Taxonomic significance of short forms of middle Permian Pseudoalbaillella Holdsworth and Jones, 1980 (Follicucullidae,Radiolaria)

Middle Permian Pseudoalbaillella from the Xiaodong area in South China were studied using fossil morphology. Short forms of Pseudoalbaillella fusiformis (Holdsworth and Jones), Pseudoalbaillella internata Wang, and Pseudoalbaillella monacantha (Ishiga and Imoto), characterized by a short and skirt-like pseudoabdomen, were confirmed. We conclude that the short forms were derived from their respective species by breaking off during disruptive processes. If this is true, there may be structurally weakened parts in the pseudoabdomen.     

A reappraisal of the Palaeopantopoda with description of a species from the Jurassic

The Devonian fossil Palaeoisopus appears, in the light of recent evidence from newly found specimens, to be much nearer extant pycnogonids than previously surmised. The fossil record of the Pycnogonida is extended to the Jurassic on the basis of a long overlooked Solenhofen example. Most of the specimens ascribed to the common Solenhofen Phalangites cannot be pycnogonids, but it is possible that we are dealing with a complex of superficially similar fossils. A revision of the classification of the fossil pycnogonids (Order Palaeopantopoda) is suggested in the light of this new material.     

Observations nouvelles sur les otolithes des Téléostéens du Calcaire Grossier (Eocène du bassin de Paris)

An important new collection of otoliths from theCalcaire Grossier of the Paris Basin, as well as a critical review of already published material is studied and reveals the presence of 56 species. Five of these are new: Muraenesox spatulus, Genus Synodontidarum intermedius, Genus Ophidiidarum spinosus, Chanda bohlkei and Mene sekharani. The assemblage is indicative of tropical to subtropical marine and neritic environment with solid bottom. Biogeographically, it shows affinities with the recent Indo-pacific fauna. The association of the sites at Fercourt and Château-Rouge is clearly different from the one found at the sites of Condé-en-Brie and Damery, as it is less littoral than the second association mentioned.     

First partial cranium of Togocetus from Kpogamé (Togo) and the protocetid diversity in the Togolese phosphate basin

Earliest cetaceans (whales) originated from the early Eocene of Indo-Pakistan, but the group dispersed through most of the oceans of the planet by the late middle to late Eocene. This late Eocene global distribution indicates that important dispersal events took place during the middle Eocene (Lutetian), a globally undersampled time interval that is well documented in the Togolese phosphate series. We report here the first discovery of a partial cetacean cranium from middle Eocene deposits of Togo (West Africa). A 3D model of the cranium and teeth was reconstructed in order to reveal hidden anatomical features. The dental and cranial characteristics of the Togolese specimen recall those of protocetid taxa described in Africa, Asia, and North America, but also display significant differences. In particular, we show that the new specimen shares a number of morphological features with the Togolese taxon Togocetus. Such a hypothesis is further supported by a cladistic analysis including 45 taxa and 167 morphological characters, which recovers the new specimen close to Togocetus as the first offshoot of protocetids. Phylogenetic analysis including all the protocetids remains of Kpogamé confirms the singular diversity of the Togolese phosphate basin, and enables to examine potential connections with faunas from contemporaneous localities in Africa.     

New advances on the Aurignacian in the central Iberian Mediterranean basin

This study aims to obtain a chronological and cultural framework of the Evolved Aurignacian in the central Iberian Mediterranean basin and find agreement between this framework and other sequences of the Iberian southeast. Over the last few years, there has been remarkable progress in the research of the Evolved Aurignacian sites in the Valencian area, making a review of the main characteristics of the technocomplex on a regional scale necessary. The recent fieldwork carried out in Cova de les Malladetes (Valencia) and in Cova de les Cendres (Alicante) have been key to understanding the lithic, osseous and ornament assemblages ascribed to the Evolved Aurignacian. Several Bayesian modelled ages have been constructed from the large dataset of chronological dates obtained at Malladetes and Cendres, as well as in other sites. The Bayesian models have allowed us to chronologically place the characteristics of the analysed assemblages. The present research supports the importance of the Aurignacian as the first technocomplex of the Upper Palaeolithic in this area of the Iberian Peninsula.     

