Contribution à la connaissance des Bathysciina de la «série d’Aphaobius» (sensuJeannel, 1924) (Coleoptera: Leiodidae,Cholevinae, Leptodirini)

De nouvelles informations sont données concernant les genres de Leptodirini de la série d’«Aphaobius» (sensu Jeannel 1924). Oryotus ausmeieri n.sp. du nord de la Slovénie est décrite. Oryotus indentatus Pretner, 1955 jusqu’à présent considéré comme sous-espèce d’Oryotus micklitzi Reitter, 1885 est élevé au rang d’espèce. Neotropospeonella decui Pace, 1983 est mise en synonymie avec Oryotus ravasinii Müller, 1922, entraînant la synonymie du genre Neotropospeonella Pace, 1983 avec Oryotus Miller, 1856 et des sous-tribus correspondantes: Neotropospeonellina Perkovsky, 1997 et Bathysciina Horn, 1880. Pretneria droveniki Etonti, 2001 est transférée dans le genre Oryotus et mise en synonymie avec O. micklitzi Reitter, 1885; Pretneria latitarsis soriscensis n. ssp. est décrite. Le mâle de Lotharia angulicollis Mandl, 1944 est décrit pour la première fois, confirmant l’étroite parenté de cette espèce avec le genre Aphaobius Abeille de Perrin, 1878.     

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.     

Étude palynologique du pliocène de la côte d'azur (France) et du littoral ligure (Italie)

Pollen analysis of Pliocene marine clays in coastal Alps paleogulfs is supported by biostratigraphic records according to foraminifers and accessorily to nannoplankton. From the seashore up to elevated areas, the region was occupied by forests mostly constituted by Gymnosperms (Taxodiaceae particularly). The Lower Pliocene vegetation was also characterized by local differences related to the substratum. Pollen assemblages changed in the Earliest Piacenzian; this event is probably to be related to a climatic fluctuation already evidenced in the Northwestern Mediterranean region.     

Les prémices d'une agriculture diversifiée à la fin du Mésolithique dans le Val de Loire (Loire armoricaine,France)

Pollen analyses carried out in the Armorican Massif have already drawn our attention to the early appearance (at the end of the Mesolithic period/beginning of the Neolithic period) of several taxa, particularly Cerealia. New studies conducted in the Val de Loire region of France and in the surrounding tributaries seem to confirm these initial findings. These studies also provided more information about the introduction of Fagopyrum and Juglans at about 6000 BC. We hypothesise that ‘pre-domesticated’ agriculture took place in this area at this time and that it might have been brought to this area by southern migration. To cite this article: L. Visset et al., C. R. Palevol 1 (2002) 51–58.     

Le genre RichterellaAvram (Ammonitina,Périsphinctidés) dans le Tithonique inférieur de la bordure ardéchoise (Sud-Est de la France): Dimorphisme et variabilité

Dimorphism in the genus RichterellaAvram is confirmedon the basis of material collected in Ardeche (South east France) principally in the beds of the Fallauxi zone, from the localities of Le Pouzin and Broyon. The microconch, R. richteri (Oppel), lacks lateral lappets but a ventral horn, formed by the strongly projected forward secondary ribs, is present. The macroconch is «Lemencia praerichteriDonze & Enay. These two forms are united in the same species, R. richteri, and then in the same genus, Richterella. The microconch, which is generally better preserved than macroconch in the studied material, shows a greater variability of ribbing than previously thought, due to the poor illustrations of the lectotype of richteri (reproduced here) which showed only dichotomous ribs. The genus Richterella loses its original dimorphic sense and since its origins and its possible derivations are unknown, it became a taxon defined on morphological bases. The forms from Ardeche bear a greater resemblance to the Spanish ones than they do to the Roumanian forms. The stratigraphical and faunal contexts of Richterella in Ardeche are discussed in this work.     

