account for the processes that govern natural populations today, as well as patterns in the history of life. In the past 40 years, the synthesis has been challenged on various fronts ranging from paleontology to developmental biology, systematics, biogeography, and molecular and developmental biology. Several of its central propositions have been modified and expanded as a result. How well the synthesis continues to be effective will depend on its continued ability to test its central propositions and the efficacy of its central mechanisms, particularly on the basis of new evidence from emerging fields of study.     

Apports de la palynologie a la connaissance du Pliocène du Roussillon (sud de la France)

The present study illustrates clearly how pollen analysis may be applied to stratigraphy from a botanical point of view. Within a chronologically reliable frame (Middle Pliocene for the marine deposits on the basis of Foraminifera record; two subzones for continental deposits on the basis of Mammals record: Hautimagne for Terrats fauna, Sète for Serrat-d'en-Vacquer fauna), palynology provides a good stratigraphical boundary: the extinction of the Taxodiaceae. In a remblayage area, it is established that a continental level is not necessarily younger than a marine one unless they are superposed. Many profiles are replaced according to the «progradation of the pliocene gulf of Roussillon. The boundary between marine and continental deposits cuts through the chronological line of the Taxodiaceae extinction. The flora investigated (93 taxa) is the first known for the Pliocene of this area. The extinction of the Taxodiaceae in southern France has a climatic cause: the setting in of a mediterranean rhythm (dry summers). This extinction is much older than the one which took place in Italy (Tiberian boundary) and in the Netherlands (Reuverian-Pretiglian boundary).     

Le « Moustérien » de Tipasa et de Ténès (littoral ouest algérois) dans la lecture climatique du second pléniglacaire

The excavations that we undertook, in 1985, in the prehistoric site of Sidi Saïd, in Tipasa (Algeria), allowed us to observe an unusual archaeological stratigraphy. An aterian industry with pedunculated pieces, surmounted by a Mousterian, rich in scrapers and single-sided retouching points, almost systematically in flint, with reduced shapes and strongly reduced (Aterian under Mousterian). This unusual case has led us to consider the reading of the Mousterian-Aterian/Ibéromaurusien passage in a different way and at the same time to take a new look at the work carried out so far on the west coast of Algiers, especially those of Lower cave of the Tenes lighthouse, west of Tipasa. An attempt to compare and correlate the site of Sidi Said and the Lower Cave of the Ténès lighthouse, enabled us to consolidate our conviction on the existence of an aterian stratigraphically below the Mousterian and to discover an original lithic industry of Mousterian tradition, with strongly reduced forms, which would be placed between stratigraphically between the Aterian and the Iberomaurusian. This industry which does not yet have a name or place in the chronology, “curiously” recalls the case of the Middle Solutrean of southwestern Europe, in the context of the second pleniglacial.     

Première découverte de Viperidae (Reptilia,Serpentes) dans les îles Baléares (Espagne) : des vipères du Néogène de Minorque. Description d’une nouvelle espèce du Pliocène

Two viperid snakes, Vipera natiensis sp. n. (belonging to the Vipera aspis group) and Vipera sp., have been found in the Pliocene of Minorca. On the other hand, an indeterminate viperid extends back the fossil record of the family in the Balearic Islands, to the Middle Miocene. These fossils represent the first report of viperids from the Balearic Islands. Vertebra of Vipera natiensis sp. n. are characterised by a concave anterior border of zygosphene, dorsoventrally flattened, short (as wide as long) and blunt prezygapophyseal processes. Centrum convex in transverse section, subcentral margins poorly marked and presence of two well defined subcotylar tubercles. Hypapophysis located posteriorly on the centrum and not prolonged anteriorly, or only slightly prolonged as a keel. The dorsal border of the neural spine is slightly thickened; the posterior border of the neural spine is markedly inclined posteriorly; as a result, the spine forms a posterior point, which is more or less developed, depending on the position of the vertebra along the vertebral column. The presence of Viperidae in the Neogene of the Balearic Islands involves the existence of a terrestrial connection between this archipelago and the continent during the Early Miocene and/or Middle Miocene and perhaps the presence of a later connection during the Late Miocene.