The family Didelphidae is represented by three species in the Sainte-Néboule site, phosphorites of Quercy (lower Oligocene, San Cugat's nivel): Amphiperatherium minutum (Aymard), Amphiperatherium sp. and Peratherium cuvieri (Fischer). Only the first  and  third species are abundant (88 and 97 pieces). This two populations are described. The marsupial fauna of the european lower Oligocene is not recognized in its entirety in this site. 

A new artiodactyl, Diacodexis antunesi n.sp., is described from the early Eocene of Silveirinha, Portugal. Comparisons are made with Diacodexis gazini GODINOT, 1978, D. varleti SUDRE et al., 1983, D. cf. varleti from Paris Basin sites, D. sp. from Dormaal and from localities in Spain and England, D. secans from North America and D. pakistanensis from Asia; affinities and evolutive tendencies are discussed. The presence of Diacodexis in the locality of Silveirinha confirms the very early Eocene age of the latter. As Diacodexis antunesi appears ta be more primitive than D. gazini from Rians (early Eocene of France), it lends corroboration to the interpretation (essentially based previously on condylarths) of the Silveirinha assemblage as the oldest Eocene fauna known in Europe and supports the hypothesis that early artiodactyls migrated from Europe to North America. 

Avant propos au "Premier catalogue des specimens-types Paléontologiques déposés dans les collections de l'Université de Montpellier II". 

The general principles guiding the study of wear facets which develop during mastication in mammals possessing tribosphenic molars are named. The application of this method of study to the molars of European Tertiary Didelphidae shows that the lineage of this family as represented by the species Peratherium cuvieri (Upper Eocene), P. elegans (Lower-middle Oligocene) and P. antiquum (Upper Oligocene) has propessively evolved toward a more carnivorous diet. 

The stapes is the last of the middle ear ossicle chain and the smallest bone of the mammalian skeleton. Because it rests on the membrane of the fenestra vestibuli during life, the stapes may often fall within the bony labyrinth cavity when soft structures decay after death. In this work, we highlight the unexpected role that the bony labyrinth plays in the preservation of the stapes. Systematic investigation of the bony labyrinth of 50 petrosal bones of extinct and extant artiodactyls led to the discovery of eight cases of “intralabyrinthine” stapes. Three dimensional reconstructions of these stapes allow documenting stapes morphology of four extinct artiodactyl taxa: Microstonyx erymanthius (Suidae), Elomeryx borbonicus (Hippopotamoidea), ?Helohyus plicodon (Helohyidae), and an undetermined Cainotheriidae; and four extant ones Choeropsis and Hippopotamus (Hippopotamidae), and Tayassu and Phacochoerus (Suoidea). ?Helohyus plicodon from the Middle Eocene documents the oldest stapes known for the order Artiodactyla. Morphological study and metric analyses of our sample of artiodactylan stapes show that stapes are likely to carry relevant phylogenetic characters/signal within artiodactyls, and a potential Euungulata signature. 

La localité fossilifère du Puech de Montredon, désignée plus communément sous le nom de Montredon, est située sur la commune de Montouliers (Hérault) à quelques 300 mètres de la limite avec le département de l'Aude. Elle a été découverte en 1845 par Narbonne, Directeur des Mines de La Caunette, et de très nombreux restes de vertébrés continentaux y ont été extraits. La plus ancienne mention de ce gisement dans la littérature semble être celle de Lartet (1859) qui signale que "M. Jourdan, de Lyon, a constaté à Montredon, près de Bize (Aude), l'association des restes de Dinotherium avec l'Hipparion". 

Two new species, Omanodon minor n. g., n. sp. and Shizarodon dhofarensis n. g., n. sp., known from fifteen isolated teeth, are described here as the first adapiform primates (?Anchomomyini) recognizable to date in the Taqah material (early Oligocene of Sultanate of Oman).

Omanodon minor n. g., n. sp. displays special morphological similarity to the adapid tribe Anchomomyini from the Eocene of Europe, and especially to the Anchomomys lineage. Resemblances with the extant lemurifonn Microcebus are also noticeable and could be regarded as supporting Schwartz & Tattersall (1983) hypothesis of special relationships between the anchomomyine adapids and the cheirogaleid lemuriformes. However, these morphological affmities can be interpreted, altematively, as the results of parallelisms: important differences in upper molars indicate that the resemblances of cheirogaleids and Omanodon minor n. g., n. sp. are indeed probably due to parallelisms. Phyletic relationship of O. minor n. g., n. sp. to Anchomomyini is finally the most likely hypothesis.

