The late Cretaceous Auca Mahuevo nesting site (Neuquén Province, Argentina) has produced a large number of sauropod eggs, many of them containing the remains of embryos. Research at this site has generated important information about the development of the embryos, the morphology and eggshell microstructure of the eggs, and the reproductive behavior of sauropod dinosaurs. Cranial features present in the embryos have allowed their identification as those of titanosaurian sauropods. Differences in the texture of the sediments that contain some of the egg-clutches have illuminated their nest architecture. Microstructural studies of eggshells have expanded our knowledge of their variability and the incidence of pathologies within a reproductive titanosaurian population. Maps showing the spatial distribution of eggs and clutches. the stratigraphic distribution of the egg-beds, and the sedimentological context in which they are contained, have provided the basis for several inferences about the nesting behavior of these dinosaurs. 

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. 

Numerous “Quaternary” large-mammal fossils have been collected since the 1830s along the Le Riège stream, near Pézenas (Southern France). More than 120 specimens are stored in the collections of the Université de Montpellier (UM) under the name “Le Riège”. A major operation aiming at relocating the palaeontological collections of the University has made it possible to group together all the specimens of interest and launch their systematic revision for the first time. The fossils belong to the Reboul (1839; 51 samples) and de Christol (1865; 18 samples) Collections and 17 samples compose the Crochet & Ivorra Collection (1998). The remaining 38 samples have no mention about the exact time and location of their finding. We provide a critical inventory with literal transcription of inscriptions on specimens and historical labels. This revision confirms the presence of two distinct faunal assemblages under the name of “Le Riège”: Saint-Palais (Early Pliocene, MN14–15) and Le Riège sensu stricto (late Early Pleistocene, most likely MNQ19). The former assemblage, with coastal affinities, is composed of the ruminants Alephis sp. and Procapreolus cf. pyrenaicus, the rhinocerotid Pliorhinus megarhinus, the gomphotheriid Anancus arvernensis and marine mammals, all emblematic taxa for the Early Pliocene of Montpellier and Perpignan. The latter assemblage documents a late Early Pleistocene fluvio-volcanic sequence, yielding the bovid Bison (Eobison) spp., the cervid Eucladoceros cf. giulii, the hippopotamid Hippopotamus antiquus, the rhinocerotid Stephanorhinus etruscus, the equid Equus cf. altidens, and the elephantid Mammuthus cf. meridionalis, plus a few specimens of uncertain taxonomic affinities. This revision underscores the interest of revisiting historical collections and further provides a starting point for future research.
  

Fossils of the endangered sturgeons and peddlefishes are widely distributed. We here report for the first time the presence of one of the extinct osteichthyes genus Cylindracanthus (Liedy 1856a) from the Early Eocene lignite-bearing successions of the Kutch Basin, India. The present well preserved rostrum is characterised by numerous wedge-shaped components encircling the central canal that runs along its length, paired at the base and each wedge contributing to the formation of a ridge. The rostrum lacks teeth. The present find extends the palaeobiogeographical distribution of Cylindracanthus considerably and supports its Eocene age as dental remnants preserved in Cylindracanthus sp. shows a decrease in remanent dentition and tooth bases from the Cretaceous to the Eocene. Cylindracanthus is an useful palaeoenvironmental indicator as it has been found associated typically with deposits of nearshore marine environments. 

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. 

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.

  

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. 

