The revision of the Rhombodontidae from the Maastrichtian of Morocco led us to the description of a new species: Rhombodus andriesi.

The biometrical study of populations of R. binkhorsti and R. microdon, species sometimes considered as synonymous, supports the conclusion that they represent two distinct species and not young and adult specimens of a single species. The stratigraphical range of these two species confirms this
result.

The reexarnination of type-series studied by C. Ararnbourg led us to revise the generic status of Rhombodus bondoni which is now ranged, because his dental features, in the new genus Dasyrhombodus showing a less derived dentition than Rhombodus. The stratigraphical range of each species is clarified within the phosphatic series. 

This paper is about the oldest African rodents faunas, from the late Early Eocene, or early Middle Eocene, Glib Zegdou (Algeria) and Chambi (Tunisia) localities. Five species are described and figured, belonging to a new family here created, the Zegdoumyidae.

This family is compared to the Early and Middle Eocene rodents families from Asia, Europe and North America (Chapattimyidae, Yuomyidae, Gliridae, Theridomyidae, lschyromyidae and Sciuravidae), as well as to those known from the Late Eocene African locality Bir El Ater (Anomaluridae and Phiomyidae).

On the one hand, it seems clear that the African endemic Anomaluridae arise from the Zegdoumyidae. On the other hand, the lschyromyidae, or primitive Sciuravidae, may be the most reliable ancestral groups for the Zegdoumyidae. Thus, this new family can be considered as the sister group for the American Sciuravidae on the one hand, and for the European Gliridae on the other hand.

The biogeographical consequences of these phylogenetic hypotheses are discussed. A new phase of communication between Europe and North Africa is inferred, during the Early Eocene. It has been followed by a short period of endemism, allowing the adaptive radiation for the Zegdoumyidae, preceding the immigration of the Phiomyidae, during the Late Eocene, probably from Asian relatives. 

Le Mémoire Extraordinaire 1988 de PALAEOVERTEBRATA regroupe dix articles consacrés au gisement à mammifères du Miocène supérieur de Montredon (Hérault), connu et classique depuis la fin du siècle dernier, et auquel est lié le nom du savant paléontologue lyonnais Charles Depéret.
Cette monographie vient normalement à la suite de celle parue en 1982 dans PALAEOVERTEBRATA, dont les différents articles traitaient de la stratigraphie du gisement, et faisaient l'étude des différents groupes de micromammifères représentés dans la faune (insectivores, chiroptères, rongeurs). 

The study of all the available skulls allows us to review the systematic relationships of the longirostrine Steneosaurus from the Middle Jurassic of western Europe. Up to now, Aalenian and Bajocian deposits have not yielded any significant Steneosaurus remain. In the Bathonian, the only valid longirostrine species, S. megistorhynchus, is known in the Britain-Normandy Basin, the Poitou and the Lorraine. In the Callovian, most of the longirostrine Steneosaurus remains can be attributed to the species S. leedsi. Nevertheless, some remains from the Middle Callovian of Poitou (France) show important differences with S. leedsi. A new Steneosaurus species, only known in Poitou, is created and named S. pictaviensis. The specific characters are carried by the skull (preorbital pit well marked, orbit and ptetygoid fossae shapes), by the mandible (symphysis shape) and by the teeth (ornamentation). S. megistorhynchus is probably situated near the stem of the Callovian species but remains from the Bathonian and Lower Callovian are very scarce and it is very difficult to precise the phylogenetic relationships between the longirostrine species of the Middle Jurassic.
  