Shizarodon dhofarensis n. g., n. sp., although much more poorly known, is closely related to Omanodon minor n. g., n. sp., at least at a familial level. The general morphology of this species suggests
also a close link with adapid Anchomomyini, although precise relationships within this tribe remain obscure. Interesting resemblances of Shizarodon dhofarensis n. g., n. sp. to Djebelemur martinezi lower molars (early Eocene of Tunisia) are also noticeable. These resemblances are even stronger than those betwen Omanodon minor and Djebelemur martinezi. However the very bunodont upper molars referred to D. martinezi are unusual for adapids, and there are moreover some notable differences in their lower molars. Thus resemblances in Djebelemur and Shizarodon are probably due to paralellisms.

Because of the fragmentary nature of the material and of possible parallelisms, the systematic position of Omanodon and Shizarodon within adapiformes cannot however yet be established definitively. 

Some complete tooth rows and about one hundred isolated teeth enabled the identification of the deinothere of the Vallesian site Montredon (Hérault) as Deinotherium giganteum KAUP 1829, mainly by comparisons with the likewise Vallesian sample of the type locality Eppelsheim (Rheinhessen, F.R.G.).
Scatterdiagrams of the teeth show the importance of allometry during the phyletic size increase of the European deinotheres.
Some taphonomic problems of the Montredon deinothere are briefly mentioned. 

The Tertiary of the Salla-Luribay basin consists of red beds affected by the second period of the andine compression, of Miocene ending age. The Tertiary layers are exposed at an approximate elevation of 3.500 to 4.000 meters. Two stratigraphic units can be distinguished in them: the Luribay conglomerates, in which vertical clifts result from erosion, and the Salla layers consisting mostly of consolidated clays. These clays are very fossiliferous and have furnished a rich vertebrate fauna which gave to R. Hoffstetter the possibility to establish the Oligocene age of these beds. Sediments of same age has been reported to be present in several other places of Bolivia, particularly near Lacayani, where have been collected highly hypsodont Rodents, different from those found in Salla-Luribay basin. 

HGL50 is a latest Early-early Middle Eocene vertebrate-bearing locality located in Western Algeria. It has produced the richest and most diverse fauna of amphibians and squamate reptiles reported from the Palaeogene of Africa. Moreover, it is one of the rare faunas including amphibians and squamates known from the period of isolation of Africa. The assemblage comprises 17 to 20 taxa (one gymnophionan, one probable caudate, three to six anurans, seven ‘lizards’, and five snakes). Two new taxa were recovered: the anuran Rocekophryne ornata gen. et sp. nov. and the snake Afrotortrix draaensis gen. et sp. nov. The locality has also yielded the first confirmed anilioid snake, the first Palaeogene gymnophionan, and probably the first caudate from the Palaeogene (and possibly from the Tertiary) of Africa. The presence of a caudate at that time in Africa would be of particular interest; unfortunately, the available material does not permit a definitive identification. The fauna comprises Gondwanan and more specifically West Gondwanan vicariants, probably autochthonous groups and a Eurasian immigrant (assuming that the identification of the caudate is accurate). The fauna from HGL50 is clearly distinguished from the few other Eocene assemblages of Africa. However, if this results largely from differences in geological ages, geographic positions of the localities and mainly differences in environments took a part in the composition of the faunas. 

The biometric and morphologie variability of the cheek teeth in the end-of-the-phylum species Lophiodon lautricense Noulet studied in this note, reposes on the observation of about 800 teeth. These were revealed to be little variable in absolute dimensions. The considerable morphologie variability in the upper premolars permitted the problem of the molarization process to be taken up. An hypothesis concerning the order of eruption of the cheek teeth is formulated based on an examination of a large number of milk dentitions. In conclusion, it is suggested that reservations be held on the value of dental characters classically used in systematics for the group under consideration. 

The description of new material from three classic middle Eocene localities of western Europe permits the addition of details to the systematics of primitive Pseudosciurids. The cranial anatomy of Protadelomys cartieri (STEHLIN and SCHAUB) from Egerkingen is described here and compared to that of the Adelomyines from the late Eocene, until now the only ones known. The morphologic and biometric study of the dentition of P. cartieri compared to that of P. alsaticus n. sp. from Bouxwiller and P. Iugdunensis n. sp. from Lissieu, forms respectively older and younger than P. cartieri, permits the evolutionary tendencies of the group to be demonstrated and shows that notable differences in age exist between these localities. This ensemble of forms can constitute a valuable guide lineage in the establishment of a fine stratigraphy of the period. Other less well known lineages are present at Egerkingen along with P. cartieri. They can be related to genera that have been noted int he late Eocene. In conclusion, a criticism of recent zonation proposals, made by divers authors, completes this article. 

In this article is described a new species of Nyctitheriidae with primitive characters: Leptacodon nascimentoi n. sp. from the early Eocene of Silveirinha (Portugal). 