We present here a new updated counting of the perissodactyls of Robiac, the type locality of the MP 16 level of the biochronological scale of paleogene mammals and that of the Robiacian stage of Eocene Land Mammals Ages in Western Europe.
The outcrop of Robiac consists actually of two 500m apart loci, Robiac-Nord and Robiac-Sud, considered of the same age according to the current discriminating power, and is dated from -38,7 MA after the last faunal, magnetostratigraphic and climatic calibrations.
It has yielded a very abundant and rich of 21 taxa perissodactyl fauna, topped by the giant Lophiodon lautricense, last representative of the family Lophiodontidae, of which it is the last proved deposit. The Palaeotheriidae are much diversified with 5 genera and 9 species of "Pachynolophinae", 3 genera and 10 species of Palaeotheriinae. Nine taxa have been defined from Robiac: Chasmotherium depereti n. sp., Palaeotherium castrense robiacense Franzen, 1968, the genus Leptolophus Remy, 1965 with the species L. stehlini Remy, 1965 and L. magnus Remy, 1998, Anchilophus (Paranchilophus) jeanteti Remy, 2012, Metanchilophus chaubeti Remy, 2012, Lophiotherium robiacense Depéret, 1917 and Pachynolophus gaytei n. sp.
The faunal Robiac cenogram with the associated flora testify to a hot, wet and forestal environment, likely corresponding to a short warming climatic phase; the broken up fossil bones should have been carried away and then gathered in swamp areas along the banks of a meandering river.
The swarm of mammals of Robiac, the richest of contemporaneous deposits, has been followed by a drastic drop in perissodactyl diversity at the MP 17A level; a crisis which could have originated in a renewal of the global Eocene cooling. Fons 4, the type-locality of this level, is largely scarcer in perissodactyls and its cenogram testifies to a less diversified fauna, with on the whole smaller species, that likely means a cooler and drier climatic environment; a new perissodactyl diversification occurred but later.
  

A late Pleistocene deposit of 60 species of vertebrates and 12 of invertebrates is described from Robinson Cave, Overton County, Tennessee, U.S.A. Forty-eight species of mammals are represented by at least 2,483 individuals; 10 % are extinct, 10 % occur in the state only as boreal relicts in the Great Smoky Mountains; 23 % no longer occur as far south as Tennessee; 57 % occur at or near the site today. Nínety-one percent of the Recent mammal species can be found living today in the Minnesota-Wisconsin area, approximately 10 degrees farther north. Fluorine analysis suggests a long period of accumulation. The following 10 mammalian species are recorded from Tennessee for the first time. Sorex arcticus, Microsorex hoyi, Citellus tridecemlineatus, Clethrionomys gapperi, Microtus pennsylvanicus, Synaptomys cooperi, Synaptomys borealis, Zapus nudsonius, Napaeozapus insignis, Martes americana. Six additional species are present as boreal relicts in the Great Smoky Mountains of eastern Tennessee but not at the site today : Sorex cinereus, Sorex dispar, Sorex palustris, Parascalops breweri, Glaucomys sabrinus, Mustela nivalis. Six forms are extinct: Canis dirus, Ursus americanus amplidens, Sangamona furtiva, Dasypus bellus, Mammut americanus,Megalonyx jeffersoni. Twenty-six additional species of mammals, all of the snails, birds, reptiles, and amphibians recovered from the fauna still inhabit the area today: The fauna is indicative of a cold-temperate climatic episode associated with the Wisconsin glaciation, but may be chronologically mixed. 

This paper presents the description and the interpretation of recently discovered traces on a Lower Hettangian dolomitic outcrop in the Bédarieux area, Southern France. One trace set immediately attracted the attention by its resemblance to a small sauropod pes-manus couple but no trackway was visible. As the other traces have a variety of shapes with no obvious significance, it took a thorough examination of the 3D and sedimentological data to come to the conclusion that most traces likely were sauropod tracks made under diverse conditions. Sedimentological and ichnological data indicate that the tracks have been made in the intertidal zone of a carbonated tidal flat shortly before an emersion period. It appears that that the variety of trace shapes is due to a variety of water depths: the sauropods were punting when the water level was high. The lack of trackways seems due to the combination of an underprint situation, buoyancy effects and the small size of the track-bearing slab. Several hypotheses can be considered for explaining the very small size of the tracks, such as insular dwarfism or the immaturity of the trackmakers. 

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.
  