Redécouvertes en 1968 dans le bois du Bretou, les deux poches à phosphorites qui ont livré cette faune sont parmi les plus méridionales du plateau quercynois. De faible profondeur, huit mètres, les cavités sont de petite taille et font partie d'un complexe de sept fissures réparties dans les bois du Bretou. Les autres trous n'ont livré aucun fossile, soit parce qu'ils avaient été intégralement vidés de leur sédiment, soit que des venues d'eau en interdisent l'accès.
Dans les deux poches fossilifères, proches de quelques mètres, le sédiment que l'on rencontre en placage sur les parois présente un aspect particulier. Il s'agit en effet d'une brèche très indurée, où la calcite domine, et contenant assez peu de sédiments sidérolithiques. Les ossements contenus dans cette brèche sont assez nombreux, très souvent brisés. Les dents isolées y sont relativement rares. Exploitées séparément, les deux poches ont livré des faunes identiques, aucune différence chronologique ne pouvant être décelée entre elles. Les formes rencontrées dans une seule des cavités sont rares mais la poche la plus riche est celle dénommée Le Bretou 2.
L'intérêt de la faune récoltée réside dans son ancienneté. On sait en effet que H.G. Stehlin avait signalé dans les collections du Quercy des restes attribuables à Lophiodon lautricense, mais la provenance exacte de ces fossiles reste inconnue. Au Bretou si nous n'avons pas rencontré à ce jour le Lophiodon, il n'en demeure pas moins que l'âge de la faune récoltée doit être proche de celui de la faune de Robiac. 

The Palaeobatrachidae until now have not been reported from France. The present note makes known the discovery of very significant remains in three Tertiary localities of France: Cernay (late Paleocene), Laugnac (late Aquitanian) and Sansan (middle Helvetian). The osteologic characters, as well as the geographic and stratigraphic distribution of the family are re-stated with added details. The Palaeobatrachidae are a European family known from the late Jurassic of Catalonia (publication in course by J. Seiffert) to the Plio-Pleistocene (pre-Mindel) of Poland and Rumania. By their way of life and certain osteologic characters they are similar to the Pipidae, but they are distinguished by profound differences. It would be rash to include them in the Pipoidea or even in the Aglossa. They are apparently an independant group, essentially holarctic, which held in Europe a role equivalent to that played by the Pipidae south of Tethys. 

Near "la Lieude", in the Lodève basin, more than a thousand of footprints are distributed in a twenty of trackways which amounts to 220 m length. They have been found on calcareous siltstone level in the B site named also "Réserve Naturelle Volontaire". This last is located in the Saxonian summit dated Upper Permian. "La Lieude" tracks are described by using statistical methods then they are compared with others from the world Permian. What allows to distinguish 4 following ichnotaxa: Lunaepes ollierorum nov.ichnosp., Merifontichnus thalerius nov. ichnogen. and nov. ichnosp., Planipes brachydactylus nov.ichnosp. and Brontopus circagiganteus nov. ichnosp. All these traces are attributed with possibility or probability to Therapsida or to Therosauria, except Brontopus circagiganteus nov. ichnosp. that could be due to Caseamorpha. All these animals whose sizes have been estimated between l and 5 m lived probably in a playa environment.The biological and sedimentological data from "la Lieude" footprints levels compared with informations provided by the tracks orientations, suggest the following scenario. Animals coming from the North have crossed a sandy channel bank with plants zones by directing to the South for the majority. Maybe, they were going to the lacustrine part of the playa, close to "la Lieude" footprints that they have just trampled on. 

La faune d'artiodactyles de Ste-Néboule, qui comprend neuf espèces, présente de nombreux
points communs avec les faunes habituellement rattachées au Ludien supérieur, telles celles de La Débruge ou de Montmartre. A l'inverse de ces localités, on ne connaît pourtant, à Ste-Néboule, ni Oxacronae, ni Anoplotheriinae. Parmi les espèces du gisement se trouve une nouvelle espèce du genre Mouillacitherium (M. schlosseri n. sp.), cette forme devant être interprétée comme le dernier représentant du rameau. Nous faisons connaître par ailleurs la presque totalité de la denture du Dacrytherium saturninii, espèce qui était à ce jour très imparfaitement documentée. Ste-Néboule est, d'autre part, la seule localité où l'on peut signaler l'association probable de deux lignées du genre Amphimeryx. Les primates sont peu diversifiés à Ste-Néboule, puisque le groupe est limité au seul genre Adapis. Les genres Microchoerus et Pseudoloris, que l'on sait pourtant être représentés dans des gisements dâge voisin (Microchoerus ornatus à San Cugat de Gavadons et Mormont-Entreroches, Pseudoloris reguanti à San Cugat de Gavadons, Pseudoloris cf. reguanti à Neustadt ; cf. Louis et Sudre 1975) sont absents dans les faunes du Quercy de cette période. 