Etude du banc à nérinées à la limite «kimmeridgien-portlandien» dans le jura neuchâtelois méridional

A stastical analysis of the spatial orientation of gastropod shells in the Nerinea Bed shows that they are aligned parallel to the bedding plane (Fig. 6 A) but no preferential orientation of the direction of shells can be detected (Fig. 6 B). This fact and others exclude the possibility of an accumulation of shells by currents only: In some points the lower contact of the Nerinea Bed is gradational and even shells attacked by perforating algae or fungi are not abraded (Figs. 3, 4, 9). The matrix of the Nerinea Bed, a biopelsparite seems to favour the hypothesis that empty shells were concentrated by winnowing of the fine fraction, but the thickness of the accumulation prohibits a purely mecanical explanation of this kind. There can be no doubt that the Nerinea Bed reflects optimal ecological conditions which have led to a mass development. As it is very probable that Nerineids were sedentary organisms (Vogel 1968), it is tempting to explain the accumulation of shells by biologic factors only. Under optimal ecological conditions Nerineids perhaps lived in banks similar to oyster-beds or banks of Vermetids. Microfaunas and microfacies of the “Kimmeridgian” - “Portlandian” passage beds indicate a somewhat restricted environment thus confirming the conclusions ofHerm (1977) about Nerineids from the Upper Cretaceous Gosau-beds of the Eastern Alps. For local stratigraphy, the Nerinea Bed forms an ecostratigraphic marker-bed very useful in chronological correlations.     

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).     

Implantation du genêt à balais,précédent cultural et dynamique du sol dans les friches (Bretagne,France)

The soil dynamics of old-fields, characterized by the early establishment of broom (Cytisus scoparius L.), is analysed in the Breton bocage. The role of former land use practices is estimated by comparing two similar plant successions, post cultivation and post pasture. Different variables (organic matter, mineral N content, microbial biomass, total microbial activity and mineralization) are measured within the soil layer disturbed by farming (between –5 and –25 cm). One year after abandonment, the parameters taken into account show similar values for both series. After 8 years, in broom thickets, the two soil series are characterized by an increase in microbial activity, organic matter and mineral N contents. However, the post cultivation thicket differed by higher N content and mineralization rate than the post pasture thicket, but also by a smaller microbial biomass. It appears that, if the development of similar vegetational communities promotes the same kind of soil dynamics, the former land use practices significantly modify this evolution, for at least the first 8 years following abandonment.     

Suoidea du Miocène inférieur de Laugnac (Lot-et-Garonne, France)

The fossil vertebrate locality of Laugnac is the type locality of the Neogene mammalian zone MN2b. It has yielded many remains of Suoidea belonging to two different genera.Xenohyus venitor is characterized by its large size and especially its large central upper incisors, I1/ and I2/. It is quite difficult to know its phyletic relationships because the material is not abundant.Hyotherium cf.meisneri is more abundant with a quite good skull, pieces of skull, jaws and isolated teeth. It belongs to a peculiar lineage different from that ofH. major from Saint Gérand-le-Puy, France. It has some similarities withAureliachoerus aurelianensis from later geological levels (MN3-MN5).     

Les assemblages fauniques associés aux sites à Homo erectus du dôme de Sangiran (Pléistocène moyen,Java, Indonésie)

In the Sangiran dome (Central Java), Homo erectus and mammal fossils in fluviatile context are found in several open-air localities: Tanjung, Sendang Busik, Ngrejeng Plupuh, Grogol Plupuh, and Bukuran. Thirteen taxa of Middle Pleistocene mammals were determined. Lithic tools are rare at these sites. The origin and setting up of these mainly unpublished faunal assemblages are approached by means of methods usually applied to European and African sites in order to understand better the link between humans and animals. The mechanical action of water is responsible for these accumulations and its chemical action for their evolution.     

