The Pantolestidae from the middle eocene of Bouxwiller are the subject of a detailed study. Buxolestes hammeli (n. g., n. sp.) is not closely related to any other European or North American form described until now; it presents, however, some characters in common with Pantolestes, a form of the same age from North America. A parallel evolution from a common ancestral form could explain this ressemblance.
Another form (gen. and sp. indet.) accompanies Buxolertes hammeli in the Bouxwiller fauna.
  

The Palaeobatrachidae until now have not been reported from France. The present note makes known the discovery of very significant remains in three Tertiary localities of France: Cernay (late Paleocene), Laugnac (late Aquitanian) and Sansan (middle Helvetian). The osteologic characters, as well as the geographic and stratigraphic distribution of the family are re-stated with added details. The Palaeobatrachidae are a European family known from the late Jurassic of Catalonia (publication in course by J. Seiffert) to the Plio-Pleistocene (pre-Mindel) of Poland and Rumania. By their way of life and certain osteologic characters they are similar to the Pipidae, but they are distinguished by profound differences. It would be rash to include them in the Pipoidea or even in the Aglossa. They are apparently an independant group, essentially holarctic, which held in Europe a role equivalent to that played by the Pipidae south of Tethys. 

The first lists of Insectivores (Erinaceidae, Talpidae and Soricidae) from the Pliocene beds of Southern France and North-East Spain are given in this paper. The material from twelve localities is studied. These localities are geographically situated in Languedoc (Celleneuve, Vendargues, Nîmes, Sète, Balaruc 2 and Seynes), in Roussillon (Terrats, Serrats-d'en-Vacquer, Château d'eau and Mont-Hélène) and in North-East Spain (Layna, Medas Islands and Puebla de Valverde). These faunas correspond to the Early, Middle and Late Pliocene. 1 to 8 taxa are identified in these localities and 14 specific taxa are presently listed for this period in this area. Two new specific taxa are described as Galerix depereti nov. sp. from all the Early Pliocene localities in the North-Pyrenean area and as Desmanella gardiolensis nov. sp. from Balaruc 2. For this small mammals, two faunal assemblages are recognized. The first one is dated from the Early Pliocene (F 1, 2 and 3 zones in Aguilar et Michaux) and is characterized by Galerix depereti and rare and little diversified Soricids. The second one is Late Pliocene in age (zones G 2 and G 3). The fossils of the genus Talpa are relatively abundant and the Soricids are diversified and very abundant. The Middle Pliocene (zone G 1) is a transitional period. ln these faunas, most of the insectivore genera are known from the European Late Miocene beds (8 on 10). This fact demonstrates a relative continuity between the invectivore faunas from the Late Miocene to the Early Pliocene. In conclusion, somme paleoecological considerations are suggested.
  

A detailed comparative study of a complete skeleton of Bachitherium and a cladistic analysis of the sub-order Neoselenodontia lead us to propose a cladogram and a new classification of this group. The Tylopoda are the sister-group of the Ruminantia, which are chiefly defined by the fusion of the cuboid and navicular. Within this infra-order, Amphimeryx is the sister genus of a tetraselenodont group, in which the Hypertragulidae are well-separated group from a monophyletic group defined by the loss of trapezium, fusion of capitatum and trapezoid, and the isolation of the hypoconid on lower molars. The most primitive genera of this group, Lophiomeryx and Iberomeryx still have an open trigonid on the lower molars, but this is lingually closed in Archaeomeryx, sister-genus of the higher Ruminantia which have fused metatarsals and more evolved milk teeth. We divide them into two pan/orders : Tragulina (including the recent and miocene Tragulidae, and the North-American Leptomerycidae), and Pecora, with reduced lateral metacarpals and a new crest (telocristid) on the lower premolars. Within the Pecora, the upper molars of Gelocus are more primitive than those of Bachitherium (a genus with many autapomorphies in the dentition) itself more primitive than the group Prodremotherium + Eupecora, with fused metacarpals. We consider the Eupecora (including several genera without frontal appendages) to be monophyletic. 

The first part of this study was devoted to a descriptive analysis of teeth morphologies among the vespertilionine bats. This leads now to a tentative synthesis, providing views on the systematics of the group. The results could be seen according to three distinct but closely related purposes : 1 - the sorting of the genera contents in order to conform the genera units to homogeneous taxa that could represent natural issues of evolutionary lineages ; 2 - the investigation of relationships between extant genera in order to infer the possibilities of common origin ; 3 - according to the preceeding items and to the observed evolutionary trends, a tentative phylogeny, modest and cautious. The contents of many genera are sorted : Leuconoe is removed from subgeneric to generic position, whereas Myotis becomes a subgenus of it ; the myotodont species are cleared away from the Pipistrellus genus ; Glischropus and Scotozous are synonymized within Pipistrellus ; Hypsugo is raised to the generic level ; some species previously ranged within Pipistrellus will form provisionally a collective group, Attalepharca nov. ; the Eptesicus genus is broken up, the excluded species being grouped within Nycterikaupius gen. nov. ; the Nycticeini tribe is defined again after exclusion of Otonycteris , Scotoecus, Scotophilus , and addition of Hesperoptenus ; the species la io and Pipistrellus tasmaniensis are removed to Eptesicus (n.s.) and Pipistrellus dormeri to Scotoecus. Groupings of genera are stated according to the main evolutionary trends of I1/. The relevance of these is often warranted by close morphologic similarities of other teeth. This leads to a recognition of the major evolutionary radiations which occurred in the group. The filiations schematized at the end of the work show the dental relationships observed between the extant genera, and could represent a phylogenic framework. Two major facts are to be underlined : 1- the early divergence of leuconoids ; 2 - the successives crossings to myotodonty from the nyctaloid flow. Fossil data from the literature are punctually and tentatively incorporated within phylogenic sketches. 

