New Late Cretaceous dinosaur findings from northwestern Transylvania (Romania)

In 1905, Nopcsa tentatively identified a fragmentary rib from the Jibou Formation at Someş Odorhei as belonging to an ornithopod dinosaur. Therefore, he concluded that the base of this formation is Late Cretaceous, but this hypothesis was subsequently ignored or rejected by other authors. New dinosaur bones discovered in this locality by new excavations are here interpreted as belonging to the euornithopod Zalmoxes shqiperorum Weishampel, Jianu, Csiki and Norman, 2003. The base of the Jibou Formation can therefore be regarded as Maastrichtian, correlative to the Sânpetru Formation and to the middle member of the Densuş Ciula Formation from the Haţeg Basin, as well as the base of the Şard Formation in the southwestern Basin of Transylvania, in the Alba Iulia area. The presence of Zalmoxes at Someş Odorhei also confirms the northeastern extension for the ‘Haţeg Island’ in Transylvania.     

A new species of Deinsdorfia (Soricidae, Insectivora, Mammalia) from the Pliocene of Spain

A new species of Deinsdorfia is defined using new material coming from the karstic fissure infilling of Almenara-Casablanca 4 (Castelló, Spain), which shows important differences with the rest of the previously known species of the genus. The definition of a new species is supported by the characters found in extra material coming from the localities of Valdeganga, in the Albacete Province (Spain). The stratigraphical occurrence of this genus of pigmented-toothed shrews reinforces the idea of the Iberian Peninsula as a sink area during the Pliocene, where some Central-European soricids expanded their distribution. Most of those migrations or distributional expansions coincide with moments of climatic changes in the northern hemisphere.     

A Late Campanian sphenodontid (Reptilia, Diapsida) from northern Patagonia

The fossil record of sphenodontids in the Southern Hemisphere is much longer than in Laurasia, where they became extinct after Early Cretaceous times. Recent works demonstrated the persistence of at least eilenodontine sphenodontids until the ‘mid’-Cretaceous of Patagonia. Focused examination of the Los Alamitos Formation collections provided remains of Late Campanian sphenodontids. Although the phylogenetic position of these remains is still uncertain, they belong to a new, unrecorded species of sphenodontid perhaps related to opisthodontians or primitive, toothed sapheosaurs. To cite this article: S. Apesteguía, C. R. Palevol 4 (2005).     

Des chambres de pupation de Dermestidae (Insecta : Coleoptera) sur un os de mammifère tertiaire (phosphorites du Quercy) : implications taphonomiques et paléoenvironnementales

The larvae of some species of Dermestidae (Coleoptera) are able to bore the bones of a carrion for pupation. Several pupal chambers have been observed on an unciform belonging to a fossil rhinocerotid (Mesaceratherium sp.) from the late Oligocene/earliest Miocene of the phosphorites of Quercy (SW France). Such an unusual observation demonstrates the occurrence of dermestids in the entomofauna of the phosphorites of Quercy, and suggests at least the existence of paleoclimatic episodes with dry seasons, during a period usually considered as a relatively humid one. This is the earliest occurrence of such ichnofossils on a fossil mammal bone.     

Madonna dell'Arma (San Remo, Italie) : expression locale de la végétation ligure au cours du Paléolithique moyen

Pollen analysis of Madonna dell’Arma cave inside part (Liguria, Italy) allowed us to reconstitute, at local scale, the Ligurian coastal vegetation between the end of the last interglacial period and the beginning of the pleniglacial. This transition period shows an important representation of arboreal cover and a persistence of thermophilous elements that allowed us to considerate the western Liguria as a periglacial refuge. During the end of the last interglacial, xerophytic, halophytic herbs and shrubs taken over from a Mediterranean pre-forest unit in the first slopes constituted the coastal zone. The nearness of Argentina torrent and the Armea influenced, in the coast, the existence of marshy zones colonized by hygrophilous trees. In the Ligurian lowlands spread out sclerophyllous and mesophilous forests according to altitude. The beginning of the pleniglacial is indicated in the sequence by increases of Pinus, Cupressaceae and Artemisia in the context of a decline in the thermophilous components. This picture of vegetation has become integrated into the multidisciplinary studies of the site and contributed to the elaboration of palaeoclimatic hypothesis similar as those revealed by the fauna.     

Les industries acheuléennes de la France septentrionale

The excavations of several open air sites in Northern France and, especially in the Somme basin, have given numerous data concerning the age and the environment of the human occupations for the period from MIS 12 to MIS 8. The quality of the raw material and the function of the different sites have a great effect on the composition of the lithic assemblages as it has been seen for the different sites located near the confluence of the Somme and Avre (Cagny-la Garenne, Cagny-l’Épinette, Ferme de l’Épinette, Gentelles). The characteristics of the lithic industries of Gouzeaucourt show the complexity of the transition from Lower to Middle Palaeolithic.     

