Until the discovery of dinosaur eggshells locality in the Oukdiksou syncline, (Middle Atlas, Morocco) in 1999 (Garcia et al. this volume) the maastrichtian reptiles faunas were unknown in North Africa. Additional material from Achlouj-2 allows us to describe five oospecies, belonging to four oofamilies. The Megaloolithidae is recorded by Megaloolithus maghrebiellsis Garcia el al. and Pseudomegaloolithus atlasi oogen. novo oospec. nov. Tipoolithus achloujensis Garcia et al. is questionably considered as a Subtiliolithidae. A relatively small Elongatoloolithidae is represented by Rodolphoolithus arioul oogen. nov. oospec. nov. A thin Prismatoolithidae is described as a new oospecies of ? Pseudogeckoolithus Vianey-Liaud & Lopez-Martinez, 1997: P. tirboulensis. The diversity of these oospecies indicates that the dinosaur fauna comprises at least five dinosaur oospecies, with perhaps one sauropod and three theropods. 

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. 

Fossils of the Trionychidae, Bataguridae or Emydidae, Palaeophis and Crocodylia from Chattahoochee, NW Florida, USA, represent the first report of an Eocene reptile fauna from Florida. 

The study of new specimens from the Stephanian shales of Montceau-les-Mines confirms and enlarges the number of groups already known in this area. Among the Palaeonisciforms, “form A" is now known more completely, although no diagnosis or name can yet be given for it. “Form B" is redescribed and its relationships with “Elonichthys robisoni" are discussed. A palaeoniscid is recorded which resembles those from Bourbon l'Archambault. The paramblypteriforms occur rather frequently, but no genera can be determined. The aeduelliforms comprise some specimens close to Aeduella blainvíllei from Muse (Autun basin), and a new genus. Comparison of the latter with two fossils from Lally allows creation of two new species and a new family. This diversification of the aeduelliforms during this middle Stephanian leads to the hypothesis that the group originated at least as early the lower Stephanian. This material prooves again the characteristic endemism of this fauna, particularly of the aeduelliforms which are known only in the Massif Central where they diversified during the Permo-Carboniferous. Biogeographical consequences are discussed. 

A fossil fish fauna, based on 5533 otoliths, from the La Paillade locality at Montpellier is described and figured. The otolith-bearing marls correlate to mammal zone MN l (Aguilar, 1982), and thus represent the earliest Miocene. The fish fauna consists of 30 taxa belonging to 20 families. Two species are new: Dussumieria sittigi and Liza gaudanti. The predominant faunal element is the Lesueurigobius vicínalis-species complex, composing 73% of all investigated otoliths. The palaeoecological analysis reveals a marine to euryhaline fish fauna living under tropical to subtropical conditions in the transition zone littoral - sublittoral. Water depth probably was more than 10 m. The scarcity of pelagic físhes suggests that the habitat was either a sheltered bay and/or far away from the open sea. Furthermore, some genera represented in the La Paillade fish fauna presently live exclusively in the Indopacific realm. Their presence strongly supports a broad connection between the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean, and the Paratethys Seas during the Early Miocene (Aquitanian). From a palaeobiogeographical point of view, faunal relationships were found between the La Paillade fish fauna and both the Paratethys fish fauna and the fish fauna from the deposits in the Upper Rhinegraben and the Mayence and Hanau Basins (Germany).



  

The Montredon local fauna yielded very rare bats, represented by damaged isolated teeth. Only a few documents are available for this period of the European Neogene. ln this poor state of knowledge, the material represents three undetermined species, a supposed molossid and two vespertilionids. 

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 earliest cetaceans are found in the early Eocene of Indo-Pakistan. By the late middle to late Eocene, the group colonized most oceans of the planet. This late Eocene worldwide distribution clearly indicates that their dispersal took place during the middle Eocene (Lutetian). We report here the first discovery of a protocetid fossil from middle Eocene deposits of Senegal (West Africa). The Lutetian cetacean specimen from Senegal is a partial left innominate. Its overall form and proportions, particularly the well-formed lunate surface with a deep and narrow acetabular notch, and the complete absence of pachyostosis and osteosclerosis, mark it as a probable middle Eocene protocetid cetacean. Its size corresponds to the newly described Togocetus traversei from the Lutetian deposits of Togo. However, no innominate is known for the Togolese protocetid, which precludes any direct comparison between the two West African sites. The Senegalese innominate documents a new early occurrence of this marine group in West Africa and supports an early dispersal of these aquatic mammals by the middle Eocene.
  