Le Mémoire Extraordinaire 1988 de PALAEOVERTEBRATA regroupe dix articles consacrés au gisement à mammifères du Miocène supérieur de Montredon (Hérault), connu et classique depuis la fin du siècle dernier, et auquel est lié le nom du savant paléontologue lyonnais Charles Depéret.
Cette monographie vient normalement à la suite de celle parue en 1982 dans PALAEOVERTEBRATA, dont les différents articles traitaient de la stratigraphie du gisement, et faisaient l'étude des différents groupes de micromammifères représentés dans la faune (insectivores, chiroptères, rongeurs). 

A new Tertiary megadermatid is described from Rackham's Roost Site, a Pliocene limestone cave deposit on Riversleigh Station, northwestern Queensland, Australia. It appears to represent the first Australian record of Megaderma GEOFFROY, 1810, a genus otherwise known from Tertiary African and European taxa and the living Asian species M. spasma (LINNAEUS, 1758) and M. (Lyroderma) lyra PETERS, 1872. Megademza richardsi n. sp. is one of the smallest megademiatids known. It exhibits a mixture of plesiomorphic and autapomorphic features, the latter appearing to exclude it from being ancestral to any living megadermatid. The new species is one of eight megadermatids identified from the Australian fossil record, most of which are referable to Macroderma MILLER, 1906. 

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. 

Based on isolated teeth two new scyliorhinid shark species, Scyliorhinus biformis nov. sp. and Scyliorhinus suelstorfensis nov. sp., are described from the Sülstorf Beds, early-middle Chattian, of Mecklenburg, northeastern Germany. They form part of a speciose assemblage of necto-benthic sharks and batoids which populated the warm-temperate to subtropical upper shelf sea of the south-eastern North Sea Basin. 

This paper provides a revision of the early and middle Eocene European rodents previously referred to as Ischyromyoidea, including taxa considered to be at the origin of the Theridomorpha. The use of an accurate dental terminology and a better understanding of the size and shape of their infra-orbital foramen (i.o.f.) led us to a substantial revision of this group, which allowed to better characterize them and to appreciate their variability. On these bases, phylogenetic analyses (cladistic and standard Bayesian
approaches) of early Ypresian to late Priabonian European rodent species were undertaken in order to highlight the root of the early Theridomorpha and its content. In this paper, the phylogeny was established based on 343 characters (338 dental) through 45 early Paleogene taxa using both cladistic and bayesian analyses. The ingroup included on one hand a few North American genera (Reithroparamys, Microparamys, and Acritoparamys) and European ones (Eogliravus, Ailuravus, Corbarimys, Meldimys, Euromys, Plesiarctomys, and Pseudoparamys) considered until now as being related with the North American superfamily Ischyromyoidea. On the other hand, it included genera close to the root of the Theridomorpha (Sparnacomys, Pantrogna, and Hartenbergeromys) and early Theridomyoidea (Masillamys, Protadelomys, and some Pseudosciuridae). The phylogenetic results obtained via the two
distinct reconstruction approaches are consistent in virtually all relationships. The proposed systematics here derives from these phylogenetic results. This phylogenetic context led us to change the suprafamilial, familial, subfamilial or generic attribution of several species. Characters of Theridomorpha, like the obliquely developed postprotocristid allied with the occurrence of a metalophulid I, have been found in genera previously considered as Ischyromyidae (Pseudoparamys, Euromys, Sparnacomys, Meldimys, Pantrogna, and Hartenbergeromys) as well as the large i.o.f., when preserved (Pseudoparamys, Hartenbergeromys, and Masillamys). Based on these morphological observations and new phylogenetic considerations, the content of the Theridomorpha clade is here enlarged, thereby extending back the first theridomorph radiations to the early Eocene. Aside, a new taxon (Reinomys rhomboides gen and sp. nov.) is described from Avenay. In addition, a new genus, Auroremys, is created for the species subita (Comte et al., 2012) from Chery-Chartreuve. 

