Les assemblages de diatomées du bassin messinien de Boudinar (Maroc nord-oriental)

The Messinian is one of the strongest biogenic silica accumulation periods in the world and more particularly in the Mediterranean, where it is marked by an important diatomitic sedimentation. In the Boudinar basin (Morocco north-Eastern, Western Mediterranean), the section of Sidi Haj Youssef, localised near the volcano of Ras Tarf, has approximately 100 m thickness of clayey-marly series in which 12 diatomitic levels of variable thickness are intercalated. The microfloristic study of diatoms on 86 samples, carried out in detail for the first time, made it possible to recognize 50 genus of diatoms (24 of centric and 26 of pennate) represented by 185 species (75 species of centric and 110 species of pennate). Four hundred individuals were taken from each sample to determine the relative frequency of each taxon within the diatoms assemblages. Thus, several assemblages were defined by the predominance of the following species: Coscinodiscusmarginatus, Actinoptychussenarius, Thalassionemanitzschioides, Actinocycluscurvatulus, Thalassiothrixlongissima, Rhizosoleniastyliformis and Actinocyclusehrenbergii. These diatoms assemblages display a littoral marine environment in communication with the opened sea. The abundance of the cold water species towards the base and the top of the section suggests broad exchanges of the basin with the Atlantic Ocean in Messinian. The predominance of the species Thalassionemanitzschioides and/or Thalassiothrixlongissima indicates periods of strong productivity that can be associated to upwelling systems.     

Nouvelles observations sur les Miogypsinidés du Miocène inférieur et moyen de Provence et de Corse (France) et de Sardaigne septentrionale (Italie)

The detailed study of the Miocene strata of Bonifacio has revealed an atypical Miogypsinid assemblage. In addition to the three already cited genera, Miogypsinoides, Miogypsina and Miolepidocyclina from this region, Miogypsinodella is for the first time represented by two new species (Mdella corsicana nov. sp. et Mdella pillaria nov.sp.). The stratigraphical ranges of each genus in the Miogypsinidae are not verified here. However, Mdes bantamensis is still present in the Upper Burdigalian and the genus Miogypsinoides is also present in the Lower Langhian. Six species of Miogypsina coexist in the Upper Burdigalian (M. tani, M. globulina, M. intermedia, M. cf. sabahensis, M. cushmani, M. mediterranea) and two species are present in the Lower Langhian (M. antillea, M. digitata). This distribution is apparently an example of palaeoendemism resulting from the geographic isolation and the rotation of the Corso-Sardinian block and also from the palaeogeographical and palaeoecological favourable environment during that time.     

Les crustaces decapodes du Cenomanien de Navarra (Espagne):Premiers resultats de l'etude des Galatheidae

Preceded by a short report on the fauna associated with Decapods in the Cenomanian from Orobe and by historical references, this note is an account on the results obtained after elaborate study of 187 specimens of Anomura belonging to Galatheidae family. Those results allow the systematic delimitation of two genera: ParagalatheaPATRULIUS, 1960 and Eomunidopsis n. gen., which produce the revision of 5 species belonging to those two genera. A provisional determination of the rest of the material (14 Brachyurans), still under consideration, is proposed.     

Un nouveau Tachyoryctes (Mammalia,Rodentia) du bassin pliocene de Hadar (Ethiopie)

A new species of Tachyoryctes (Mammalia, Rodentia): T. pliocaenicus from the Hadar Formation (Ethiopia) ispresented in this study. It is considered here as an ancestral from T. splendens. Since it also shares characteristics with fossil Rhizomyidae (Kanisamys) from Asia, this species may represent a direct descendant of the latter and would have immigrated to East Africa before the middle Pliocene. This interpretation would agree with the attribution of the genus Tachyoryctes to the family Rhizomyidae. Moreover, the Hadar Paleoenvironment is partially reconstitued from data pertaining to the ecology of T. splendens.     

