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Miocene Bovidae (Mammalia) of the Siwaliks, Part 1: Hypsodontinae and Bovinae.
Alan Gentry, Nikos Solounias Logo, John C. Barry Logo and S. M. Raza Logo
Published online: 30/07/2026

Keywords: Bovidae; horncores; Miocene; Siwaliks

https://doi.org/10.18563/pv.49.1.e1

  Abstract

    The fluvial sediments of the Siwaliks in northern Pakistan preserve an exceptional geologic and paleontological record encompassing parts of the Oligocene and all of the Miocene and Pliocene. The sediments, which can be thousands of meters thick, have abundant vertebrate and invertebrate fossils from hundreds of different levels. Fossils were first discovered in the Siwaliks in 1832 and there are important collections of them in the Museum of the Geological Survey of India as well as in various European, British, and American museums. Renewed collecting has now added over 10,000 bovid fossils to a new collection held by the Geological Survey of Pakistan. The fossils include rare skulls and many isolated horn cores, as well as teeth and postcranials. Here we discuss material belonging to the hypsodontinae, boselaphini, and bovini. We recognize four hypsodontine and twenty-two bovine species, plus one species of uncertain subfamilial placement. Nineteen of the twenty-seven have previously been named, while another five have cranial material suitable for defining a new species. Two species, referred to as  ?Hypsodontinae sp. and Bovidae sp. 1, are distinctive but left unnamed. We are also uncertain about how distinctive what we refer to as Selenoportax aff. vexillarius is from Selenoportax vexillarius. Boselaphinines predominate in the fossil collections, both in terms of number of species and number of specimens. Most of the boselaphine genera are endemic to the Siwaliks, as are the hypsodontine Palaeohypsodontus and the possible bovini Pachyportax. The predominance of boselaphines together with the number of endemic taxa gives the Siwalik bovid fauna a distinctive aspect and collectively comprise the best-known Miocene record of the subfamily.
      


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La poche à Phosphate de Ste-Néboule (Lot) et sa faune de vertebres du Ludien supérieur. 6- Oiseaux
Cécile Mourer-Chauviré Logo
Published online: 25/09/1978

Keywords: Eocene; Quercy Phosphorites

https://doi.org/10.18563/pv.8.2-4.217-229

  Abstract

    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. 


  PV article infos

Published in Vol. 08, Fasc. 2-4 (1978)

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Pterosaurs (Pterosauria) from the Cerro del Pueblo Formation (Late Campanian) of Coahuila, Mexico
Héctor E. Rivera-Sylva Logo, David Hone, Martha Aguillón-Martínez Logo, José R. Guzmán-Gutiérrez Logo, David Morales-Flores, Iván Sánchez-Uribe Logo, José Flores-Ventura and Rafael Vivas-González
Published online: 21/11/2025

Keywords: Azhdarchoidea; Coahuila; Mexico; Pterodactyloidea; Pterosauria

https://doi.org/10.18563/pv.48.2.e1

  Abstract

    The Late Campanian Cerro del Pueblo Formation, located in southeastern Coahuila, Mexico, has produced a diverse array of vertebrate fossils. However, pterosaur remains from this unit are notably scarce. In this study, we describe new pterosaur material from the formation. The specimens include a fragmentary vertebra identified as belonging to an indeterminate, but derived pterodactyloid, along with the distal condyle of a left metacarpal, referable to an azhdarchoid pterosaur, and a left manus print. While these specimens provide additional evidence of pterosaur presence in the region during the Late Cretaceous, their fragmentary nature limits precise taxonomic and ichnotaxonomic identification. Nevertheless, they highlight the potential for future discoveries that could refine our understanding of the diversity and distribution of pterosaurs in Mexico.
      


