Nouvelles espèces de Madréporaires dans le Kimméridgien supérieur du Jura (France)

The study of an Upper Kimmeridgian madreporarianfauna collected in the southern french Jura (between Valfin and Belley), allowed: 1) to describe five Scleractinian new species: Mitrodendron biennensis nov. sp., Hexapetalum nemorosum nov. sp., Thalamocoenia gironensis nov. sp., Cryptocoenia stelliserrata nov. sp., Columnocoenia miniflora nov. sp. and a new variety of Heliocoenia (Kobycoenia) claudiopolisensisBeauv., 1964, characterized by its small calices; 2) to modify the diagnosis and the systematic position of the species Baryhelia crassa (de From.) which was created as Heterocoenia crassade From.; 3) to increase of a new species the genus Hexapetalum only known, till now, by its Stramberg Tithon type-species; and 4) to give some palaeoenvironmental conclusions = the Upper Jurassic reef formations in the Southern Jura grew in shallow water characterized by an abundant carbonate sedimentation. Genera associations and distribution confirm the presence, between Oyonnax and Belley, of a low energy area, protected by a barrier reef and, northern of this barrier, of a higher hydrodynamic environment.     

Ultrastructures nouvelles et non identifiées dans les calcaires de l'oxfordien supérieur de la champagne berrichonne

A scanning microscope study of the upper Oxfordian foliated limestones of the western part of the Berry region of France has revealed new, but unidentified, well-conserved organisms, which are described and illustrated in this publication.     

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 Radiolaires d'âge jurassique supérieurà crétacé supérieur dans les Radiolarites du Pinde-Olonos (Presqu'île de Koroni; Péloponnèse méridional,Grèce)

Radiolarians of several radiolarites sections of the Pindos-Olonos zone, southern Peloponnesus, lead to propose direct datations of mesozoic sediments. The acuity of such datations allow to distinguish two periods for depositionof radiolarites s.s. in the tethyan region. The first period would be Upper Jurassic and general in tethyan realm, radiolarites depositing under various latitudes (0–35°N). This would be the result of a strong ocean surface current. The second period would be Upper Cretaceous (Vraconian—Coniacian) and be geographically much more restricted (0–15°N). This could result from a weaker current. The absence of radiolaritic sedimentation is possibly the result of the destruction or insulation of the accurate basins during the obduction of ophiolites on the apulo-african realm. The inventory of Late Cretaceous radiolarian fauna, rarely done on alpine series so far, shows similar result to those obtained in Central American and California.     

Découverte de microfaunes de l'Albienmoyen et supérieur dans la vallée de Joux (Jura Vaudois,Suisse)

The discovery of Foraminifera and Ostracodesin the dark green, sandy-glauconitic marl clay in the Joux Valley (in the Vaudois Jura) suggests to date these sediments Middle and Upper Albian. The Ostracode associations are similar to those found in the Paris Basin, but different from those which characterize the subalpine region.     

Hommes et climats au Paléolithique supérieur dans le bassin de la Somme (France)

Nearly 40 years of intensive research conducted in the Somme basin has demonstrated the discontinuity in the human occupation of the area during the Upper Palaeolithic. The northern position of the Somme basin within the loessic region appears to be an explanatory factor in this discontinuity, the nature of which increasingly appears related to climate and environmental factors. Archaeological occupations have been systematically attributed to phases of warming or climate improvement. On the other hand, an absence of human occupation has been consistently observed during the coldest periods. The extreme poverty of the biomass contemporary to the loessic deposits of the Upper Pleniglacial could partly explain this discontinuity specific to the far northwest of Europe (southern England, northern Belgium, Netherlands, and northern Germany). Although only 150 or 200 km away, the southern Paris Basin, which is located on the fringes of the loessic region of northern France and Normandy, presents a more continuous human occupation, which appears to have benefitted from more favourable conditions.     

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.     

Découverte de faunes d'Ammonites de la zone à Platynota(Kimméridgien inférieur) dans les Monts de Chellala (avant-pays Tellien,Algérie); Conséquences stratigraphiques et paléogéographiques

In Chellala mountains (Seba el Abiod), in Western Algeria, new biostratigraphic data, based on Ammonites, allow characterize, for the first time in North Africa, the Platynota zone with the species-index Sutneria platynota. This species was known, to the present time, only in the South European border. These new biostratigraphic data show the diachronism of flyschoid facies. They do not exceed middle Oxfordian in the Tlemcenian zone; on the contrary they go up to lower Kimmeridgian in the preatlasic zone.     

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.     