Variabilité et homogénéité des modes de débitage en Chine entre 300 000 et 50 000 ans

The position of lithic industries of Chinese Paleolithic in comparison with those of other regions in the world is always a controversial topic. The typological analysis has made Chinese prehistorians reveal some variability between lithic industries of different regions of China in terms of technical tradition and industrial structure. But this recognition, based upon some morphological characters of stone artifacts, failed to define systematically the modes of production that exist in each site. To answer these problematic some new methods need to be applied. So the lithic materials from 8 Chinese sites dated from 300 ka to 50 ka B.P. were selected and analyzed by means of lithic technological analysis and a new approach for analyzing the structures of cores. This paper presents principally the analytical results of modes of débitage and revealed that the modes of débitage during this period were characterized essentially by system C (“simple débitage”) and E (discoid) and that the concept Levallois was absent during this period in technical systems of lithic production in China. The Chinese lithic industries between 300 ka and 50 ka B.P. saw some homogeneity in the scale of the continent and remarkable difference from those of other regions in the world. So a stable, continuous but independent even isolated evolution in comparison with those of other regions was observed in this period. In addition, despite of apparent homogeneity, some variability exists also between these industries.     

Quantative analysis and paleoecology of Middle to Upper Eocene Ostracods from Jebel Jebil,central Tunisia

One hundred and seventy collected samples from Jebil section have been carefully studied for their ostracod content and referred to 41 species belonging to 20 genera. Their vertical distribution allowed to distinguish five successive associations of ostracod assemblages; two of which are correlated with the Early Lutetian, one with the Late Lutetian, another association with the Bartonian and the last one with the Priabonian. Community structure of the collected ostracod fauna has been studied; three indices have been calculated for each sample: Shannon (diversity), Margalef (richness) and Equitability indexes. In the lower and the middle part of the Formation, they indicate a stable environment supporting high diversity ostracod communities; whereas in the upper portion the environmental conditions were unstable characterized by low diversity. The results of a multivariate statistical method, using the cluster analysis and the Detrended Correspondence Analysis of the 41 ostracod species and the 170 samples, have led to conclude that the most effective environmental factor in the study area is the paleodepth and of less importance oxygenation and salinity. Thus, it allowed to distinguish four palaeoenvironmental intervals within the Cherahil Formation: the first one represented by taxa that are known from the shallower parts of the shelf; the second interval includes the majority of the encountered species of inner neritic shelf with normal salinity; the third one, corresponding to an outer neritic domain; and the last interval refers to a circalittoral environment, is comprised mainly of Cytherella angulata and of Soudanella laciniosa triangulata.     

Humanizing European Paleolithic art: A new visual evidence of human/bird interactions at L’Hort de la Boquera site (Margalef de Montsant,Tarragona, Spain)

This paper reports the discovery of a new example of portable art in North-eastern Iberia dating to the Late Upper Palaeolithic (12.250 ± 60 BP). The piece is analysed in relation to the European Palaeolithic art assemblage to determine its significance and how it contributes to our understandings of Palaeolithic artistic practices. Both the motifs depicted (birds and humans) and the patterns of composition (a narrative scene) are unusual in Palaeolithic assemblages. In addition, this new find contributes to filling a geographic gap in the artistic record as evidence of Palaeolithic art is rare in Catalonia. The anatomical features of one of the birds suggest that it is a crane, a species that has been depicted in a limited number of sites, as summarized in this paper. Moreover, there are only three known example of birds and humans interacting in a narrative scene in Palaeolithic art. Exhibiting innovations in media, subject matter and compositional norms, this new find has the potential to change the classic definition of European Upper Palaeolithic art and integrate the region in the artistic trends circulating along Mediterranean Iberia during the Upper Magdalenian.     

Paläoökologische Rekonstruktion von Wirbeltieren: Möglichkeiten und Grenzen

The constraints on paleoecological analyses of fossil vertebrates are discussed using the example of Permo-Carboniferous amphibians. Paleoecological interpretations based on the study of the vertebrates as well as the fossil-bearing de-posit are generally inexact and possibly even inaccurate. Thus as many aspects as possible must be examined — the animal with all of its anatomical components and the fossil-bearing deposit with all available Information concerning sedimentology and taphonomy. Comparisons based on constructional morphology permit ecomorphological characterization of a fossil organism, with an optional band width for different ecological parameters. Individual parameters can be further re-fined through a search for evidence regarding the actual ecological band width, specifically in terms of diet and habitat. Reliable, broadly based paleoecological analyses can only be done for fossil occurrences that preserve many, more or less articulated specimens of vertebrates, and, even in those in-stances, only for more or less aquatic forms. This is particularly applicable for higher-level studies at the level of “population” or ecosystem. The study of temporally much averaged “populations” can provide data concerning age distribution for and growth-related ecological changes in a particular species. Studies of an ecosystem aim to reconstruct the structure and functions of that System through a reconstruction of the food web. On this basis, evaluation of the ecological role of the species in the context of paleocommunities is possible.