Ammonites du Toarcien du Haut Atlas central (Maroc)

In the central High Atlas, the Toarcian Stage is represented by a marl and marly limestone series of variable thickness. Two sections have been studied: Amellago (500 m) and Aït Athmane (100 m). Ammonites from the two sections allowed to characterize the Polymorphum, Levisoni, Bifrons, Gradata, and Speciosum zones. The Polymorphum Zone provided, among others: Dactylioceras (Eodactylites) mirabile, D. (E.) pseudocommune, Dactylioceras (Orthodactylites) aff. crosbeyi and Neolioceratoides aff. hoffmanni; the Levisoni Zone provided a rich ammonite fauna composed of, Calliphylloceras nilssoni, Dactylioceras (Orthodactylites) cf. semiannulatum, Eleganticeras exaratum, Harpoceras falciferum, H. pseudoserpentinum, H. serpentinum, H. subplanatum, Hildaites cf. forte, H. levisoni, H. cf. serpentiniformis, H. cf. subserpentinus, H. striatus, H. wrighti, Lytoceras siemensi, Lytoceras sp., Maconiceras soloniacense, Phylloceras sp., Polyplectus pluricostatum et Polyplectus sp.; the Bifrons Zone provided Eleganticeras sp., Harpoceras subplanatum?, Hildoceras bifrons, H. lusitanicum, H. semipolitum, H. sublevisoni, Hildoceras sp., Porpoceras gr. vortex – verticosum; the Gradata Zone was characterized by Pseudocrassiceras bayani, P. frantzi, Pseudocrassiceras sp., Pseudocrassiceras sp. indet.; and the Speciosum Zone provided an Hammatoceras aff. insigne. These species have been described and illustrated for the first time for the central High Atlas. Most of them are common to several basins of the north Tethyan margin and the Subboreal Domain of NW Europe.     

Un atoposauridé (Crocodylia,mesosuchia) du portlandien de la Meuse (est de la France)

A small crocodilian skull from the lower Portlandian (Cyrena rugosa beds) of Brauvilliers (Meuse) is referred to an atoposaurid of the genus Alligatorium, apparently closely related to the species A. paintenense from the Tithonian of Franconia. It is the first reportof one of these small continental crocodilians from north-eastern France.     

Les Pseudholaster (Echinoidea,Holasteroida) du Crétacé de France

In the order of Holasteroida, the fossil record highlights a contradiction between the genus Pseudholaster that appears in the Aptian, whose plastron is prostostern close to the Jurassic ancestors and the genus Holaster, which appears in the Valanginian, whose meridostern plastron appears more derived. This inconsistency can be explained by the ignorance of the plastronal architecture on the part of the early authors. A review of the species of Pseudholaster from the Cretaceous period of France was therefore carried out. The objective was to statistically determine the discriminating morphological characters, and to study the modifications of the architecture of the interambulacrum 5 of the French species belonging to this genus, as well as to the species included in the genus Holaster incorrectly by earlier authors. This review of the species of the genus Pseudholaster begins with a study of the ontogeny of the species Holaster intermedius Münster in Goldfuss, 1826–1833, first representative of the genus Pseudholaster, which appears in the Hauterivian in the Parisian and Rhodano-vocontian basins. The modifications during growth concern the overall shape, but also the plastron architecture: the number of plastron plates increases while the number of plates located between the peristome and the periproct remains fixed. The plastron of this species is protosternal and not meridosternal as Lambert pointed out. The labrum is cupuliform in contact with the second sternal 5a2 by a narrow digitation. However, this arrangement differs from that observed on a protosternal breastplate. This apomorphism of the plastron plate pattern, called “labrotaxienne”, is found in all the Pseudholaster studied, and the study of the architecture of the interambulacrum 5 also reveals a gradual decrease in the number of preanal plates between the oldest (Hauterivian) and the younger (Cenomanian-Lower Turonian) species studied. Most of the French species have been revised, with some synonyms. A new species, P. neraudeaui, is the last known Pseudholaster dated from the upper Cenomanian and lower Turonian of southwestern France. Our study illustrates the evolution of the genus Pseudholaster between the Hauterivian and the early Turonian in France. The interest of the study is to show that the appearance of the genus Pseudholaster is older than that of the genus Holaster. Pseuholaster intermedius, of Hauterivian age, possesses a derived protostern plastron called here “labrotaxien” and not meridostern as defined historically by Lambert, and to reveal that the number of preanals decreases over geological time. This data is essential for future phylogenetic studies. On a palaeobiogeographical level, the study reveals the expansion of the genus Pseudholaster during early Cretaceous in western Europe, with diversification during the Albian, its disappearance during late Cenomanian in the Paris basin while it still persists in the Aquitain basin, its predilection for circalitoral environments.     