Suivi pluriannuel du peuplement à Abra alba dans la partie méridionale de la Mer du Nord (région de Dunkerque-France)

The Abra alba community is considered as a faunistical unity well established on coastal areas of North Sea. This community shows, since several years, very important recruitments of certain species. Since 1978, recruitments of Abra alba, Tellina fabula, Phyllodoce (Anaïtides) mucosa, Lagis koreni or Lanice conchilega have been observed. However these demographic phenomena does not affect the structure of the community, which shows, through rank-frequency diagrams, the characteristic of a mature population, principally constituted of 7 species.An annual cycle study shows a succession of recruitments of several species. A correspondance factorial analysis was realised from grain size datas as well as abundances of 18 main species. This analysis shows an annual cycle which seems to be linked to the clay part. Maximal values of clay part appears in summer and minimal values at the end of winter or early springtime.The hydrological parameters studied, allowed to make the difference between external factors (continental contributions, phytoplanctonic activity etc...) and benthic activity.

     

Le rôle des protéines liant les odeurs (OBP) dans la transduction olfactive

This paper reviews biochemical and functional properties of a family of proteins involved in the transduction process of chemical signals. Odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) are small soluble proteins highly concentrated in the chemosensory organs of Insects and Vertebrates. They are preferentially expressed in the nasal mucus of Vertebrates and in the sensillar lymph of Insects. They have been found to bind reversibly small hydrophobic molecules detected via the olfactory system. The vertebrate OBPs bind non-specific odorants with low affinities. They belong to the lipocalin family as well as other proteins involved in chemical communication and associated to different organs and functions. Nevertheless, no specific ligand for OBPs has been yet identified in Vertebrates. However, the large microdiversity of OBPs in the same animal suggests that OBPs could be involved in the discrimination of odors. Chemical communication in Noctuid moths was used as a model to study the molecular mechanisms of odor recognition. The pheromonal system is extremely sensitive and specific since the male is able to detect only few molecules of the pheromone and to recognize specific blends of the same molecules. The chemical signals were identified for a large number of Lepidopteran species and the associated behaviours they elicit were fully characterized. The Lepidopteran OBPs are divided into two sub-classes according to their ligands: pheromone-binding proteins (PBP) are expressed in sensilla trichodea responding to pheromonal compounds while general odorant binding proteins (GOBP) are associated with sensilla basiconica tuned to the detection of general odors, such as plant volatiles. The PBPs selectively bind components of the female sex-pheromone with measurable affinities. The ligand binding site was localized in the 40–60 aminoacids region. Substitutions in the binding site of different proteins are correlated with the fixation of different ligands, leading to the hypothesis that the primary structure encodes the ligand specificity. Other proteins expressed in chemosensory organs of other orders of Insects were cloned or purified. In absence of functional data, they were called OBP-like. Some of them were localized in the gustatory organs and could be common carriers of odors in both olfactory and gustatory systems. Many arguments are in accordance with an active role of the OBPs in the early steps of odor discrimination. The heterogeneity of OBPs inside species and between species, the spatial segregation in their expression and the different binding affinities of PBPs towards pheromonal compounds support the hypothesis that the coding of odors is realized as soon as the level of OBPs. More, the complex OBP/odor could be the stimulus for olfactory receptors cloned in Vertebrates and still putative in Insects. This hypothesis suggests that OBPs take part as an essential element of the chemosensory transduction.     

Les tranchées des Capucins de Ferrières (Martigues,Bouches-du-Rhône,France). Un charnier de l’épidémie de peste de 1720 à 1722 en Provence

We present the global results of the rescue excavation of a burial place linked to the plague epidemic that affected Provence in 1720–1722. The inhumation area, which is in Martigues (“Bouches-du-Rhône” County), consists of five parallel trenches corresponding to as many burials. While the observed funerary customs are all succinct, we could identify some slight nuances in the layout of the corpses’ interment. These variations seem to reflect a fluctuation of epidemic intensity. On the whole, 208 skeletons were collected on the site. This osteoarchaeological series increases the available data from the rescue excavation of another burial place due to the same epidemic in Martigues at the beginning of the 18th century: the “Délos” site (39 individuals).     

