The faunal list of the mammals collected at the locality of Aumelas (Hérault, France) is revised. For the first
time this Middle Eocene locality is precisely settled in the european chronological scale of "niveaux repères", between the levels of Bouxwiller and Egerkingen, in Uppermost Lutetian.
A new Dichobunid from the site is described : Aumelasia gabineaudi n. g., n. sp. This new genus has primitive characters. and it may be in the descent of the Lower Eocene Protodichobune. 

The Tafna Basin corresponds to the lowlands, which are located in front of Tessala and Traras ranges, below the Tlemcen mountains, Algeria. This basin displays a complete sedimentary cycle dominated by lagoonal-fluvial and marine deposits. The continental formations located at the base of these deposits are mainly composed of alternating sandstones and clays. An early late Miocene age has been previously attributed to them, based on direct correlations with marine deposits. Search for micromammal fossils led to the discovery of three different rodent species from a single level of the Djebel Guetaf section, located at the bottom of these deposits. The rodent assemblage indicates a late Miocene age. Combined magnetostratigraphical and biostratigraphical investigations were carried out to provide a more accurate age control of these continental deposits. Sixty-four oriented rock samples were collected for a magnetostratigraphic study along a 92 meters thick section including the fossiliferous layer. Rock magnetic investigations indicate the presence of both high and low coercivity minerals. Specimens subjected to progressive thermal demagnetization procedures show that the samples exhibit a high temperature magnetization component and display a normal polarity. Based on biostratigraphic constraints, the Guetaf section is correlated with Chron C4An, indicating an age ranging from
9.1 to 8.7 Myr.
  

There are very few birds in the site of Sainte-Néboule. They belong to three species already known in the "Phosphorites" : Paraortyx brancoi, Aegialornis broweri, Cypselavus gallicus, and to one new species, Recurvirostra santaeneboulae. The comparison of some different bones of the genus Cypselavus with some Apodiformes and Caprimulgiformes shows that this genus must be classified in the order Apodiformes. 

Equus caballus antunesi, nova subspecies, was a hypsodont, slender, and rather small horse (around 141cm at the withers), with narrow hooves and protocones longer on P3/-P4/ than on M1/-M2/. It does not fit in any of the different "types" of Pleistocene caballine horses previously recognized but may be related to the horse from the Acheulean of Solana del Zamborino.
Hypsodonty, small size, slenderness, narrow hooves are all characters that can easily be related to ecological conditions. Equus caballus antunesi was probably a horse adapted to rather dry and cold conditions and to a hard ground. It does not seem related at all to the North-European Equus caballus germanicus-gallicus group. 

Mammal-bearing localities have been discovered in the marine and lacustrine series of the middle Ilerdian (Lowermost Eocene) from Southem France (Minervois and Corbières). In the localities of Fordones, Monze, Fournès, and La Gasque, thirty mammal species have been identified. Among others, they include ischyromyid rodents (Microparamys and Pseudoparamys), paromomyid and adapid primates (Arcius and Donrussellia), new insectivores, condylarths, and a dyspternine pantolestid. These faunas provide new informations on the early Eocene Mesogean faunas of Rians and Palette. The assemblages of primates and rodents from Fordones support good  correlations with Palette which was recently placed near the standard-level of Dormaal (MP 7). In fact, Palette and Fordones could be even older than Dormaal. Consequently, there seems to be a relatively important temporal gap between the late Paleocene of Cernay and the Sparnacian of Dormaal. This gap could be partly filled with the Mesogean faunas of Palette, Fordones, and Silveirinha. On the basis of these new mammal faunas the marine middle Ilerdian is proved to be older than the Cuisian stage of the Paris Basin. With regards to the position of the Fordones fauna at the top of the NP 10 calcareous nannoplankton biozone, the westem European paleomammalogists Paleocene/Eocene boundary could be situated between the NP 9 and NP 10 biozones. 