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Published in 48-2 (2025)

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L’assemblage mammalien de l’Eocène continental du Complexe de Gour Lazib (Algérie) : structure écologique et implications paléoenvironnementales
Mohamed Adaci Logo, Mustapha Bensalah Logo and Rodolphe Tabuce Logo
Published online: 01/01/1970

Keywords: Afrique du Nord; Cénogramme; Paléogène; Vertébrés

https://doi.org/10.18563/pv.49.2.e2

  Abstract

    Des prospections géologiques et paléontologiques sur les affleurements continentaux paléogènes du Complexe de Gour Lazib (Hammada du Dra, Algérie) nous ont permis de mettre en évidence plusieurs sites à vertébrés, sur une superficie de plus de cinq cents kilomètres carrés. La faune est constituée de nombreux vertébrés fossiles associant mammifères placentaires, poissons actinoptérygiens et protoptères, squamates, amphibiens, chéloniens, crocodiles et oiseaux. La flore de charophytes est également diversifiée. Les données bio-magnétostratigraphiques indiquent un âge compris entre l’Yprésien terminal et le Lutétien basal pour cet assemblage unique en Afrique. Les nombreux restes de mammifères récoltés ont une préservation exceptionnelle pour le Paléogène ancien arabo-africain et permettent une reconstitution paléoenvironnementale réalisée via une méthode couplant cénogramme et distribution pondérale des taxons arboricoles. Le profil du cénogramme, caractérisé par l’abondance des espèces de petite taille (insectivores, primates et rongeurs), la présence d’espèces de taille intermédiaire (hyracoïdes) et la rareté des grandes espèces (uniquement représentées par les hyracoïdes ; absence notable des proboscidiens et embrithopodes), met en évidence un milieu forestier assez fermé sous climat tropical. Par ailleurs, les données lithologiques et sédimentologiques indiquent un milieu fluviatile méandriforme où ont proliféré les charophytes. Plus hypothétique reste l’existence d’une saisonnalité dans les Gour Lazib, avec de possibles périodes temporaires modérément arides.
      


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The paramyid rodent Ailuravus from the middle and late Eocene of Europe, and its relationships
Albert E. Wood
Published online: 15/05/1976

Keywords: Ailuravinae; Rodentia

https://doi.org/10.18563/pv.7.1-2.117-149

  Abstract

    The complex taxonomic history of the paramyid rodent genus Ailuravus is reviewed. It has been described as Hyracotherium, as a creodont carnivore and as a lemuroid primate - errors at the ordínal level that are most unusual for a rodent. The genus is a member of the poorly known subfamily Ailuravinae, probably derived from some European Early Eocene species of Paramys. Aíluravus was a large arboreal paramyid with highly rugose cheek teeth, very well developed hypocone, and a remarkably weak lower incisor. It was tropical to subtropical. Three named species are recognized, A. macrurus from the Lutetian of Messel; the genotype, A. picteti, from Egerkingen, Buchsweiler and the Geiseltal, slightly later in the Lutetian; and A. stehlinschaubi, new name, from the Bartonian of Mormont-Eclépens and Robiac. One or more unnamed species are present in the Ypresian of Cuis. The species are close to a phyletic sequence. No later representatives of the genus are known. The late Eocene to earliest Oligocene North American paramyid Mytonomys, whose relationships have been obscure, is tentatively referred to the Ailuravinae. 


  PV article infos

Published in Vol. 07, Fasc. 1-2 (1976)

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Avant propos au "Premier catalogue des specimens-types Paléontologiques déposés dans les collections de l'Université de Montpellier II"
Jean-Jacques Jaeger Logo
Published online: 20/12/1994

Keywords: Editorial; Type specimens

https://doi.org/10.18563/pv.23.ext.1-2

  Abstract

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


  View editorial

Published in Vol. 23, Ext (1994)

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La poche à phosphate de Ste-Néboule (Lot) et sa faune de vertebres du Ludien supérieur. 7- Didelphides (Marsupiaux)
Jean-Yves Crochet
Published online: 25/09/1978

Keywords: Eocene; Quercy Phosphorites

https://doi.org/10.18563/pv.8.2-4.231-242

  Abstract

    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. 