Etude ultrastructurale de la dégénérescence cellulaire dans la glande androgène du Crabe Ocypode quadrata (Fabricius)

Résumé L'étude ultrastructurale des glandes androgènes du Crabe Ocypode quadrata (Fabr.) révèle l'existence de processus involutifs entraînant une autodestruction cellulaire totale. Cette lyse se produit en des zones non localisées des glandes et n'affecte pas l'activité spermatogénétique du Crabe considéré de plus, la coexistence de cellules en dégénérescence avec des cellules normales traduit un asynchronisme cellulaire.Les différentes modifications conduisant à la dégénérescence ont été décrites: dégranulation de l'ergastoplasme, développement important du réticulum endoplasmique, vacuolisation des mitochondries, différenciation de jonctions cellulaires d'un type particulier, formations de «corps vacuolaires» et de vacuoles autolytiques puis de corps résiduels précédant les processus de fragmentation cellulaire et de pycnose nucléaire. Bien qu'il n'y ait jamais une régression totale des glandes androgènes, ces modifications rappellent celles qui surviennent après la métamorphose dans les glandes de mue des Insectes.La signification physiologique de la dégénérescence cellulaire est discutée.

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Ultrastructural study of cellular degeneration in the androgenic gland of the ghost crab, Ocypode quadrata (Fabr.)

Summary Electron microscopic examination of the androgenic glands of the ghost crab Ocypode quadrata (Fabr.) reveals the existence of involutive processes leading to complete cellular breakdown. This autolysis occurs in non-localized areas of the glands and does not affect the spermatogenetic activity of the crab studied; further, the coexistence of degenerative cells with normal cells shows a cellular asynchronism.The different modifications leading to degeneration have been described: substitution of rough-surfaced endoplasmic reticulum by an important development of smooth reticulum, vaculolization of mitochondria, differentiation of a particular type of cellular junctions, elaboration of vacuolar bodies and autolytic vacuoles and then of residual bodies preceding processes of cellular fragmentation and nuclear pyknosis. Although there is never a complete regression of the androgenic glands, these modifications resemble those which take place in the prothoracic glands of insects after metamorphosis.The physiological significance of the cellular degeneration is discussed.

Nos remerciements vont au Dr. Costlow, Directeur du Duke Marine Laboratory pour les facilités de travail mises à notre disposition et à Mme Charniaux-Cotton pour son analyse critique des résultats. Nous sommes également reconnaissante au Personnel de Microscopie électronique pour son aide technique.     

Nouveaux genres de Squaliformes (Chondrichthyes) du Paléogène des Landes (Sud-Ouest de la France)

Résumé  Parmi les nombreux squaliformes récoltés dans le Lutétien des Landes (SO de la France), deux genres et espèces nouveaux ont été reconnus:Squaliodalatias weltoni n. gen. n. sp. etAngoumeius paradoxus n. gen. n. sp. La morphologie dentaire du premier permet de le rapprocher des Dalatiidae. Les relations phylétiques du second taxon sont pour 1’instant moins claires, en raison de sa denture supérieure inhabituelle pour un Dalatiiforme aussi évolué au niveau de la denture inférieure. Ces taxa nouveaux viennent enrichir nos connaissances sur un groupe encore mal connu à l’état fossile en raison de son habitat bathyal ainsi que sur la mise en place et la radiation, encore trop peu documentée, des faunes profondes.      

Première biozonation du Pléistocène Européen,principal résultat biostratigraphique de l'étude des Rhinocerotidae (Mammalia,Perissodactyla) du Miocène terminal au Pléistocène supérieur d'Europe Occidentale

For the Uppermost Miocene the already known zones MN 9 to MN 13 are used without any change; they prove to be particularly useful for the study of fossil rhinocerotids. The Plio-Villafranchian age corresponds to the zones 14 to 19, the definition of the first five being completed and the last being new. Middle to Upper Pleistocene age deals with the zones 20 to 26, all being new and defined following the same principles.