Hesperogavialis cruxenti N.Gen., N. SP., nouveau Gavialide (Crocodylia,Eusuchia) du Miocene superieur (Huayquerien) d'Urumaco (Venezuela)

A new gavialid from the Upper Miocene (“Huayquerian”) of Urumaco (western Venezuela) is described as Hesperogavialis cruxenti n. gen., n. sp. It is the only known South American gavialid in which, as in the Gavialidae from the Indian region, the nasals do not come into contact with the premaxillae. This ressemblance with the gavials of India is interpreted as a result of convergent evolution.     

Andalucinetes hastatus nov. gen., nov. sp., nouveau Chonetacea (Brachiopoda) dévonien du Sud-Ouest de l'Espagne

A new genus and its type-species: Andalucinetes hastatus nov. gen., nov. sp., are described and illustrated. The erection of the new genus is warranted by a comparison with the two more closely allied genera.     

Tapirus balkanicus nov. sp., nouveau tapir (Perissodactyla, Mammalia) du Turolien de Bulgarie

A new species of Tapiridae, Tapirus balkanicus, is etablished for new material of the Bulgarian Upper Miocene. The comparison with other Neogene tapirids leads us to consider the upper jaw as more characteristic than the lower one for taxonomic determination and study of phyletic relations. A new subgenus, Meyeriscus, is created for Tapirus pannonicus, the most evolved European tapirid.

Résumé

Une nouvelle espèce de tapir est décrite, Tapirus balkanicus du Miocène supérieur de Bulgarie. La comparaison avec les espèces européennes du Miocène moyen (Tapirus teilen) au Villafranchien (Tapirus arvernensis) amènent à privilégier la denture supérieure sur l'inférieure pour la détermination et les rapports phylétiques éventuels entre les espèces. Pour l'espèce la plus évoluée de tous les Tapiridés européens, Tapirus pannonicus est proposé un nom de sous-genre particulier, Meyeriscus nov.     

Hippopotamus incognitus nov. sp., un hippopotame (Mammalia,Artiodactyla) du Pléistocène d'Europe occidentale

The new species Hippopotamus incognitus is recognized for the first time in the Middle and Upper Pleistocene of Western Europe. It was confused either with the Lower Middle Pleistocene H. major or the recent H. amphibius. H. incognitus is quite different from H. major with a lesser size, a lower skull, more slender limb bones and lenghtened metapodials. The size is bigger, the cheek teeth more bulky and the proportions of the limb bones different than in H. amphibius. These three species correspond to three distinct phylogenetical lineages originating in the same african tetraprotodont Pleistocene stock.     

Glossomyophorus costatus nov. gen. nov. sp., Rudiste (Caprotinidae) nouveau de l'Aptien du domaine méditerranéen central et oriental

A new caprotinid rudist, Glossomyophorus costatus nov. gen. nov. sp. is described and figured from the Lower Cretaceous of Saudi Arabia, Bosnia (Yugoslavia) and southern Italy. Its costulate shell has a straight, tubular (attached) right valve, with a single, central tooth, and an openly enrolled, elongate left valve, with two subequal teeth. It differs from other caprotinids in possessing an erect, tongue-shaped posterior myophore in the left valve, the muscle scar of which directly flanks the body cavity, with no intervening accessory cavity joined to the central tooth socket. This scar faces onto the posterior wall of a laminar posterior myophore in the right valve. A single accessory cavity in each valve separates the posterior myophore from the shell wall. That in the right valve is similar in size to the teeth sockets, such that sections across the valve have a distinctive array of three more or less equal sockets. Evolutionary affinities with Monopleura or with Caprotina are equally possible. At present the genus is only known from the Lower Aptian of the Central and Eastern mediterranean Subprovinces and thus might serve as a valuable biostratigraphic and palaeobiogeographic marker.     

Sur quelques echinodermes(Cystoides et Crinoides) de l'Ashgill d'Aragon (Espagne)

The material collected in the outcrops of Fombuenaand Luesma allows to specify the distinctive characters of the genera Corylocrinus and Caryocrinites, to describe two new species and to complete the morphology of Heliocrinites rouvillei and Proteocystites hispanica. The Crinoid association of these localities shows a very close composition with that of Coat-Carrec (Finistère). The new observations establish definitively the structure of the dorsal cup and the oral face of Mespilocystites. The occurence of the genera Stichocystis, Eucystis and Mespilocystites is recorded for the first time in Aragon. Cystoids and Crinoids confirm the existence of Ashgillian in the western part of the Armorican Massive.     

Megagyrolithes ardescensis N. Gen., N. SP.,Trace fossile nouvelle du Valanginien d'Ardeche (France)

A new trace fossil corresponding to a spiral burrow is described in the Upper Valanginian of the Ardèche area (France). It seems to be restricted to marine hemipelagic facies (outer shelf and upper slope).     