The genus Pachynolophus, one of the poorest known of the Palaeotheriidae, includes the brachyodont forms with reduced and non-molariform premolars and with upper molars lacking a mesostyle. Quantitative characters (divers surface indications and elongation of the teeth), while demonstrating a close relationship to Hyracotherium, permit a better differentiation of the genus, confirm its specific splitting, and permit the distinction of three lineages. The skull from Memerlein is taken as the type of a new species, P. Iavocati, of which the dentition is extremely characterized by its lophiodonty, the strong reduction of the premolars and the reduction of the cingula. This characterization testifies to a late age which extends the existence of the genus quite near to the Eocene-Oligocene limit. Compared with the only two skulls known of related species (Hyracotheríum vulpiceps and Pachynolophus Iivinierensis), that from Memerlein is distinguished by progressive characters affecting diferent regions but most particularly the braincase; it is not possible, however, to isolate within this evolution the part which leads to a systematic differentiation. Modernization is translated by a considerable increase in size of the braincase, principally in the frontal region, a development of the facial region with anterior displacement of the dental series and a greater specialization of the masticatory apparatus. This evolution parallels the history of the Equidae of the North American early Tertiary, but certain particularities, the form of the alisphenoid, the presence of an anterior frontal foramen, and the structure of the paroccipital apophysis, testifies to the independance of the European forms. 

The East African Miocene Macroscelidea, lnsectivora and Chiroptera are revised on the basis of new material. New taxa proposed are: Miorhynchocyon, .n. gen. (Macroscelididae): Míorhynchocyon meswae, n. sp.: Pronasílío ternanensis. n. gen.. n. sp. (Macroscelididae); Hiwegicyon juvenalis, n. gen. n. sp. (Macroscelididae); Parageogale, n. gen. (Tenrecidae): Prochrysochlorinae, n. subfam. (Chrysochloridae): Propottininae, n. subfam, (Pteropodidae); Chamtwaria pickfordi, n. gen., n. sp. (Vespertilionidae). Gymnurechnínus songhorensis is synonymised with G. camptolophus. The new material provides additional information on the dentition, especially of Myohyrax oswaldi. Galerix africanus. Amphechínus rusingensis, Protenrec tricuspis and Parageogale aletris. Partial skulls are described of Amphechinus rusingensis, Protenrec tricuspis, Prochrysochloris míocaenicus and Taphozous incognita. The oldest member of the Macroscelidinae (Pronasilio) is described from Fort Ternan. Galerix africanus is closely related to G. exilis from Europe. Amphechinus rusingenesis is compared with Asiatic Oligocene Erinaceinae. The Miocene age of Crocidura is rejected. On the evidence of humeri, the following families of Chiroptera are newly reported: Pteropodidae, Nycterididae, Vespertilionidae, Molossidae. Propotto is regarded as an offshoot from the Pteropodidae, not ancestral to modern forms. Chamtwaria is a primitive vespertilionoid, provisionally placed in the Kerivoulinae. Erinaceidae probably entered Africa at the beginning of the Miocene, before 20 Ma. Faunistic differences between deposits are largely to be ascribed to differences in local environment. 

A detailed comparative study of a complete skeleton of Bachitherium and a cladistic analysis of the sub-order Neoselenodontia lead us to propose a cladogram and a new classification of this group. The Tylopoda are the sister-group of the Ruminantia, which are chiefly defined by the fusion of the cuboid and navicular. Within this infra-order, Amphimeryx is the sister genus of a tetraselenodont group, in which the Hypertragulidae are well-separated group from a monophyletic group defined by the loss of trapezium, fusion of capitatum and trapezoid, and the isolation of the hypoconid on lower molars. The most primitive genera of this group, Lophiomeryx and Iberomeryx still have an open trigonid on the lower molars, but this is lingually closed in Archaeomeryx, sister-genus of the higher Ruminantia which have fused metatarsals and more evolved milk teeth. We divide them into two pan/orders : Tragulina (including the recent and miocene Tragulidae, and the North-American Leptomerycidae), and Pecora, with reduced lateral metacarpals and a new crest (telocristid) on the lower premolars. Within the Pecora, the upper molars of Gelocus are more primitive than those of Bachitherium (a genus with many autapomorphies in the dentition) itself more primitive than the group Prodremotherium + Eupecora, with fused metacarpals. We consider the Eupecora (including several genera without frontal appendages) to be monophyletic. 