  PV article infos

Published in Vol. 08, Fasc. 2-4 (1978)

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A new species of chimaeroid fish from the upper Paleocene (Thanetian) of Maryland, USA
Gerard R. Case
Published online: 29/10/1991

Keywords: Chimaeroid nov. sp.; Maryland; U.S.A.; Upper Paleocene

https://doi.org/10.18563/pv.21.1-2.85-94

  Abstract

    The recent discovery of several mandibular toothplates of a chimaeroid fish at a dig in the area of the Landover Mall, near Landover, Prince Georges County, Maryland, brings to our attention a new species of the chimaeroid, Ischyodus.
     Although superficially reminiscent of the European chimaeroid toothplates of Ischyodus thurmanni (cf. text-fig. 2), I. williamsae nov. sp. probably has a more closer relationship to I. bifurcatus CASE, 1978, of the Upper Cretaceous of New Jersey and Delaware. 


  PV article infos

Published in Vol. 21, Fasc. 1-2 (1991)

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Les sélaciens du Miocène de la région de Montpellier
Henri Cappetta Logo
Published online: 15/12/1970

Keywords: Ichtyofauna; Miocene; Montpellier

https://doi.org/10.18563/pv.3.ext.1-139

  Abstract

    The utilization of screen-washing and attack by dilute acetic acid has permitted the collecting, in the Miocene of the department of Hérault (France), of a very rich ichthyofauna. This fauna is presently comprised of about 60 studied species, of which 11 are new, and represents, in the present state of knowledge, the most varied Miocene selachian fauna described in the world.
    The abondance of material has allowed an overall revision to be made; it has thus been possible to complete the description and the figuration of species that were poorly known until now, and to synonymize species that were established on simple morphotypes. Paleo-ecologic study of the ichthyofauna has permitted conclusions to be drawn relative to climate and bathymetry; it was thus possible to show that the Miocene fauna of Hérault was a fauna of a subtropical sea, essentially neritic with rare pelagic contributions.
    Knowing the stratigraphic position of the localities, it has been possible to distinguish three faunal assemblages based on associations of species. Some hypotheses on the evolution of certain lineages have been expressed.
    The comparison of this fauna with that of other regions permitted the relationships of two diflerent faunal provinces to be specified: the first belongs to the northern domain, characterized by a fauna still subtropical but with numerous temperate water elements; the leoond belongs to the Mesogean domain characterized by warm water forms. It has also lhovm that contemporary faunas could be very different according to the bathymetric zone in which they lived, which furnishes valuable information for the paleogeographic reconstruction of sedimentary basins.
      


  PV article infos

Published in Vol. 3, Ext (1970)

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Reconstruction of the cervical skeleton posture of the recently-extinct litoptern mammal Macrauchenia patachonica Owen, 1838
R. E. Blanco, Lara Yorio Logo and Felipe Montenegro Logo
Published online: 02/05/2023

Keywords: biomechanics; cervical posture; functional anatomy; Litopterna; Macrauchenia

https://doi.org/10.18563/pv.46.1.e1

  Abstract

    Macrauchenia patachonica was among the largest litopterns. It had a long neck with elongated cervical vertebrae, unique among endemic South American ungulates. We calculated the pattern of stress in the joints between the vertebral centra along the neck of the recently-extinct litoptern mammal M. patachonica for various hypothetical neck postures to determine which one is optimal. We also determined the zygapophyseal alignment positions for the neck, assuming a wide range of values for the thickness of the intervertebral discs. We concluded that a vertical posture is the one that best meets the requirements of nearly constant stress. This upright posture was probably a frequently adopted posture by M. patachonica while feeding or standing. It is also possible that occasionally it could adopt a gerenuk-like posture. In almost any other position, the standard deviations of stress values (SD) divided by mean stress (MS) have values between 0.4 and 0.5. Since it was a mixed feeder, M. patachonica probably used different postures to reach resources at different heights. However, an almost horizontal posture was required for the optimal articulation of the neck vertebrae. It probably represents the posture during fast locomotion, as suggested in a previous biomechanical study of locomotion. 


  PV article infos

Published in 46-1 (2023)

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Les traces de pas d'amphibiens, de dinosaures et autres reptiles du Mesozoïque Français : inventaire et interprétations.
Georges Gand, Georges Demathieu and Christian Montenat
Published online: 15/12/2007

Keywords: Footprints; France; Inventory; Mesozoic; palaeontology; palaeovenvironments; Stratigraphy

https://doi.org/10.18563/pv.35.1-4.1-149

  Abstract

    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.
      


