The oldest european marsupials are described from some specimens (isolated upper molars) recently found from the Hainin sediment (Middle Paleocene of Belgium). These fossils document a new species of the Peradectes genus. They give evidence of a much older occurrence of the marsupials in Europe than it was assumed. They allow us to postulate a didelphid dispersal from South America towards the western-holarctic area operating in two phases : the first one of the Peradectes genus at the end of the Cretaceous; the second one of the Didelphíni tribe at the end of the Paleocene. A central american crossing is likely for the first one,  whereas a transafrican way is tentatively argued for the second one. 

The object of this work is the study of the artiodactyls of the karstic locality of Lissieu near Lyon. Among the sixteen species counted, five (Hyperdichobune nobilis, Hyperdichobune sp., Haplabunodon mulleri, Tapirulus depereti and Pseudamphimeryx schlosseri) are cited for the first time in this fauna. The description of part of the anterior dentition of «Dichobune» langi permits the referal of this species to the genus Hyperdichobune. The new selenodont species Dichodon lugdunensis  described in this work belongs, with its ancestor Dichodon simplex, to a lineage distinct from that of Dichodan cartieri and Dichodon ruetimeyeri. Finally, the taxonomic reality of the Lissieu species, Lophiobunodon rhodanicum Deperet, is justified. All the other species have been compared with those of Egerkingen. Even though with most of them no difference in age can be shown between the two deposits, some however indicate clearly by their degree of evolution that Lissieu is slightly more recent than Egerkingen. ln the history of Eocene mammals, the Lissieu fauna, because of its homogeneity, can be considered as a sure reference fauna of the Auversian period. 

A classification should be both usable and useful,not too complex either in the amount of splitting or in the number of hierarchies involved, and not so simple as to give a false assurance of knowledge of relationships. Classifications are only possible because we do not have complete knowledge of the evolution of the organisms concerned because gaps in the record are necessary to allow the separation of the various taxa. Rodent classification is complicated by the large number of organisms involved and by the geat amount of parallelism that has taken place in the evolution of any and all features. If several independent features are characteristic of a certain taxon, should an effort be made to define the group on the basis of all the features, or should only one be selected as the determinant ? Unless the evolution of the several features was closely linked, the former solution will sooner or later lead to insurmountable problems. 

Amongst a collection of selachian teeth made at Hoegaarden in a marine level of Bruxellian (Lutetian) age, containing a reworked Landenian (Sparnacian) fauna mixed with a contemporaneous one, a few teeth of  terrestrial mammals have been discovered. They comprise two rare European taxa: ? Hallensia sp. and Palaeonictis gigantea, both known from the Landenian. Even though the ?Hallensia has not been definitely identified, il differs from the only perissodactyl of this age previously recorded from Belgium (Cymbalophus cuniculus). 

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 

Since the 19th century, thousands of footprints were observed in the geological series of the French Mesozoic. All are located in the Triassic and Jurassic. After a promising beginning, in France, it is only a few papers which will be published in the first half 20th century, unlike the USA and of others countries of Western Europe. One ought to wait about 1950 for a revival and now they are nearly 200 papers which were devoted to the ichnofossils. The literature abundance and the renewed interest of the naturalists for the palichnologic studies decided to us to write a synthesis work. This one begins with a stratigraphic inventory in which, localisation, age and paleontological contents of about 180 fossiliferous sites are specified. After having pointed out the followed methods, the footprints paleontological interpretation is then approached in detail and the results obtained are replaced in stratigraphy to deduce the fauna evolution during the Mesozoic. So, it appears that Ichnologic data, more varied and rich in the Triassic and Liassic than those relating to the bones, very rare for the considered periods, are very informative. The middle Triassic (Anisian-Ladinian), thus reveals Cotylosauria, Lepidosauria, Crurotarsi with Rauisuchia, Ornithosuchidae, Crocodylia and Dinosauromorpha more the "Prodinosauria": Dinosamiforme whose skeletons are known in Argentina but only in Ladinian. The rather fast domination of Dinosaurs during Norian is also as well shown. The almost exclusive presence of their footprints, up to fifty cm long, in the Lower Hettangian indicates their supremacy in the environments. Footprints characterise not very deep life places located between inter-supratidal limits and often out of water. Sedimentologic and Palaeontologic studies showed that they were great coastal spaces during Middle Triassic, flood-plain with sebkhas while Upper Triassic, and a large !!coastal marsh!! in Grands-Causses during Liassic in which, mainly, fine stromatolithic layers were deposited. During the same periad, bay beaches spread in Vendée. During the Middle Jurassic, they are also brackish to lacustrine environments and recifallagoons in- the Upper Jurassic. Numerous measurements of the footprints and trackways directions showed that the animaIs moved there in weil defined directions, for long periods. They seem due to the palaeotopography of the life environments relatively stable. Also, the discovery of vegetal radicular networks and small footprints far away from the continental borderlands has suggested that the animals continuously lived in these palaeoenvironnements, belonging to large ecosystems, where the sedimentation rate was weak. This explains that thebadies could not fossilize there but only their footprints through the cyanobacterian action in main cases. From the vertical distribution of different ichnospecies, defined with adapted statistical methods, explained in this work, a palichnostratigraphy was established for the Middle Triassic. Although the footprints are also abundant in Hettango-Sinemurian of "Grands-Causses" and the Vendée, it was not possible, up to now, to establish any zonation in this series; Probably because the palichnofauna is too little diversified there, currently reduced to a majority of Theropods II-IV tridactyl traces.
  