The genus Paraulacodus has been collected in the Ch'orora formation of Upper Miocene age, in Ethiopia. The new species, P. johanesi n. sp.. is more evolved than the previously described indian species P. indicus HINTON of the Siwalik Hills area. The morphological gap between P. johanesi and the present Thryonomys is still important. 

The skull remains referred to the genus Palaeotherium are recorded and described. Biometrical tests are made to elucidate intrageneric allometric relationships and to allow comparisons with various other perissodactyls. Apart from the well known shortness of post canine diastems and deepness of the narial opening, the genus is characterized by a great lengthening of the splanchnocranium, owing to a spreading of the post-orbital facial region, by a reduced area of the eye-socket and by the prevalence of the temporal muscle with regard to the masseter; this original shape of the masticatory apparatus needs to be related to the morphology of the jugal teeth and particularly to their  asymmetrical semi-hypsodonty.
    These animals, whose running ability was evidently poor, appear to have been adapted to rather closed environments, feeding on relatively soft vegetable matter; olfactory sense was likely to play a leading part in interindividual and environmental relationships. Such evolutionary trends might explain the disappearance of most of them, as clirnatic conditions deteriorated at the end of the Eocene, before the "Grande Coupure" which affected mammalian faunas at that time.
      Although the present paper is not directly concemed with phylogenetics, it invalidates the supposed ancestor-descendant relationship between P. castrense and P. magnum, and it suggests a possible emergence of the P. medium lineage from a P. siderolithicum stock. Moreover, the structure of the post-orbital facial area allows the  erection of a new sub-genus, Franzenitherium, for the  species lautricense and duvali.

  

The Late Miocene site of Gritsev (MN 9, Ukraine) has yielded a very rich bat fauna, the remains of which are well preserved. Compared to other Neogene bat assemblages of Europe, the Gritsev bat community is unique in preserving plecotine bats, which are rare from Neogene sites. Some peculiar and new bat species, including a large plecotin Otonycteris, already were described from the Gritsev mammal site. Here we report new records of small plecotin bats from Gritsev, including a new taxon, Barbastella maxima nov. sp. This is the earliest reliable fossil record of this genus and it differs from more recent species of Barbastella in being considerably larger. The evolutionary patterns in the odontology within the tribe Plecotini, supported by biostratigraphical distribution of fossil records of Plecotus are discussed. The morphological peculiarities of the new fossils of plecotine bats from Gritsev are discussed in connection with its possible taxonomical affinity. 

Description of four new rodents from a recently discovered locality at Montalban. Theridomys crusafonti nov. sp. is considered as the ancestry of T. Iembronicus. Theridomys varian: nov. sp. includes «Theridomys» morphotypes and «Blainvilllimys» morphotypes; it could be ancestral to B. blainvillei. Pseudoltinomys nanus nov. sp. represents a new lineage paralleling in evolution that of P. gaillardi (which is equally found at Montalban). Pseudocricetodon montalbanensis nov. gen., nov. sp. designates a lineage of very small Cricetidae accompanying Eucricetodon. With these well defined new species and six others present in the locality, Montalban appears as the best faunal reference point within the biochronologic zone of La Sauvetat.
As an annex, discussion of two rodent specimens from the classic localíty of Tárrega, close in age to that of Montalban. 

A skull of Parabos cordieri, undamaged by fossilisation, allows us to make an endocranial cast, which is compared to those of Bos taurus, Boselaphus tragocamelus and Hippotragus equinus. These are studied by general form (shape, volume, « rolling-up›› and inclination), and by detailed morphology (gyri and sulci patterns, rete mirabile, importance of rhinencephalon and cerebellum).
A preliminary study is made in order to recognize convolution topography, gyri, sulci, and the various encephalic regions as clearly on an endocranial cast as on a bare encephalon; an intermediate stage is the study of an encephalon covered with «soft» meninges.
The comparative study reveals great similarity between the endocranial cast of Parabos cordieri and that of Boselaphus tragocamelus, both belonging to the tribe Boselaphini. On the other hand, a marked differences separates the cast of Parabos cordieri from that of Bos taurus, representing the tribe Bovini to which Parabos cordieri had been referred. The endocranial cast of Hippotragus equinus, which had long been considered the descendant of Parabos cordieri, is also quite different from that of Parabos. 