  PV article infos

Published in Vol. 35, Fasc. 1-4 (2007)

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Problems of classification as applied to the Rodentia
Albert E. Wood
Published online: 01/10/1980

Keywords:

https://doi.org/10.18563/pv.9.ext.263-272

  Abstract

    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. 


  PV article infos

Published in Vol. 9, Ext (1980)

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Abstract book of the 18th Conference of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists (EAVP), 5-9 July 2021, Benevento, Italy
Matteo Belvedere Logo, Verónica Díez Díaz Logo and Raffaele Sardella Logo
Published online: 12/07/2021

Keywords: 2021; Abstracts; Benevento; EAVP

https://doi.org/10.18563/pv.eavp2021

  Abstract

    Welcome to the 18th conference of the EAVP, the first online meeting of our association. The pandemic emergency made it impossible to organize the in-person meeting in Benevento as we all had hoped. However, we couldn’t miss another EAVP meeting. Therefore, this year we are meeting online, trying to make the experience the closest to the in-person meeting possible, in order to offer the delegates the opportunity to share knowledge, build new networks and reinforce the old ones. We have received 137 communications, with more than 150 delegates from 24 countries. All the abstracts have passed a peer review process and are part of this special volume of Palaeovertebrata, the official journal of the EAVP. This year we are also offering a variety of workshops, roundtables and symposia on different topics. These include the annual “Pride EAVP: An LGBTQ+ Roundtable” and “Women in Palaeontology Roundtable Discussion”, together with the workshops on “Gendered Perspective in Palaeontological Research: from Definition to Action”, “International Palaeontology Education: Virtual Teaching and Real-World Learning”, “Stepping out of Academia: Why, When and How?”, “Introduction to Hypothesis Testing in Statistics”, “The Early-Middle Pleistocene Transition: Marked Mammal Turnover and Ecosystem Dynamic” (included in the early event for the XXI INQUA Congress in Rome 2023, “A Mediterranean Perspective on Quaternary Sciences”). To conclude, we are hosting two symposia on “Palaeoart: Diversity on and behind the Canvas” and “3D fossils, Robotic and Experimental Palaeontology”. We wish you all a happy and productive meeting. And see you in Benevento next year! 


  PV article infos

Published in Special Volume 1-2021 (2021)

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Contribution à la classification des Pistes de Vertébrés du Trias : les types du Stormberg d'Afrique du Sud (2 ème Partie: le Stormberg supérieur - 1. Le biome de la zone B/1 ou niveau de Moyeni: ses biocénoses).
Paul Ellenberger
Published online: 01/12/1974

Keywords: biocenosis; Footprints; South Africa; Stormberg; Trias

https://doi.org/10.18563/pv.6.ext

  Abstract

    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".

      


  PV article infos

Published in Vol. 6, Ext (1974)

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Morphological description and identification of an extraordinary new elephant cranium from the early Pliocene of Ileret, Kenya
 
William Sanders Logo, Meave Leakey, Louise Leakey Logo, Craig Feibel Logo, Timothy Gichunge Ibui, Cyprian Nyete, Mbatha P. Mbete Logo and Francis Brown Logo
Published online: 21/10/2021

Keywords: Elephantidae; Loxodonta adaurora; cranium; early Pliocene; Ileret; Kenya