Puycelci, nouveau site à vertébrés de la série molassique d’Aquitaine. Densité et continuité biochronologique dans la zone Quercy et bassins périphériques au Paléogène

After the previous lacking evidence allowed the interpretation of a non-deposition episod, the newly recorded mammal fauna from Puycelci (Tarn, SW France, close South to the Quercy paleokarstic area) now shows the MP 26 standard level (Late Oligocene, Early Chattian) being represented within the Eastern Aquitaine molassic basin filling. According to the evolutionary stage of known mammal lineages, the most significant Puycelci fossils are the Issiodoromys pauffiensis rodent and the Metriotherium cf. sarelense nov. sp. (described in this paper) artiodactyl ungulate. This new dating exemplifies the improvement of the mammalian biochronologic record as regards both the Quercy paleokarst and the surrounding lacustrine Tertiary basins W, S, and S-E to the Quercy, as well as, directly E and N-E, the smaller tectonic Tertiary basins within the crystalline Massif Central basement. The updated record shows the strong extension in time of the paleokarstic data, down to the Middle and Early Eocene, and up to the Early Miocene. Regarding the classically reported Late Eocene to Late Oligocene span, as well in the paleokarst and the peripheral basins, the available biochronological data now attains a valuable density level, the variation of which is significant. On one side there are periods (Late Eocene, Early Oligocene, Early Late Oligocene) with high biochronologic density, allowing improved time resolution using evolutionary stages within mammalian lineages (e.g. numerical ages). Such periods corresponds to almost continuous sedimentary processes, with only possible short breaks. On the other side, there are periods with unreported data, shared in the paleokarst and peripheral basins (Late Oligocene as best example). Such periods may well correspond to some non-deposition episods as once alleged by geologists. Then the surrounding biochronologic data would bear constraining value regarding these episods.     

La limite Oligocène-Miocène en Limagne : changements fauniques chez les mammifères, oiseaux et ostracodes des différents niveaux de Billy-Créchy (Allier, France)

The lacustrine sequence of Billy-Créchy (Allier) yielded four superposed fossiliferous levels that can be precisely dated for the first time and represent the upper part of the Oligocene and the basis of the Miocene. The age of the localities is given by mammals and particularly by the Rodent and Lagomorph faunas: three are ascribed to the Paleogene mammalian levels MP 29-MP30 and the upper one to the Neogene MN 1. The Paleogene faunas evidence a high degree of similarity with those of the Oligo-Miocene Lower Freshwater Molasse of Switzerland and the localities Créchy 1 and 2 correspond particularly well to the Swiss locality Brochene-Fluh 53, to which a magnetostratigraphic calibration ascribed an age between 24.1 and 23.6 Ma, the date of the Oligo-Miocene boundary being fixed at 23.8 Ma. Changes in the Rodent composition and abundance in these faunas document the impact of the Oligo-Miocene crisis, the uppermost fauna being very impoverished. The avifaunas differ from those of the Aquitanian localities of the Saint-Gérand-le-Puy area by the presence of two forms which are no longer found in the more recent deposits. These birds are mainly aquatic and indicate the proximity of shallow to moderately deep lakes, along the edge of which the Flamingo-related Palaelodidae were nesting. In Ostracod assemblages - numerous along the sequence but in most cases crushed or completely encrusted -, small-sized specimens are abundant, well-preserved, and among them Cypridopsis sp. is dominant; they are represented by adults and juveniles: they indicate shallow-water environmental conditions and unstable environment. Among large specimens, freshwater and brackish species occur; all of them are broken, coated by CaCO3: they belong to different biocenoses and attest some transport.     

Effect of ouabain on the lactogenic action of prolactin and on the level of mammary prolactin receptors

Ouabain added to the culture medium of rabbit mammary gland inhibits prolactin action on the initiation of lactose and casein synthesis. The degree of inhibition is a function of the ouabain concentration in the medium. Likewise, ouabain blocks the accumulation of casein mRNA supported by prolactin. In addition, ouabain provokes a rapid disappearance of prolactin receptors. Conversely prolactin keeps its capacity to enhance the concentration of casein mRNA and the parallel casein synthesis when K+ ions are totally absent from the culture medium. These results suggest that although prolactin induces a modification of the K+/Na+ ratio in the mammary cell and ouabain prevents this effect of prolactin, the inhibitory action of ouabain on lactogenesis can be explained essentially by its effect on the hormone receptors.     

Synthesis and activation of N-aminopolyacrylamide derivatives as carriers in solid phase degradation of proteins

N-amino polyacrylamide derivatives were synthesized and their activation by different techniques were examined. The use of these derivatives as solid support in sequential degradation of proteins is proposed. An example is reported.