The rodent-fauna (Cricetidae and Gliridae) recently found at Castell de Barbera (Spain) is similar to those from the other locslities of the Valles - Penedes - Can Ponsic 1 and Can Llobateres - : same composition and similar evolutionary level of the different species. On the other hand this fauna is different from those of Upper Vindobonian and Vallesian localities of the Calatayud - Teruel area. Castell de Barbera has an intermediate chronological position between the localities of Anwil (Switzerland) and Can Ponsic 1. It is still not possible to validate or invalidate the initial attribution based on absence of Hipparion of Castell de Barbera to the Upper Vindobonian. 

The first lists of Insectivores (Erinaceidae, Talpidae and Soricidae) from the Pliocene beds of Southern France and North-East Spain are given in this paper. The material from twelve localities is studied. These localities are geographically situated in Languedoc (Celleneuve, Vendargues, Nîmes, Sète, Balaruc 2 and Seynes), in Roussillon (Terrats, Serrats-d'en-Vacquer, Château d'eau and Mont-Hélène) and in North-East Spain (Layna, Medas Islands and Puebla de Valverde). These faunas correspond to the Early, Middle and Late Pliocene. 1 to 8 taxa are identified in these localities and 14 specific taxa are presently listed for this period in this area. Two new specific taxa are described as Galerix depereti nov. sp. from all the Early Pliocene localities in the North-Pyrenean area and as Desmanella gardiolensis nov. sp. from Balaruc 2. For this small mammals, two faunal assemblages are recognized. The first one is dated from the Early Pliocene (F 1, 2 and 3 zones in Aguilar et Michaux) and is characterized by Galerix depereti and rare and little diversified Soricids. The second one is Late Pliocene in age (zones G 2 and G 3). The fossils of the genus Talpa are relatively abundant and the Soricids are diversified and very abundant. The Middle Pliocene (zone G 1) is a transitional period. ln these faunas, most of the insectivore genera are known from the European Late Miocene beds (8 on 10). This fact demonstrates a relative continuity between the invectivore faunas from the Late Miocene to the Early Pliocene. In conclusion, somme paleoecological considerations are suggested.
  

About the early radiation of Rodents, we have now from the early tertiary of Asia, a new fossil record, and we can do new interpretations. First the problem of the origin of Rodents is studied : considered as a sister group of Lagomorpha, it is possible to find their ancestors between the Mixodontia. Second the new facts about the origin of modern groups of Rodents are reviewed. A general scheme of this diversification can be proposed. 

The rodents from the spanish locality of Can Ponsic 1 bring new data about some rodents species of the beginning of the Upper Miocene in South-West Europe. The criticims made by Mein and Freudenthal about the validity of the species Hispanomys thaleri from Can Llobateres are not justiíied. The study of the anatomy of the skull of Rotundomys from Can Ponsic 1 gives accurate information about the affinity of this genus with Cricetulus, and shows that the hypothesis, according to which Rotundomys is an ancestral form of the Arvicolids, is unlikely. The systematics of Heteroxerus and the phylogeny of the mio-pliocene Muscardinus species are also discussed. The Can Ponsic 1 locality is a little older than Can Llobateres.

  

A short review of the genera and species of snakes from the Quercy's phosphorites described by former authors is followed by the study of specimens recently collected. Most of these latter specimens belong to the Aniliidae, Boidae, Colubridae and to the Scolecophidia; the precise systematic position of some of them is not defined yet. The following genera and species are described: Eonilius europae nov. gen. and nov. sp., Platyspondylia lepta nov. gen. and nov. sp., Coluber cadurci nov. sp. and Dunnophis cadurcensis nov.  sp.; a species described by de Rochebrune (Palaeopython filholi) is revised. One of the most important conclusions of this study is that the Colubridae appear as early as the Upper Eocene. The stratigraphic repartition of these snakes shows that the rich Upper Eocene fauna is followed by the very reduced fauna of the Lower Oligocene; then the oligocene «Grande Coupure» corresponds to a very important faunistic renewal. The fauna remains poor and little diversified during the beginning of the Middle Oligocene after which there is a new faunistic explosion. 