Pour la première fois un spécimen de lagomorphe a été récolté en Quercy. L'intérêt de ce fossile tient surtout à son âge géologique inattendu, qui recule considérablement la date de première apparition en Europe de cet ordre de mammifère, Ceci nous paraît justifier une nouvelle réflexion sur la « grande coupure» oligocène, 

Tarsals that can be confidently attributed to Paschatheríum dolloi from Dormaal (Belgium) are described. The astragalus is short; its broad neck is set at an angle of 30 degrees to the trochlea. The trochlea is pulley-shaped and proximally extended. There is no astragalar foramen. The medial tibial facet extends distally in a cup deeply excavated in the neck and buttressed. The sustentacular facet extends toward the navicular facet but is not fully confluent with it. The calcaneum bears a proximo-distally extended proximal facet for the astragalus. A relatively large peroneal tubercle projects from the body, and is situated distally. Functionally, the trochlea indicates extensive flexion-extension movements of the foot. Calcaneo-astragalar facets indicate sliding and rotation between the two tarsals. The inclination of the navicular facet suggests frequent foot inversion. The peroneal tubercle reflects good muscular capacities for foot rotation. Overall morphology is interpreted as a scansorial adaptation similar to that of sciurids.Comparisons are made with the tarsals of Macrocranion vandebroeki from Dormaal and Hyopsodus paulus from the Bridgerian of Wyoming. Some similarities between the astragali of Paschatherium and Macrocraníon (trochlea) are interpreted as convergences for rapid locomotion. However absence of mobility at the lower ankle and midtarsal joints in M. vandebroekzi suggests that this species was cursorial, as is known for M. tenerum from Messel. Similarities in the calcanea of Paschatherium and Hyopsodus are probably the result of close phylogenetic relations, and confirm the placement of Paschatherium in the hyopsodontids. The differences in the calcanea of Paschatherium and Macrocranion underline that Paschatherium is distinct from erinaceomorph insectivores. The differences in astragalar morphology between Paschatherium and Hyopsodus show that a marked adaptive divergence separates the two genera. We speculate about the common occurrence of a deep tibial cup (“cotylar fossa”) and a pulley-shaped trochlea in Paschatherium and hyracoids, suggesting that an adaptive scenario similar to that having led to Paschatherium (scansoriality) might explain the acquisition of the peculiar hyracoid tarsal characters; such a scenario contradicts the concept of Pantomesaxonia. Other peculiar characters of Hyopsodus suggest that hyopsodontids might be given more consideration in the search for hyracoid (and tethythere) origins. 

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 petrosal of the Paulchoffatiidae HAHN, 1969 is described and compared with that of younger multituberculates and of other Mesozoic mammals. The "Morrison petrosal", described by Prothero (1983), is also discussed; it probably belongs to the multituberculates. The reconstruction of the ventral side of the Paulchoffatiinae-skull, given by Hahn in 1987, is completed by addition of the otic and the occipital region. 

When the first edition of Mike Benton’s Vertebrate Palaeontology came out in 1990, sauropods still dragged their tails on the ground, the closest relatives of whales were mesonychids, and Mesozoic birds consisted essentially of Archaeopteryx, Ichthyornis and Hesperornis. Twenty-five years later, the book, now in its fourth edition, is a third longer, in a larger format and sports fine colour plates – in addition to a companion website. 