The remains of Ruminantia are very rare at Montredon. No specific determination was possible. We have only one Micromeryx, one small cervid, one tragocere and one (?) gazella. The faunal spectrum is in good correlation with the general retreat of the cervids in the European upper Miocene, but in contrast it is not convenient for the bovids, which are in expansion at the same time. For them, we have to invoke the local ecological conditions.
  

Le matériel provenant de nouvelles fouilles dans les phosphorites du Quercy, soumis aux divers spécialistes, a conduit à la soutenance de plusieurs thèses d'état: sur les rongeurs (Hartenberger, Vianey-Liaud), les Chiroptères et Insectivores (Sigé), les Artiodactyles (Sudre), les Squamates (Rage) et, en partie, les Chéloniens (De Broin). Chacun dans son domaine, à côté des conclusions d'ordre évolutif, paléogéographique ou paléoécologique, a pu établir des successions stratigraphiques des gisements du Quercy qui se sont révélées largement concordantes. Ainsi la succession des faunes du Quercy est actuellement l'une des mieux établies. Dans ce contexte, les différents spécialistes ont décidé de conjuguer leurs efforts dans l'étude monographique de plusieurs gisements repérés le long de cette échelle, afin de rassembler l'information paléontologique sur des faunes bien précises et de tenter d'obtenir des indications d'ordre taphonomique. 

The classifications of the recent vespertilionine bats were made wihtout taking in account the teeth morphology; this resulted in a reduction of the possibilities of comparison with the available fossils. The generalized use of dental formulae was abusive: this contributed to the admission of artificial genera. These conditions have long delayed the consideration of characters able to frame the phylogeny of the sub-family. In the first part of the study, the teeth morphologies are described and analysed. morphological reference types are established for each upper and lower tooth: they should make an easier elaboration of criteria for the differentiation at generic level. The position of the species in view of these criteria allows one to group them into homogeneous genera, and to appreciate the degree of relationship that the latter have between them. The second part of the study (next publicationà will develop inferences dealing with systematics and phylogeny 

Nyctereutes megamastoides (Pomel) from the Villafranchian of the Auvergne and from Saint-Vallier presents cranial and dental characters sufficiently close to those of the late Pliocene canid from Perpignan (Roussillon), described by Depéret under the specific name of Canis donnezani belonging to the same genus Nyctereutes. The extinction of the European "Nyctereutes" group seems due to the too great alimentary specialization of this canid, whereas the Asiatic lineage represented in the Villafranchian by Nyctereutes sinensis Schlosser and at present by Nyctereutes procyonider Gray was able to maintain itself probably by means of a profound change in its alimentary regime. 

Une hémimandibule et une molaire supérieure recueillies dans le gisement oligocène inférieur d'Escamps (phosphorites du Quercy) fournissent de nouvelles informations sur le genre Pseudorhyncocyon FllHOL, grand insectivore longirostre du Paléogène d'Europe, fossile très mal connu jusqu'ici. Des comparaisons avec les macroscélididés africains, géolabididés nord-américains, et leptictidés euraméricains permettent de rattacher cet amimal aux leptictidés, et de le rapprocher du genre Lepticidium TOBIEN, au sein de la sous-famille européenne nouvelle des pseudorhyncocyoninés. 

The Montredon site has yielded about hundred rhinoceros remains:
- twenty two of them, including 14 carpal and tarsal bones and 6 complete metapodials, belong to
Dicerorhinus schleiermacheri at its second evolutionary stage;
- fifty one remains including a nearby complete but crushed skull, a mandible, 26 isolated cheek-teeth, 10 carpals and tarsals, one metacarpal, are of Aceratherium incisivum, second evolutionary
stage;
- fifteen remains belong to Aceratherium (Alicornops) simorrense (among other an upper molar, 8 carpals and tarsals, one metatarsal);
- six remains are attributed to an undetermined species of what is probably the most recent Prosantorhinus ever found.
The evolution stages of the two first species allow us to date the deposit back to the Upper Vallesian, MN 10 zone; Montredon is one of the youngest sites in which Aceratherium simorrense was found. The four rhino species indicate a swampy forest biotope 

New Dendromus species (Rodentia, Muroídea) from Langebaanweg (Pliocene, South Africa). Stratigraphical and paleoecological consequences.

Two new species of Dendromus are described from the Langebaanweg site which precises the evolutionary trend among this genus in South Africa and gives further paleoenvironmental indications. Two evolutionary stages are described: D. darti nov. sp. shows low-crowned molars with bunodont cusps and its more closest relative would be D. melanozis from the Cape region. On the contrary, D. averyi nov. sp. is more lophodont and is better related with the modem D. melanotis. Both species are at a less evolved stage than the Dendromus sp. from Laetolil Beds at Laetoli. The Langebaanweg deposits cannot still be dated by biostratigraphy but they clearly cannot be older than the basis of Pliocene times. The association of Dendromus and Mystromys in the same levels indicates a grassland environment with woodland patches as well as probable swamps.