Les Cricetidae (Rodentia,Mammalia)de la Milloque (bassin d'Aquitaine): Horizon repère de l'Oligocène supérieur

A screen washed and hand sorted sample of six tons sediments from La Milloque (Lot-et-Garonne) has yielded to the author several thousand micromammal's teeth. Among the Rodents, four extinct species of Cricetids have been recognized: Eucricetodon praecursor (Schaub, 1925); Adelomyarion viretiHugueney, 1969; Pseudocricetodon cf. thaleri (Hugueney, 1969); Melissiodon quercyiSchaub, 1920. The fossil remain's study affords many paleontological informations more particularly for E. praecursor, a previously poorly known species. About the upper Oligocene biochronology the four species' evolution degrees prove the statute of reference locality attributed to La Milloque, «mammalian timemark just below the reference locality of Coderet (Allier). Moreover it's pointed out that the locality of Rickenbach (Switzerland) is slightly older than La Milloque, whereas an intermediate age between La Milloque and Coderet can be suggested for the locality of Dicupentale (Tarn-et-Garonne).     

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.     

Nanisme écologique de deux espèces d'échinides irréguliers dans l'Hauterivien de la région de Castellane (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence)

Three species of irregular see-urchins form the settlement of a marly level (lower Hauterivian) of the Castellane area. Two of them are strongly smaller than the norm. Their stunting is prouved by ontogenic, mecanical, sedimentological and ecological arguments. The ecological grounds of stunting are discussed.     

Une nouvelle faune de vertébrés continentaux,associée à des artefacts dans le Pléistocène inférieur de l’Hérault (Sud de la France), vers 1,57 Ma

A new vertebrate fauna associated with lithic artefacts from the Early Pleistocene of the Hérault Valley (southern France) dated around 1.57 Ma. Some lithic artefacts associated with an Early Pleistocene (Upper Villafranchian) vertebrate fossil assemblage have been found from a quarry exploited for basalt in the lower Hérault Valley (Languedoc, southern France) at the Lézignan-le-Cèbe locality. A preliminary patrimony expertise led us to identify about 20 vertebrate taxa, and the autumnal rainfalls revealed the presence of roughly 30 lithic artefacts of “pebble culture” type. A basalt layer dated at 1.57 My directly overlies the fossiliferous level, extends along the little hill (locus 2) yielding artefacts. These new promising data offer new perspectives to improve our understanding of Early Pleistocene ecosystems (and possibly ancient hominin occupation) of southern Europe.     

Données nouvelles sur Euaspidoceras ferrugineum Jeannet,Ammonitina (Aspidoceratidae) du Callovien supérieur

A section at the top of Upper Callovian deposits at Louesme (district of Montigny-sur-Aube, Côte-d'Or, France) reveals an unbroken series of strata between the top of the Athleta zone and the base of the Lamberti zone (Upper Callovian). A few specimens of Aspidoceratinae, collected with primitive Quenstedtoceras, are refered to Euaspidoceras ferrugineum Jeannet (1951). The characters of this species, which was created for individuals collected from the Herznach Mine (Northern Switzerland), are poorly defined from the Swiss material and little is known for this stratigraphic extent. The new find provides information about the ontogeny and the stratigraphic extent of Euaspidoceras ferrugineum (base of the Henrici subzone) and helps refine the phylogenic scheme of the European Callovian Aspidoceratinae. It also casts new light of the faunal content of the Herznach C. level, which can be interpreted as a level of concentrated faunas.     

Obtention de lignées permanentes d'hémocytes de blatte. Caractéristiques physiologiques et ultrastructurales

Two new cell lines were established from larval and adult cockroach haemolymph. The cells show typical characteristics of plasmatocytes, but under different conditions of cultivation, they modulate from small dividing cells (prohaemocytes) to large storing cells (granulocytes, adipohaemocytes etc.). Consequently, the very confusing haemocyte nomenclature must be reconsidered taking into account the cell physiology. Biochemical analysis of the metabolized culture medium established bacteriolytic activity and chitinase secretion (two enzymes). Moreover, in the same medium we found a macromolecular factor inducing spermatogenesis in cultured germinal cysts of the Cynthia silkworm. All these characteristics of in vitro haemocytes are discussed to explain the involvement of blood cells in insect physiology and especially in immunity, gametogenesis, and ecdysis.     

Holmesopteris faironiae,fougère nouvelle du Carbonifère supérieur des Monts Cantabriques (NW de l'Espagne) et de Belgique

Isolated fern rachises have been discovered in twoWestphalian A coal balls of Belgium and Spain. They represent a new taxon, Holmesopteris faironiae n.gen., n.sp., characterized by the special location of the protoxylem poles. The morphology, the anatomy and the foliar branching of this new taxon suggest that it may belong to the family Botryopteridaceae; Stephanian species of the genus Botryopteris seem closely related to the new fern.     

Une nouvelle espèce du genre Bohlinia (Mammalia,Giraffidae) du Miocène supérieur de Toros-Menalla,Tchad

New Giraffidae specimens discovered from the Late Miocene fossiliferous sector of Toros-Menalla (northern Chad) are described. These specimens are assigned to Bohlinia, a genus known so far only in some Late Miocene localities of Eurasia. This is the first occurrence of the genus in Africa. Analysis of the material allows us to describe a new species of giraffid, Bohlinia adoumi n. sp., probably close to the Eurasian forms.     

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.