Bats are among the most numerous and widespread mammals today, but their fossil record is comparatively meagre and their early evolution poorly understood. Here we describe a new fossil bat from dental remains recovered from late Early Eocene sediments at Prémontré, northern France. This 50 million-year-old bat exhibits a mosaic of plesiomorphic and apomorphic dental features, including the presence of three lower premolars, a single-rooted p3, short p4 with metaconid, myotodont lower molars and a tall coronoid process of the dentary. This combination of features suggests it is an early member of Vespertilionidae, today’s most speciose and geographically widespread bat family. The Prémontré bat has bearing on hypotheses about the origins of vesper or evening bats (Family Vespertilionidae), as well as crown-group chiropterans.


  

The recently discovered, very rich, Pliocene locality of Layna (Soria, Spain), has already yielded 30 species of mammals. Hipparion fissurae, described here is more dolichopodic than other Hipparion. It is related to Hipparion crusafonti from Villaroya (Villafranchian), but more slender between other characters.
  

Dichobunoid artiodactyls are described in this paper from the middle Eocene Geiseltal lignite deposits near Halle (Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany). The genera Eurodexis and Parahexacodus are established based on odontologica1 studies. The type-species are E. ceciliensis (FRANZEN & KRUMBIEGEL, 1981) and P. germanicus n. sp. from the "obere Mittelkohle" (see text), MP 13. The genera are referred to the new subfamily Eurodexeinae (Dichobunidae, Artiodactyla, Mammalia), which also contains the monospecific genus Eygalayodon SUDRE & MARANDAT, 1993. These new genera show many features similar to North American homacodontids and antiacodontids. They exemplify a high degree of diversity in European dichobunids. Moreover, the family Dichobunidae includes the Dichobuninae and the Hyperdichobuninae. The connection of the posthypocristid with the postentocristid, the shift of a medial to a lingual position of the hypoconulid on the lower molars and the development of a large, caniniform P1 are regarded as the principal tendencies of the eurodexeines. The entoconid is larger and more mesially situated compared to that of Diacodexis. The hypoconulid has a lingual position on a broad postcingulid. The elongation of the premolars and the presence of diastemata are considered associated with extension of the muzzle. This and the acute tubercles of the molars could indicate a limited degree of insectivory. Protodichobune cf. oweni and Diacodexis cf. varleli, first reported here from the "untere Unterkohle" (MP 11) of the Geiseltal, demonstrate the existence of forms in the basal part of the middle Eocene, that are direct descendants of lower Eocene ones. Eurodexis russelli n. sp. from MP 10 of Premontre is the most primitive representative of Eurodexis. A further part of this lineage could be Messelobunodon sp. from MP 11 of Messel (Germany). Another form from Premontre, referred to Eurodexeinae indet., represents the origin of the lineage to Parahexacodus germanicus n. sp. from the Geiseltal (MP 13). The identification of several lineages in MP 10 is evidence of an adaptive radiation during this time. Unfortunately the history of the earlier species of Diacodexis is not known well enough to exclude earlier diversifications. Our study shows the independent development of artiodactyls at the end of the lower Eocene in Europe, North America (and maybe in Asia) with much convergence. The question of the geographic origin of the genus Diacodexis is still open. 

The region of Porrentruy (Swiss Jura Mountains) is known for its rich and diverse assemblage of Late Jurassic coastal marine turtles (Thalassochelydia). Dominated by the “Plesiochelyidae”, this assemblage also includes representatives of the two other thalassochelydian groups, the “Thalassemydidae” and “Eurysternidae.” In this study, we present new shell-based material from Porrentruy referable to eurysternids. One specimen represents a juvenile individual or a relatively small taxon, and is notably characterized by a well fenestrated plastron exhibiting a wider than long central plastral fontanelle. Two other specimens are much larger and possibly represent the largest eurysternids known to date. The fourth specimen is characterized by a unique plastral morphology otherwise only known in very small juveniles. This is the first time this unique plastral morphology is known to persist in an adult or subadult. The new material described herein represents at least three distinct taxa, all of them probably new. However, we refrain from naming new species based on this incomplete material in order to avoid adding confusion to an already complex taxonomical situation. This study provides new insights into the great diversity of eurysternids during the Late Jurassic. 

Abstract not available