Record of life and works of Henri Menu, French zoologist, contributor to the knowledge of living and fossil bats. 

Le Quercy est aujourd'hui un vaste plateau calcaire, parcouru par un réseau karstique actif, pro· fondément entaillé par des vallées aux falaises abruptes, comme celles du Lot ou du Célé. Sur un sol peu épais domine la forêt de chênes, accompagnés de cornouillers, érables, genévriers. La faune est pauvre, peu diverse, et les nombreux chasseurs se satisfont de gibier d'élevage ...
Il y a trente-cinq millions d'années environ, le paysage était bien différent. La période de l'Eocène supérieur, qui s'achevait, avait été chaude et humide, si l'on se réfère à la fois aux paléotempératures (calculées à partir de sédiments marins extra-européens) et aux restes fossilisés de végétaux typiquement tropicaux.
Le Causse du Quercy devait être un plateau très disséqué par la karstification, à surface lapiazée creusée de gouffres en rapide évolution interne, et couvert d'un sol assez épais. Une forêt tropicale humide, avec notamment des Myricacées et des gymnospermes, recouvrait l'ensemble du pays, à peine interrompue au niveau des rares points d'eaux situés dans les bas-fonds. Dans ce cadre vivait une faune considérablement différente de la maigre faune actuelle. Si nous pouvons l'imaginer, c'est grâce aux cadavres des animaux entraînés dans les cavités par les eaux courantes ou les prédateurs, ou bien logeant et mourant dans les milieux souterrains. Nombre de ces restes, fossilisés, sont parvenus jusqu'à nous et sont aujourd'hui l'objet d'étude. 

The teeth and the astragale of the Creodonta from Ste-Néboule (Lot) are referred to Hyaenodon brachyrhynchus. Isolated teeth fit morphologically the material from La Débruge (Middle Ludian). However, biometric analysis suggests an Upper Ludian age. 

La poche de Ste-Néboule, commune de Béduer (Lot), 15 km environ à l'WSW de Figeac, fait partie du groupe le plus septentrional des gouffres creusés par les ruissellements du Paléogène dans les calcaires jurassiques de la bordure sud-ouest du Massif Central et qui furent comblés à la même époque par des argiles sidérolithiques accompagnées de phosphate de chaux concrétionné ainsi que des restes de la célèbre faune dite «des phosphorites du Quercy» . 

Several different taxa of jawed vertebrates are reported for the first time from the Devonian of south-eastern Montagne Noire, France. Besides some undeterminable fragments of placoderm fishes from the Pragian and Lower Emsian, the material from the Upper Devonian is mainly represented by Melanosteus occitanus gen. and sp. nov. (Frasnian) and Thoralodus cabrieri LEHMAN, 1952 ("Famennian"). The good state of preservation of Melanosteus allows a detailed anatomical study leading to a phylogenetic analysis of the selenosteid pachyosteomorphs. 

Rodents from the new localities of Châteauredon (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence) and La Denise (Bouches-du-Rhône) show more similarities with the rodents known from the Czecho-Slovak locality of Franzenbad than with the species found in contemporaneous Lower Miocene faunas located westward of the present Rhône Valley. This is another data wich support the existance of several biogeographical provinces in Southern France during Lower Miocene. The correlations which have been settled down allow new datations of several formations in Provence and give new information on the Aquitanian and Burdigalian paleogeographies of this region. More precise stratigraphical allocations are given to some other localities of Central Europe. 