Microphallidae (Digenea) d'Afrique du Sud,Parasites de Charadrii (Aves). Seconde Note

Les auteurs apportent de nouvelles informations géographiques et diagnostiques concernant plusieurs microphallidés (Trematoda: Digenea) récoltés chez des Charadrii (Aves) des c^otes de Namibie (Afrique du Sud): Maritrema eroliae Yamaguti, 1939 de Charadrius marginatus Vieillot; Odhneria odhneri Travassos, 1921 de Arenaria interpres L.; Microphallus bilobatus Cable, Connor &; Balling, 1960 de C. marginatus; et Levinseniella propinqua Jägerskiöld, 1907 de C. marginatus et A. interpres. Ces espèces représentent une localisation géographique nouvelle et de nouveaux h^otes. Le phallus (organe copulateur m^ale) de M. bilobatus de Namibie et celui du type des Caraïbes sont comparés et illustrés. Les atriums génitaux de L. propinqua récoltés en Namibie ainsi qu'à Marcus Island (southwest Cape Province, Afrique du Sud) sont illustrés et discutés; l'espèce parait cosmopolite. Abstract The authors present new geographical and diagnostic information for microphallids (Trematoda: Digenea) from the coast of Namibia (southern Africa): Maritrema eroliae Yamaguti, 1939 from Charadrius marginatus Vieillot; Odhneria odhneri Travassos, 1921 from Arenaria interpres L.; Microphallus bilobatus Cable, Connor &; Balling, 1960 from C. marginatus; and Levinseniella propinqua Jägerskiöld, 1907 from C. marginatus and A. interpres. These are new geographical and host records. The position and variability of the phallus (male copulatory organ) in M. bilobatus from Namibia and in the type-species from the Caribbean Sea are compared and illustrated. The genital atria of L. propinqua from Namibia and from Marcus Island (southwest Cape Province, Southern Africa) are illustrated and compared. This species appears to be cosmopolitan.     

Les Colubridae (Reptilia,Serpentes) du Neogene francais. Le probleme des especes du Miocene de Sansan (Gers)

Thus far, four colubrid snakes from the French Neogene have been named. Three of them, that come from the Miocene of Sansan (Gers), are revised. Scaptophis miocenicus is probably not a miocene fossil, it is considered a nomen dibium. The species sansaniensis LARTET is referred to the genus Natrix and the species pouchetii DE ROCHEBRUNE is transfered to Coluber.     

Nouvelles espèces subfossiles de rongeurs du Nord-Ouest de Madagascar

Since the mid-19th century, the Malagasy subfossil macrofauna has been the object of numerous studies and publications, contrary to the microfauna. New fieldwork, initiated in 2001, in the North West of Madagascar (Province of Mahajanga) led to the discovery of sites rich in fossiliferous breccias, containing micromammals. In this article, we describe two new subfossil species of rodent: Brachytarsomys mahajambaensis, the smallest within the genus and Nesomys narindaensis, the largest within the genus. Most of the extant species of these two genera live in the tropical rainforests of the eastern and north-eastern areas of Madagascar, far away from the north-western part of the island where a dry deciduous forest occurs. The presence of the two taxa in the subfossil record in the Northwest of the country suggests the occurrence of wetter conditions in the past in this region.     

Cyprididae (Ostracoda) du Miocène supérieur du Bassin de Turiec (Slovaquie) : Taxonomie et Paléoécologie

Twelve species of the family Cyprididae were found in the Upper Miocene of the Turiec Basin, of which three are new - Herpetocypris denticulata nov. sp., H. pusilla nov. sp. et Psychrodromus janzi nov. sp. The occurrence of Mediocypris suggests that ostracods occupied the Turiec Basin since the Middle Miocene. The psychrophilic genera (Psychrodromus and Cavernocypris) provide evidence of cold springs around the lake. In the sediments studied, the Cyprididae are associated with other ostracods that characterise shallow aquatic habitats and a diverse community of both aquatic and terrestrial plants. The sexual paleo-populations of Heterocypris salina (Brady, 1868), Herpetocypris pusilla nov. sp. and Psychrodromus janzi nov. sp. are observed.     

Les grands mammifères du Villafranchien supérieur des travertins du Bassin de Denizli (Sud-Ouest Anatolie,Turquie)

The large mammals from travertine deposits in the Denizli basin include the following species: Archidiskodon meridionalis meridionalis, Equus cf. altidens s. l., E. cf. apolloniensis, Stephanorhinus cf. etruscus, Metacervoceros rhenanus, Cervalces (Libralces) ex gr. minor-gallicus, Palaeotragus sp., Bovinae gen. and sp. indet. This association resembles those from the late Villafranchian of Southern and Eastern Europe, and, to some extent, fromWestern Asia, and could be older than 1.2 Ma.     