Un nouveau felide (Fissipeda,mammalia) du pleistocene moyen du Maroc: Lynx thomasi N. sp.

The site known as Thomas quarry III (Cassablanca, Morocco) yielded, together with a middle Pleistocene (Tensiftian) fauna, the lower jaw of a lynx, Lynx thomase n. sp., whose dentition is characterized by high and complex premolars, and a very long carnassial. This new species might be descended from post-villafranchian European lynxes.     

Oryctolagus giberti n. sp. (Lagomorpha, Mammalia) du Pléistocène inférieur de Cueva Victoria (Murcie, Espagne)

A new species of leporid (Lagomorpha, Mammalia) is described based on the material from the Lower Pleistocene of Cueva Victoria (Murcia, Spain). This species, named Oryctolagus giberti n. sp., presents several intermediate characters between the first known representative of the genus, O. laynensis, from the Middle Pliocene of Spain, and the modern European rabbit (O. cuniculus), specially at the level of the palate, the mandible, the third lower premolar, the ulna, the coxal and the femur. In this respect, Oryctolagus giberti n. sp. is a firm candidate to occupy the vacant phylogenetic place between these two species. It also questions the results of molecular studies that date the divergence of groups A and B of Oryctolagus cuniculus at about 2 Myr ago.     

Tetrapleuroxylon limagnense n. sp., bois fossile de l'allier (France)

Found in a Pliocene terrace near Vichy (department of Allier), the fossil wood studied here shows affinities with some recent tropical Leguminosae. In the Massif Central, tropical Leguminosae are known mainly from earlier times (Eocene to Miocene). This may suggest the redeposition of the warm-climate wood in a fluvial sediment of a more recent and colder period.     

Cinetique d'action de l'acide 2-chloro ethylphosphonique sur les polyribosomes du latex d'Hevea brasiliensis

Effects of 2-chloroethylphosphonic acid on the latex of Hevea brasiliensis were studied during 7 days after its application on the tapping panel of the tree. Ribosome polymerisation shows a dramatic rise within 12 hr after treatment. This shift is overcome at first without rRNA synthesis. Increase of latex production and latex pH exhibit similar features and start 24 hr after application of the, stimulant. After 4 days, rRNA concentration and the stability of the lutoïds (microvacuoles with lysosomal characteristics) change significantly.     

Action in vivo d'ecdysones sur la morphogénèse imaginale d'Aeshna cyanea (Odonata)

Single amounts of α or β ecdysone were injected during the last larval instar of Aeshna cyanea at various times after ecdysis. In these experimental conditions, α and β ecdysone had similar effects. Very large amounts of brown or black cuticle appeared on the tarsal claws soon after hormone injection, so that the cuticular synthesis of the larvae which were injected at the beginning of the last stage appears about two or three times more quickly than in controls. Nearly all the larval characters were exhibited by animals injected on the day of or the day after the last larval ecdysis. If the hormonal injection was further delayed, only adultoid forms were obtained. No perfect adults appeared. The effects evoked by α or β ecdysone may be different from one organ to another.On the other hand, some results were different according to the type of ecdysone. Darkening of the tarsal claws (and perhaps sclerotization) appears sooner when β ecdysone is supplied. The morphology of the external organs which degenerate during metamorphosis is not always the same after injection of equal amounts of α or β ecdysone at the same time. The regression of the larval organs seems to be more explicit and appears sooner when β ecdysone was administrated. The morphogenesis of the organs which grow during metamorphosis was either weaker or non-existent with β ecdysone.These results are discussed with regard to previous work.     

Diverses proprietes de l'absorption du citrate du malate et du succinate par les lutoides du latex d'Hevea brasiliensis

Lutoïds from Hevea latex are microvacuoles with lysosomal character. In vitro in a medium free of energetic substrate citrate, malate and succinate are absorbed. The properties of this absorption and the action of some modifiers are discussed.     

Un faux polymorphitiné: Dubariceras, nouveau genre d'Ammonitina du Carixien mésogéen

Most of the Tethyan species usually attributed to the genera Platypleuroceras, Uptonia and Dayiceras (Polymorphitidae) are in reality forms phylogenetically related to Metaderoceras, but which show convergence in their morphology. Their originality justifies the creation of a new genus, Dubariceras and two new species, D. dubari and D. freboldi.The palaeobiogeographic implications of this phylogenetic interpretation confirm the profound differences between Tethyan and Boreal faunas in the Carixian. The platycone Polymorphitidae (Platypleuroceras, Uptonia and Dayiceras) are almost completely restricted to the Boreal Realm, whereas the faunas of the Tethyan Realm largely comprise the Acanthopleuroceratidae (Tropidoceras), Metaderoceras and its allied genus Dubariceras.