Les Pistes de Vertébrés du Stormberg Supérieur ("Trias terminal à Rhétien"), ou Quthingien

Si les zones du Stormberg inférieur se sont révélées contenir de nombreuses traces, surtout dans les faciès dits "Molteno moyen et supérieur", représentant apparemment la base du Keuper, il est frappant de voir pratiquement l'ensemble de cette grosse faune "Molteno" disparaître avec la fin de cette période, que nous avons appelée le "Maphutsengien".

Dès les premières zones du Stormberg supérieur, que nous nommons le"Quthingien" la zoocénose et la phytocénose, en même temps que les données d'ensemble manifestées par l'environnement, sont modifiées. Nous ne verrons plus guère de dépôts marécageux à flore riche et variée, parfois même luxuriante. Les fougères elles-mêmes ont disparu. Elles sont remplacées par de maigres plantes, aux feuilles très souvent filiformes qui paraissent témoigner d'un climat continental. Le sol est devenu de plus en plus rouge, avec des variations latérales beaucoup plus accusées. Les fleuves amenant des galets des monts du "Grand Sud" ont tari. La faune va en subir les conséquences. Certaines des espèces se révèleront sautillantes ou coureuses, pour un grand nombre plus légères et pour la quasi-totalité d'apparence carnivore ou entomophages, les phytophages devant se contenter d'un régime ingrat,difficile ou à tout le moins irrégulier,les dépôts le montrent.

C'est dans ces conditions que s'inaugure notre Etage nouveau,quelque peu discordant sur les zones A/5, A/6 ou A/7 du Stormberg inférieur (Maphutsengien). Le Stormberg supérieur (ou Quthingien) commence avec le paléopaysage remarquable dit de Moyeni, que nous allons maintenant étudier, typologiquement, avec ses homologues du même âge. Quelques 38 types d'animaux tous nouveaux vont défiler à nos yeux lors de la zone de base de cet Etage, ou zone B/1.

L'on nous avait proposé d'intituler ce Ile Tome de la série : "La grande Dalle de Moyeni et ses homologues. Paléo-spectacles, scènes et paysages animaux au Lesotho à l'approche du Trias finissant". Nous avons préféré garder le sous-titre plus haut, peut-être plus prosaïque.

Un llle Tome est en préparation : "Les développements ultérieurs et terminaux de la faune du Gondwana".

  

This paper is an English concentrate of various Russian publications by the senior author presenting the mammaIian taxa from the Cretaceous (Albian through Santonian) of the region termed Middle Asia by Soviet geographers. The diagnoses are the unmodified, literal translation of the original version, but are followed with short complementary remarks; most of the species are illuslrated anew with SEM photographs, others are by normal photography. The fossiliferous formations are cited and arguments for their dating are given. Finally, the main vertebrate groups accompanying mammaIs are listed and the environment and climate at the time of deposition are suggested. In conclusion, an hypothesis on the origin and high diversity of tribosphenic mammals on the Cretaceous coastal plains of southwest Asia is proposed. In appendix the taxon Khuduklestes bohlini novo gen. novo sp. is formally defined. 

Three new fossiliferous localities, two of karstic origin, Castelnou 3 and Font Estramar, respectively Late Upper Miocene and Lower Pliocene, and one of lacustrine origin, Thuir, Lower Pliocene, add data about the transition between Miocene and Pliocene faunas of rodents in southern France. An unexpected association of taxa was present in the late Upper Miocene, including between others, Myocricetodon, Hispanomys, Ruscinomys, Cricetus barrierei, Promimomys and a new species of Stephanomys, S. dubari nov. sp. Myocricetodon is still known in the Lower Pliocene. It is shown that the large field-mice known since the Late Upper Miocene belong to two different lineages, on one side, A. jeanteti, on the other side, A. gudrunae followed by A. gorafensis. Biochronological and biogeographical implications are discussed. 