Les flavonoides de deux especes du genre Chrysosplenium

Five flavonols have been isolated from two species of Chrysosplenium; C. alternifolium contains penduletin 3,7-di-O-methylquercetagetin, 3,6,7-tri-O-methylquercetagetin and 3,3′,6,7-tetra-O-methylquercetagetin; C. oppositifolium possesses the last two compounds and 3,3′,7 tri-O-methylquercetagetin. These flavonols have been identified by chromatographic and spectral data; the taxonomic implication of this flavonoid pattern has been considered.     

Profil parasitologique de deux formes de schistosomiase (formes urinaire et intestinale) dans dix sites du Burkina Faso (pays d’Afrique sub-saharienne)

In spite of great progress in schistosomiasis control during the last decade in Burkina Faso, this disease remains a public health concern in the country. Indeed, our study consisted of the analysis of parasitological data related to Schistosoma haematobium and Schistosoma mansoni and in malacological investigations. The prevalence rate of Schistosoma haematobium varies from 3.3% to 50.4% and from 3.3% to 39.1% for Schistosoma mansoni, but only in the western part of Burkina Faso. Schoolboys are more infested than girls, but the phenomenon is reversed in adults. Biomphalaria pfeifferi, Bulinus truncatus, Bulinus senegalensis and Bulinus globosus were collected during this study. Thus, the behavioral factors as well as the dynamics and the distribution of the intermediate mollusks play a major role in the persistence of the disease.     

Les cératodontidés (Dipnoi) du Rhétien de Saint-Nicolas-de-Port (Meurthe-et-Moselle)

The ceratodontids from the Rhaetic locality Saint-Nicolas-de-Port are represented by a minute tooth-plate of Ceratodus kaupiAgassiz and about 200 tooth-plates of C. phillipsiAgassiz of all sizes. The C. kaupi tooth-plate is identical to the typical large ones. The small tooth-plates of C. phillipsi are very similar to those of C. «priscusFraas which is surely a young C. serratusAgassiz. C. «elegans Vollrath is a junior synonym of C. phillipsi which was previously described as C. «parvus Agassiz the holotype of which is a small tooth-plate of C. kaupi. The small tooth-plates of C. serratus, C. rectangulusLinck and C. concinnusPlieninger are little different. Biometry, association with larger tooth-plates and, in part, morphology permit the referral of tooth-plates to different species which are easy to distinguish on adult tooth-plates. The ceratodontids do not refute the reconstruction of the environnment as a littoral swamp based on sedimentology and other vertebrate fossil remains.     

Redécouverte du « crocodile de Sheppey » de Georges Cuvier (Crocodilus delucii Gray, 1831) et signification du « monitor de Sheppey » (London Clay,Yprésien)

Unpublished drawings made by Georges Cuvier in 1809, while visiting the collection of the Deluc family in Geneva, reveal the vertebrae of the crocodilian and the so-called “monitor lizard” or serpent of Sheppey that Cuvier briefly described in 1824 in the new edition of his Recherches sur les ossemens fossiles (Research on Fossil Bones). The crocodilian cervical vertebra, holotype of Crocodilus delucii Gray, 1831, was identified at the Natural History Museum in Geneva, where much of the Deluc collection is preserved. This specimen of historical interest does not make it possible to change the status of the species, which is considered as a nomen dubium, in view of the paucity of the diagnostic elements offered by an isolated vertebra. As for the second vertebra, first identified by Cuvier as that of a “monitor lizard”, and then as that of a snake, it appears to belong to the marine snake Palaeophis toliapicus Owen, 1841. This paper confirms that Cuvier is the first to have reported in a published work the presence of crocodilians and squamates in the London Clay Formation (Ypresian).     

Révision d’Oryctolagus lacosti (Lagomorpha,Mammalia) du Pliocène supérieur de Perrier (Auvergne,France)

Fossil leporids from the Upper Pliocene of the locality of Perrier-Étouaires (Auvergne, France) are here revisited. They were initially attributed to Lepus lacosti by Pomel (1853), and later to the genus Oryctolagus. This material had been neither accurately described nor figured until now. Thus, a lectotype and two paralectotypes have been chosen among the material of the original collection. The diagnostic character of Oryctolagus lacosti is its big size, similar to that of modern hares (Lepus), together with other morphological characters that fit in the variability range of European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). Fossils of leporids similar to those of Perrier have also been found in several Plio-Pleistocene localities from western Europe.