Several endemic deer remains from the Middle Pleistocene deposits of the Castiglione cave (Oletta, Haute-Corse) are examined here. A morphometric analysis allows to relate them to a new insular subspecies Cervus elaphus rossii. The bones were compared with those of the mainland early Middle Pleistocene subspecies Cervus elaphus acoronatus Beninde and the European species Cervus elaphus Linné (Late Middle Pleistocene and Upper Pleistocene forms (continental and insular)). The Castiglione fossil shows peculiar morphofunctional features in its appendicular skeleton suggesting a morphological convergence with certain Bovidae. 

The comparative morphology and biometry of the lower cheek teeth of modern Equus are studied on approximately 300 mandibles belonging to the 10 usually recognised species : Equus grevyi, E. burchelli, E. quagga, E. zebra, E. africanus, E. asinus, E. hemionus, E. klang, E. przewalskii, E. caballus. The studied parameters comprise : occlusal length and width, postflexid length and index ; shape of the double knot (metaconid + metastylid + lingual groove) ; depth of the vestibular groove on the molars ; frequency of the pli caballinid, protostylid and other enamel plications or islets ; frequency of the dP/l.
The same methods of study are applied to a number of North American, Eurasian and African species. For the sake of comparison, some Hemphillian equids were observed (Dinohippus interpolatus, Dinohippus leidyanus, Astrohippus ansae, Phiohippus mexicanus) but most of the discussed material belongs to Pliocene or Pleistocene species of Equus : the « stenonine ›› E. stenonis, E. simplicidens, E. sanmeniensis and E. teilhardi; the « caballine ›› E. scotti, E. lambei, E. Iaurentius, E. mosbachensis, E. germanicus, E. gallicus, E. taubachensis and the Liakhov horse. The relationships of other species, in particular the North American E. calobatus, E. occidentalis, E. cf mexicanus are not clear for the moment. ln Africa, the Plio-Pleistocene species from Koobi Fora (Kenya) show some stenonine and perhaps asinine affinities. The relationships of E. numidicus and E. tabeti are uncertain but these species are probably related to the East African ones. E. mauritanicus is most certainly related to the Quagga group.
The biometrical data are gathered in 32 tables ; 4 photographie plates and 19 figures illustrate the next. The whole is a complement of the previously published studies of the skulls, upper cheek teeth, incisors and metapodials of modern and fossil Equus.

  

The present study of Artiodactyla from the Middle Eocene of the Geiseltal lignite beds concems systematics, biostratigraphy, and palaeoecology on the basis of 174 specimens: isolated remains to more complete skeletons. Instead of the formerly known five species of two families are now recognized 14 species of the Diacodexeidae, Dichobunidae, Cebochoeridae, and Haplobunodontidae. New species are Aumelasia maniai, Anthracobunodon neumarkensis, Masillabune franzeni. Four species of the Geiseltalfauna are definitely known from elswere, and five species are closely related to those from other European localities. Evidently the faunal situation of artiodactyls during the Middle Eocene of Europe was largely uniform. The distribution of artiodactyls within the sequence of the Geiseltal strata corroborates the biostratigraphical concept of the land mammal age Geiseltalian (Franzen & Haubold l986b) as well as the mammalian reference levels MP 11-13 (Franzen 1987). Reconstructions of the skulls and skeletons allow conclusions on the functional morphology and palaeoecology of the artiodactyls of the European Middle Eocene 

Reigechimys octodontiformis gen. et sp. novo and R. plesiodon sp. novo are described. They represent the frrst record of the family Echimyidae for the Cerro Azul Formation (Huayquerian Age, Late Upper Miocene) at La Pampa Province, central Argentina. Both species have hypsodont cheek teeth with an eight-shaped occlusal design. This dental morphology represents a noticeable case of convergence to octodontids and indicates that these echimyids inhabited open environments.