The Montian locality of Hainin (Hainaut, Belgium) yielded about twenty teeth of Multituberculates. They are very peculiar forms, showing no affinities, at the generic level, with those hitherto known from North America, Asia and Europe. They are referred to the new taxa Boffius splendidus nov. gen., nov. sp., Hainina belgica nov. gen., nov. sp., and H. godfriauxi nov. gen., nov. sp. They expose some common features, such as the advanced type of first upper molar. possessing at least three complete rows of cusps. Because of this, and also of the upper premolar reduction, Boffius splendidus appears as the most specialized form within the Ptilodontoidea suborder.
Several other characters of Hainina seem to be less advanced, such as the great number of upper premolars and the simple cusp-formula of the first lower molar.
Till now, only H. godfriauxi has been recovered within the Thanetian fauna from Cemay-les-Reims, where it is very poorly documented. 

The two species of Sandgrouse from Quercy, Pterocles validus MILNE-EDWARDS and P. larvatus MILNE-EDWARDS, are ascribed to the genus Archaeoganga MOURER-CI-IAUVIRÉ which includes a third, very large species, A. pinguis. The sandgrouse of Saint-Gérand-le-Puy, Pterocles sepultus MILNE-EDWARDS, is ascribed to a new genus, Lepzoganga. This form appears in the Upper Oligocene of Quercy, in Pech Desse and Pech du Fraysse localities, and is still present in the Lower Miocene of Saint-Gérand-le-Puy and Paulhiac. Recent sandgrouse live in semidesert or desert areas. The indications provided by mammal and bird faunas in the localities where sandgrouse were found, confirm that the paleoenvironment was open and arid. The morphological study of these fossils indicates that, in the Upper Eocene, the Pteroclidae were already completely individualized with respect to Charadriiformes.
  

The murid fauna of the terminal Pliocene of southwest Europe is rich in at least eight genera and ten species. With the species belonging to the genera Apodemus, Rhagapodemus, and Stephanomys not being studied here, the study of the other murids resulted for one thing in the description of three new genera and three new species: Castillomys crusafonti n. g., n. sp., Occitanomys brailloni n. g., n. sp., Anthracomys meini n. sp., Valerymys ellenbergerí (THALER) n. g., and for another thing in the recognition of a form hitherto unknown in this region, Micromys praeminutus KRETZOI. Systematic study has shown that certain species of the terminal Pliocene fauna had their ancestors in the Turolian fauna presently known in Spain. The evolutionary lineages thereby recognized have been studied more in detail and a list of the evolutionary tendencies of the dendal characters has been given. A chart of the probable phyletic relationships between the different murids of the Pliocene faunas of southwest Europe (With the genus Rhagapodemus and Apodemus dominans being excluded) is given in conclusion of this work. 

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.
  

The description of original material of anthracothere and proboscidean in the new locality of Bir el Ater 3 from East Algeria, and a thorough review of early Libycosaurus remains of Bir el Ater 2 allows us validating L. algeriensis as the smallest and earliest species of Libycosaurus and probably the earliest migrant of the genus from Asia. The presence of a Tetralophodon in the Neogene Nementcha formation might represent the earliest occurrence of the genus in Africa. These original fossil remains allow us to discuss the age of the Neogene part of the Nementcha formation close to the Serravalian/Tortonian boundary. 

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. 

Monsieur René Lavocat, Directeur du Laboratoire de Paléontologie des Vertébrés de la troisième section de l'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, quittait le service actif en l'année 1979.
Cela fait maintenant quinze ans que fut installé à Montpellier, le laboratoire de Paléontologie des Vertébrés de l'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes. La décision de M. René Lavocat a été particulièrement heureuse dans ses conséquences. Il a en effet permis le développement de l'enseignement et de la recherche en Paléontologie des Vertébrés à l'Université de Montpellier où se créa un des centres importants de cette discipline, en France. Il suscita la création de nouveaux laboratoires de l'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes installés dès leur origine à Montpellier, ainsi que le déplacement à Montpellier d'un Laboratoire de l'Ecole Pratique, préexistant. Ce groupe de laboratoires constitue maintenant l'Institut de Montpellier de l'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes.
[...] 

Abundant crocodilian fossil remains have been collected, mainly by R. Lavocat. from several levels of the
Palaeogene of the Tilemsi valley (eastern Mali). Several dyrosaurids occur in the Palaeocene (Montian ?) : Phosphatosaurus sp., Hyposaurus bequaerti (Dollo). H. wilsoni (Swinton). H. nopesai (Swinton), Rhabdognathus rarus Swinton, R. compressus n. sp. ln the lower Eocene has been found a dyrosaurid which cannot be accurutely determined.In the middle Eocene were found a dyrosaurid, Tilemsisuchus lavocati n. g., n. sp., and an indeterminate eusuchian. 