In the course of a revision of the Equoidea numerous dentitions as well as a partial skeleton of a Phenaeodont were discovered from the Middle Eocene lignite beds of the Geiseltal locality. These fossils are recognized as a new genus and species of Phenacodontidae : HaIlensia matthesi n.g. n.sp.. The species is present in the « untere und obere Unterkohle ›› (uUK, oUK = the lower and upper part of the Lower Coal Seam) as well as in the « obere Mittelkohle ›› (oMK = the upper part of the Middle Coal Seam). Two fragmentary upper jaws described and figured by Matthes (1977) as Propachynolophus gaudryi are also belonging to Hallensia matthesi. Thus the decisive argument for classifying the " Unterkohle " of the Geiseltal section as Lower Eocene has to be dropped. Another relict form of the Geiseltal is Esthonyx tardus n. sp. documented by a fragmentary mandible coming from the « untere Unterkohle ››. This is the latest Tillodont from Europe. Contrasting to E. munieri from the european Lower Eocene the dentition of E. tardus is morphologically more progressive. 

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 middle Palaeocene of São José de Itaboraí (State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) has yielded a very rich and diverse snake fauna which includes Madtsoiidae, Aniliidae s.l., Boidae, Tropidophiidae s.l., Booidea incertae sedis, and Russellophiidae. The present article (part I) deals with Madtsoiidae and Aniliidae s.l. Madtsoiidae are represented by many vertebrae and a few skull bones. They comprise one new species assigned to the genus Madtsoia (M. camposi sp. nov.). However, the definition of the genus Madtsoia is unsatisfactory and the generic allocation might be provisional. A few elements, vertebrae only, belong to the Aniliidae s. l. Two taxa are referred to this latter group: Coniophis cf. C. precedens and Hoffstetterella brasiliensis gen. et sp. nov. The forthcoming part II will deal with Boidae.

  

The Paleogene faunal assemblage from Antofagasta de la Sierra (Catamarca, Argentina), is here presented, both in its geological and systematic aspects. The fossil bearing levels are referred to the Geste Formation (Pastos Grandes "Group"). The described specimens belong to the Classes Reptilia (Orders Crocodylia, Serpentes and Chelonii) and Mammalia (three taxa from the Superorder Marsupialia, representatives of the Orders Edentata, Condylarthra, Pyrotheria and Astrapotheria, and six families of the Order Notoungulata). This fauna is referred to the Mustersan Age, which in Patagonia represents the Middle Eocene. Such chronologic assignment is based on the presence of characteristic taxa, their evolutionary stage and on stratigraphic evidence. Finally, a brief comparison with other faunal assemblages from the Early Tertiary of Argentina and Chile, is presented. 

New populations of the genus Megacricetodon have recently been discovered in Southern France.Two new species are defined: M. lemartineli n. sp. and M. fournasi n. sp., their stages of evolution are intermediate between those of M. gersii and M. roussillonensis. Morphological and biometrical analysis indicate the presence of only one lineage: M. collongensis--M. collongensis-gersii--M. gersii--M.lemartineli nov. sp.--M. fournasi nov. sp. and M. roussillonensis. This observation allows to refine the chronology based on rodents, for the Late Early Miocene and the Middle Miocene in the Southern France.
Comparisons with some iberian species are done. The validity of the French species M. bezianensis and M. bourgeoisi is discussed. 

Six orders of birds adapted to aquatic life are represented among the numerous avifauna of "Saint-Gérand-le-Puy": Gaviiformes, Procellariiformes, Pelecaniformes, Ciconiiformes, Phoenicopteriformes, and Anseriformes. The present study of this avifauna proposes several changes in systematics:- Procellariiformes: Puffinus arvernensis does not belong in Procellariidae but in Diomodeidae, and it is transferred to the fossil genus Plotornis previously described in the Middle Miocene of France. - Pelecaniformes: Phalacrocorax littoralis remains in Phalacrocoracidae; P. míocaenus is different from the modern species, and is transferred to the new genus Nectornis. Empheresula arvernensis, described in the Oligocene deposits of Gannat, seems to be present in Saint-Gérand-le-Puy too. Pelecanus gracilis shows many differences from the modern species, and belongs to the new genus Miopelecanus, - Ciconiiformes: Ardea formosa nom. oblit. is a synonym of Proardeola walkeri. - Anseriformes: a new species closely related to swans is described, and belongs to the fossil genus Cygnopterus, of the Middle Oligocene of Europe; this species is called C. alphonsi. The ecology of each species is suggested by comparison with that of its nearest living relatives, and by study of osteological adaptations.