This paper describes the first hexanchid tooth from the Tithonian (Late Jurassic) of New Zealand. For the moment, this tooth represents the earliest representative of the fossil genus Notidanodon in the world and one of the most ancient neoselachians in the Southern Hemisphere. Despite the perfect state of preservation of the unique tooth, the species is left in open nomenclature, pending the discovery of additional specimens. Few nominal species have been assigned to the genus Notidanodon. Four from Cretaceous deposits: N. antarcti Grande & Chatterjee, 1987, Notidanodon dentatus (Woodward, 1886), Notidanodon lanceolatus (Woodward, 1886), Notidanodon pectinatus (Agassiz, 1843) and only two from Paleocene: Notidanodon brotzeni Siverson, 1995, and Notidanodon loozi (Vincent, 1876). Considering the important morphological variations observed between some of these species, it seems obvious that the genus Notidanodon is not monophyletic and will need a revision in the future. 
  

A new artiodactyl, Diacodexis antunesi n.sp., is described from the early Eocene of Silveirinha, Portugal. Comparisons are made with Diacodexis gazini GODINOT, 1978, D. varleti SUDRE et al., 1983, D. cf. varleti from Paris Basin sites, D. sp. from Dormaal and from localities in Spain and England, D. secans from North America and D. pakistanensis from Asia; affinities and evolutive tendencies are discussed. The presence of Diacodexis in the locality of Silveirinha confirms the very early Eocene age of the latter. As Diacodexis antunesi appears ta be more primitive than D. gazini from Rians (early Eocene of France), it lends corroboration to the interpretation (essentially based previously on condylarths) of the Silveirinha assemblage as the oldest Eocene fauna known in Europe and supports the hypothesis that early artiodactyls migrated from Europe to North America. 

The present work is devoted to the study of the Cretaceous and Tertiary fishes (teeth of Selachians, Actinopterygians and Dipnoans) collected during a recent expedition in Niger. The Maestrichtian localities have yielded a new genus and a new subspecies of Selachian: Igdabatis sigmodon nov. gen., nov. sp. and Lamna biauriculata nigeriana nov. subsp. The locality of Sessao, which has been attributed to the Thanetian by means of the study of the fish, has furnished by screen-washing an interesting fauna wherein six new species are described: Raja Iouisi, Dasyatis sessaoensis, D. sudrei, D. russelli, Hypolophites thaleri and Ceratodus casieri. Comparison of these faunas with contemporary faunas of Africa has brought out a certain endemism in the Iullemmeden Basin during the late Cretaceous and the early Tertiary. 

 Detailed anatomical description of arsinoithere cranial remains from the Lower Oligocene, Fayum Depression, Egypt, provides the basic data for a systematic investigation. All cranial and some postcranial features are assessed from a phylogenetic standpoint. Several soft tissue characters are then added to a cladistic analysis based on 54 derived ungulate morphological characters. The resulting phylogenetic hypothesis implies that perissodactyls, sirenians, proboscideans and arsinoitheres constitute a monophyletic unit (5 synapomorphies). However, increasing the tree length by 3 steps reveals a closer association between hyraxes and perissodactyls. Nevertheless, 13 synapomorphies link proboscideans, sirenians and  arsinoitheres to the exclusion of all other ungulates. Form of the sphenopalatine and ethmoid foramina, recurved posttympanic process, absence of a fenestra rotundum in the petrosal, vestigial paroccipital process of the exoccipital and the highly unusual absence of a hypoglossal foramen in the skull, imply a robust sister-group relationship between arsinoitheres and proboscideans. In this analysis artiodactyls share only one derived character with all other ungulates studied. Monophyly of Ungulata, including Artiodactyla, is therefore only weakly supported. It is argued that pedal anatomy of hyraxes is non-homologous with that of Tethytheria. Arsinoitherium should now be classified within Tethytheria, sharing a sister-group relationship with Proboscidea. Hyraxes are excluded, thus refuting the concept of Paenungulata. However, monophyly of the wider concept, Pantomesaxonia, containing hyraxes, perissodactyls, sirenians, proboscideans and now, arsinoitheres, is supported by this study.