A new Propalaeotherium species, clearly distinct from the genus Eurohippus, is described. It is characterized by having a similar size as P. voigti from the German Geiseltal localities (MP 11 to MP 13 reference-level), but differs in several features suggesting a slighty more derived morphology. It presents indeed less brachyodont crowns with less prominent and less elevated cingula, slightly larger relative surface of premolars, and a more marked metaconid splitting on cheek teeth. This new species is unknown from other European localities except the nearby Saint-Martin de Londres locality which has been considered older than the MP 13 level. 

Eosimiid and amphipithecid primates document a long and significant history of primate evolution throughout the Eocene in Southeast Asia. Despite the absence of a comprehensive post-Eocene fossil record, it was generally hypothesized that both families left no descendant in Asia. Recently, two new small-bodied taxa, Bugtipithecus and Phileosimias, have been recovered in early Oligocene coastal deposits from the Bugti Hills (Balochistan, central Pakistan) and referred to the families Amphipithecidae and Eosimiidae, respectively, on the basis of dental fossil remains. In this paper, we provide more exhaustive description, comparison, and discussion of these taxa. As for tarsiid and sivaladapid primates, the persistence of eosimiids and amphipithecids into the Oligocene clearly demonstrates that low latitudes of South Asia provided a continuous access to tropical refugia during the climatic deterioration characterizing the late Eocene-early Oligocene interval, which was seemingly lethal for primate communities elsewhere across the Holarctic continents. As a contribution to the ongoing phylogenetic debates regarding the position of eosimiids and amphipithecids on the primate family tree, we have performed a cladistic analysis in a high-level primate systematic context in order to assess the position and the role of these new taxa in that phylogenetic issue. Our results support the view according to which eosimiids and amphipithecids (and by extension Phileosimias and Bugtipithecus, respectively) are stem anthropoids. These fossils from Pakistan document an unsuspected Oligocene phase of the evolutionary history of anthropoid primates in southern Asia, which clearly enhances the extent of the anthropoid radiation in this province during the Paleogene. Several phylogenetic and paleobiogeographic aspects are discussed, notably the intra- and inter-relationships between Paleogene Asian and Afro-Arabian anthropoids, and the resulting potential dispersal models between both land-masses during the Paleogene. 

Fourteen distinct phyletical lineages which belong at least in three families: Ischyromyidae ALSTON, 1876, Gliridae THOMAS, 1896 and Theridomyidae ALSTON, 1876, have been identified after the study of more than 3600 rodent dental remains from about twenty Early and Middle Eocene european localities. A systematical and phylogenetical revision of these rodents has been achieved. Nearly all the specific and generic diagnosis are emended. Several new combinations and synonymies are proposed. Four new species and two new genera, Euromys nov. (Ailuravinae) and Hartenbergeromys nov. (Microparamyini), are named and described. Euromys nov. gen. is known by three distinctive ypresian (MP 7 to MP 10 european reference levels) chronospecies. This new lineage is thought to be the direct ancestor of Meldimys MICHAUX, 1968 and Ailuravus RUTIMEYER, 1891. A new species of the genus Plesiarctomys BRAVARD, 1850, Pl. lapicidinarum from Condé-en-Brie (MP 8-9 reference level), allows to relate the Plesiarctomys lineage to the Pseudoparamys MICHAUX, 1964 one. The taxa Sparnacomys HARTENBERGER, 1971, Pantrogna HARTENBERGER, 1971, and Corbarimys MARANDAT, 1989 are erected to genus rank; the last one is not thought to be an Ischyromyidae. A new chronospecies of Pantrogna, P. marandati nov. sp. from the locality of Prémontré (MP 10 reference level), is described. This lineage is at the origin of two others, namely Masillamys TOBIEN, 1954, including M. mattaueri (HARTENBERGER, 1975) nov. comb. (MP 10 reference level), and Hartenbergeromys nov. gen., known from MP 10 (H. hautefeuillei nov. sp.) and MP 11 (H. parvus TOBIEN, 1954) reference levels. The phylogenetical position of Hartenbergeromys nov. gen., at the origin of the european family Theridomyidae, is discussed. The systematical and phylogenetical status of two probable Paramyinae, "Paramys" woodi MICHAUX, 1964 and an unnamed genus and species, are discussed. New populations of the primitive Gliridae Eogliravus HARTENBERGER, 1971 and of the primitive Theridomyidae Protadelomys HARTENBERGER, 1968, are described and assigned to previously known species.