https://doi.org/10.18563/pv.44.2.e3

  Abstract

    Abstract: Paleontological exploration in the Turkana Basin near Ileret, Kenya yielded the most complete adult elephant cranium (KNM-ER 63642) known from the late Miocene to mid-Pliocene. KNM-ER 63642 derives from the lower Lonyumun Mb. of the Koobi Fora Fm. and dates to the early Pliocene, >4.3 Ma. The cranium is immense in size and preserves most of its structures including left and right M2-3, permitting its comprehensive comparative study and secure taxonomic assignment to Loxodonta adaurora. Features distinctive of the species and exhibited by KNM-ER 63642 include very elongate, divergent tusk alveoli, a short, biconvex cranial roof, anterosuperior angulation of the occipital planum, non-inflated occipital planum and absence of supralateral parietal "bossing," broad, flat premaxillary nasal processes, broad, laterally downturned nasal aperture superior to the level of the orbits, and M3s with wide, subhypsodont plates that are parallel-faced and separated by U-shaped transverse valleys. The M3s also exhibit characteristic L. adaurora traits of greatest width at their bases, rounded cross-sectional shape, thick enamel, abundant cementum, and strong anterior and posterior accessory conules. Of extant taxa, KNM-ER 63642 most closely resembles crania of African elephants. Its inclusion in the Loxodonta clade is tenuous, however, because shared features are either symplesiomorphic or are difficult to test for synapomorphy due to the poor fossil record of crania of late Miocene-early Pliocene elephants. Overall, the cranial morphology of KNM-ER 63642 is unexpectedly advanced for an elephant of its antiquity. Its anteroposterior compression and height are concordant with efficient proal masticatory action, indicating that by the early Pliocene L. adaurora evolved craniodental adaptations in phase with feeding preference for C4 grasses. The advantage of synchrony of morphology and behavior is reflected by the dominance of the species in the greater Turkana Basin during that interval.
      


  PV article infos

Published in 44-2 (2021)

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Eurodexeinae, eine neue unterfamilie der Artiodactyla (Mammalia) aus dem unter- und mitteleozän europas
Jorg Erfurt and Jean Sudre
Published online: 16/12/1996

Keywords: Artiodactyls; Eocene; evolution; Germany; Lutetian; new genus; New subfamily

https://doi.org/10.18563/pv.25.2-4.371-390

  Abstract

    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. 


  PV article infos

Published in Vol. 25, Fasc. 2-4 (1996)

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Contributions à l'étude du gisement Miocène supérieur de Montredon (Hérault). Les grands mammifères. 2 - les carnivores
Gérard de Beaumont
Published online: 15/11/1988

Keywords: anatomy; Carnivora; France; Montredon; Systematics; Upper Miocene

https://doi.org/10.18563/pv.18.ext.15-42

  Abstract

    The locality of Montredon has provided 8 species of camivores, often little documented, that are discribed and depicted. All the remains are fragmentary and generally badly preserved which lowers very much the possible precision of the taxonomic study; this one has however allowed the creation of a new subspecies. The most richlypdocumented forms are an ursid (Indarctos) and a felid (Machairodus). Issuing often from a westem Europe evolution, the carnivores are well inserted between those of the better known faunas of the "Classical Pontian" and of the lower Vallesian and this situation fits also well with their stratigraphic level, that cannot however be more accurately defined with them alone.
      


  PV article infos

Published in Vol. 18, Ext (1988)

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La plus ancienne faune de mammifères du Quercy : Le Bretou
Jean-Louis Hartenberger, Bernard Sigé and Jean Sudre
Published online: 01/12/1974

Keywords: Le Bretou; Quercy Phosphorites

https://doi.org/10.18563/pv.6.3-4.177-196

  Abstract

    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. 


  PV article infos

Published in Vol. 06, Fasc. 3-4 (1975)

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Les traces de pas de Dinosaures et autres Archosaures du Lias inférieur des grands Causses, Sud de la France
Georges Demathieu, Georges Gand, Jacques Sciau, Pierre Freytet and Jacques Garric
Published online: 15/12/2002

Keywords: Dinosauroid footprints; France; Grands-Causses; Hettangian; ichnostratigraphy; paleoenvironments; Sinemurian; statistical results