The discovery of new hippopotamid material from the late Miocene Baynunah Formation (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) has prompted the revision of the existing material of this as yet unnamed fossil taxon. The Baynunah hippopotamid appears to be distinct from all other contemporary and later species in having a relatively more elongate symphysis, a feature similar to the earlier (and more primitive) Kenyapotamus. Yet, the Baynunah hippopotamid presents a dentition typical of the Hippopotaminae. It is therefore a distinct species attributed to the later subfamily, described and named in this contribution. This species provides further evidence for a ca. 8 Ma evolutionary event (termed “Hippopotamine Event”) that initiated the spread and ecological significance of the Hippopotaminae into wet habitats across Africa and Eurasia. The morphological affinities of the new species from Abu Dhabi suggest that the Arabian Peninsula was not a dispersal route from Africa toward southern Asia for the Hippopotamidae at ca. 7.5 Ma to 6.5 Ma. 

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 subfamilies Murinae and "Dendromurinae" both include 4 species at Chorora. Among the former, while Preacomys nov. gen. seems to be a forerunner of Acomys, the affinities of the remaining, poorly known taxa, are more difficult to evaluate. The bulk of the fauna, remarkably, consists of Dendromurines. Their similarities with those of Ngorora tends to pull the site back in time, but the large size and diversity of Murines fit better an age more recent than the very beginning of the Late Miocene.

  

A short review of the genera and species of snakes from the Quercy's phosphorites described by former authors is followed by the study of specimens recently collected. Most of these latter specimens belong to the Aniliidae, Boidae, Colubridae and to the Scolecophidia; the precise systematic position of some of them is not defined yet. The following genera and species are described: Eonilius europae nov. gen. and nov. sp., Platyspondylia lepta nov. gen. and nov. sp., Coluber cadurci nov. sp. and Dunnophis cadurcensis nov.  sp.; a species described by de Rochebrune (Palaeopython filholi) is revised. One of the most important conclusions of this study is that the Colubridae appear as early as the Upper Eocene. The stratigraphic repartition of these snakes shows that the rich Upper Eocene fauna is followed by the very reduced fauna of the Lower Oligocene; then the oligocene «Grande Coupure» corresponds to a very important faunistic renewal. The fauna remains poor and little diversified during the beginning of the Middle Oligocene after which there is a new faunistic explosion. 

Abstract
 The validity of Propachynolophus Lemoine, 1891, supposedly an intermediate between Hyracotherium Owen, 1841 and Pachynolophus Pomel, 1847, has been questioned for a long time. A detailed analysis of features on which this genus is based further supported by a formal cladistic analysis demonstrates that Propachynolophus is not a valid taxon. The type species, “Propachynolophus gaudryi Lemoine, 1891” shall be assigned to Propalaeotherium Gervais, 1849, under the new combination Propalaeotherium gaudryi (Lemoine, 1891). “Pachynolophus maldani Lemoine, 1878”, later assigned to Propachynolophus, typifies the new genus Orolophus, under the binomen Orolophus maldani (Lemoine, 1878). The other referred species, “Propachynolophus levei Hooker, 1994” and “P. remyi Checa-Soler, 1997” are poorly documented, and both species shall be provisionally referred to as “Hyracotherium” levei (Hooker, 1994) and “Hyracotherium” remyi (Checa-Soler, 1997), pending new discoveries.
 
  

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. 

The rodents (Cricetidae, Gliridae, Sciuridae) found in lacustrine, brackish marine and karstic sediments of Miocene age in Languedoc, assign the position of the different localities in the scale of "niveaux repères" used by mammalogists. Some detailed stratigraphical studies bring several correlations between this continental biochronological scale and the marine scale ; the most important results are the Aquitanian age of the "niveaux repères" of Coderet and Paulhiac, the Burdigalian age of Laugnac, Estrepouy, Vieux-Collonges, La Romieu and Sansan and the Langhian or Lower Serravallian age of La Grive M. The correlations between the Tethys and the Central Paratethys for the Lower Neogene profit also of these results, since the locality of Neudorf Spalte 1, 2 (Czechoslovakia) is shown to be younger than Sansan (France). The paleontological study has also several geological inferences for the Miocene of Languedoc ; with the calibration of this Miocene, we know quite precisely that the Lower Miocene is chiefly a time lacustrine sedimentation, and also that the marine Miocene sedimentation ends early in the Miocene Period, in Langhian or lower Serravallian times. 

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). 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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 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 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. 

Les mammifères post-glaciaires de Corse. Etude Archéozoologique, par Jean-Denis Vigne, 1988. XXVle suppléments à "Gallia Préhistoire". Editions du C.N.R.S., Paris, 337 p. FRF 300. ISSN 0072-0100, ISBN 2-222-04130-9.