https://doi.org/10.18563/pv.31.1-4.1-143

  Abstract

    The Causses" is a near 3400 km2 large plateau located in the south of France. Here the first dinosaur footprints where found in 1935. After this, this area has yielded an ever-increasing number of ichnites now in excess of 500 specimens. These latter, 15 to 50 cm long, tridactyl or tetradactyl footprints of generally biped animals, were discovered at the surface of Hettangian to lower Sinemurian dolomite layers within 4 distinct stratigraphic units. The 35 sites bearing ichnites are located on the plateau margin. For the first time, morphologic characters studied through descriptive statistic methods with the usual parameters and classical Student and Snédecor tests, allowed us, to divide the whole set of biped traces into 6 ichnospecies. Their definitions are further constrained by multivariate statistical results using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Factor Analysis of correspondances (FAC) and Discriminant Analysis (DA). All have confirmed the morphologic observations. So that now, the following taxa are identified : Grallator variabilis, G. lescurei, G. sauclierensis, G. minusculus, Eubrontes giganteus, Dilophosauripus williamsi, cf. Moraesichnium, Orníthopus fabrei nov ichnosp. The more immediately visible differences relate to the interdigital II-IV divarication and the digit length ratio. To this panel, we must add Batrachopus deweyi and shapes suggesting Trisauropodichnus and/or Anomoepus. Among all ichnite associations described in the lower Liasic, the New England assemblage presents the most affinities with ours. It shows the ichnotaxa Grallator, Dilophosauripus, Eubrontes, Batrachopus without forgetting Ornithopus fabrei nov. ichnosp. which is close to Ornithopus gallinaceus from the Massachusetts and Connecticut basins. On comparing the present early Jurassic ichnofauna of the Causses with the ones of the Middle and Upper Triassic formations of the eastem border of the Massif Central (France), it appears that tridactyl footprints become more and more numerous and large from Triassic to Early Jurassic. In the Causses, these latest are prevalent but in Quercy (France), Poland, Italy, USA, they are also associated with Omithopoda, Thyreophora and Sauropoda ichnites. Footprint areas considered here were generaly under an arid climate. Animals that passed by were heavy and bulky possible Megalosaur trackmakers, and lighter and slender Coelophysids or Ceratosaurs. For all, these areas were pathways as the orientations of the trackways seem point out. The directions followed by these reptiles were without any important variation during the Hettango-Sinemurian stages. These areas were also used from time to time by Crocodilomorpha and may be tetradactyl (I-IV) bipedal avian Theropods. However, the number of such trackways in sites, sometimes substantial, should not lead us to overestimate the trackmakers populations. These last were probably relatively moderately abondant in this inter-supratidal swamp environment. In the Causses, ichnites are connected with former algo-laminated deposits (Algal mats) which were rapidly hardened by means of calcitisation of cyanobacteria. The result has been a moderate depth of footprints; autopodia disturbing only a few cm of the carbonate substrate. Other fossils have been discovered : invertebrates with thin bivalve and gastropod shells, crustaceans tests and plants. These latter suggest the existence of paleomangroves like environments but also continental vegetation periodically overruning the swamp environment during regression/transgression cycles. At these times, wooded parts of it, could become protecting, feeding, resting and nesting places.

      


  PV article infos

Published in Vol. 31, Fasc. 1-4 (2002)

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Révision des Chiroptères Lutériens de Messel (Hesse, Allemagne).
Donald E. Russell and Bernard Sigé
Published online: 04/04/1970

Keywords: Chiroptera; Lutetian; Messel

https://doi.org/10.18563/pv.3.4.83-182

  Abstract

    The revision of the Lutetian chiropterans from Messel, first described by Revilliod in 1917, is based on the anatomy of the teeth and the skeleton.  A figuration or refiguration of thematerial utilized accompanies the new description, which goes beyond that of the original monograph.
    The study shows a certain variability of the dental structure within the genera Palaeochiropteryx Revilliod and Archaeonycteris Revilliod,  as well as a general resemblance of the two forms. The morphology of the teeth permits, however, the verification of the validity of the different species: Palaeochiropteryx tupaiodon Revilliod, P. spiegeli Revilliod, Archaeonycterís trigonodon Revilliod, and Archaeonycteris revilliodi, n. sp.
    Some differences of the skeletal and dental anatomy tend to indicate a stage of evolution less advanced for the genus Archaeonycteris.
    The comparison of the chiropterans of Messel with the principal groups of living chiropterans, as well as with different Eocene fossíls (notably Cecílionycteris Heller and Icaronycteris Jepsen) leads to a more precise idea of the anatomy of primitive chiropterans. This comparison also permits the proposition that the oid forms so far described by integrated in a superfamily, the Palaeochiropterygoidea and allows   a general phylogenetic hypothesis to be advanced for the order Chiroptera. 


  PV article infos

Published in Vol. 03, Fasc. 4 (1970)

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