The genus Plagiolophus is documented, almost solely in Western Europe, from the middle Eocene up to the mid Oligocene (MP 12 to MP 25), i.e. more than for 15 MY. Seventeen species are now recorded whose two of them are new, P. ringeadei nov. sp. and P. mamertensis nov. sp. Some anatomical variations and the deflection of certain evolutionary trends justify the distinction of three subgenera, Paloplotherium, Fraasiolophus nov. and Plagiolophus s.s. The genus displays a wide range in size and weight (between 10 and 150 kg). The detailed description of the skull of several species is here given for the first time.
Despite important evolutionary drifts during this long time span, the dentition shows a great structural homogeneity, which renders difficult the determination of fragmentary specimens or isolated teeth. It is characterized by a great heterodonty; premolars are little molarized and present a certain regression through time with paradoxically some progress in the molarization. The hypsodonty increases: the first Plagiolophus are hardly less brachyodont than Propalaeotherium, and the last ones are nearly as hypsodont as Merychippus from the early Miocene. The upper molars change from a wide crown pattern, with an open occlusal surface, lightly oblique transverse lophs and rounded internal cusps, to a narrower pattern, with a frontally constricted occlusal surface and internal lophs aligned parallel to the ectoloph. The M3/3 become always longer.

The dental enamel displays horizontal Schreger-bands with imprecise limits occupying only the middle part of the enamel layer. The dentine is remarkable by its high rate of pericanalicular dentine. The crown cementum, lacking in earlier forms, increases to the point where it fills the occlusal valleys of the
teeth.

The masticatory musculature shows a increasing prominence of the temporal, with probably an important role devoted to the pterygoid muscles in lateral movements related to a two-phase type of chewing.

The evolution of the dentition, of the masticatory musculature and of the repartition of masticatory forces indicate that the Plagiolophus have known different diets through their long evolutionary history; at first browsers they became mixed feeders and finally grazers. Their relatively long neck allowed these animals to reach different vegetal layers. The strength of the nuchal crests also suggests that they were able to have strong backwards movements of the head to pull up their food.

This evolution of diet seems related to the slow degradation of environmental conditions attested during this period in western Europe, with the generalization of more open landscapes, increasing aridity and more marked seasons.

Besides, a remodeling of the face is ontogenetically and along time observed, in relation with the evolution of the masticatory apparatus and especially with that of the mandibular lever arm. The postcanine diastemata become longer in the course of evolution; the free extremities of the nasals are always relatively long which contradicts the hypothesis according to which Paloplotherium may have had a trunk. At last the lineage Fraasiolophus can be distinguished by the presence of a deep malar fossa, probably related to a strong development of the maxillo-labialis superior muscle.

The orbit is always large and tends to increase in size, which indicates a good development of the vision and its increasing role in the life relations. A peculiar type of epitympanic sinus could have been used as a resonance chamber insuring a certain amplification of sounds before their transmission to the eardrum. The endocranial cast reveals a relatively large brain with an advanced degree of gyrencephaly. Beside the role eventually played in food research and social relations, these neurophysiological abilities, also related to an advance in cursorial fitness, could have contributed to the survival of these animals facing the predation pressure of the first fissipede carnivores and the competition with new immigrant herbivores after the "Grande Coupure".
On the basis of some shared apomorphies with the Pachynolophinae, which prevent from considering the latter as Equidae (molarization of the premolars, reduction of the premaxilla dorsal apophysis, peculiar epitympanic sinus, splitting of the jugular process), the hypothesis of an autochthonous origin of Plagiolophus issued from a form near Propalaeotherium, is once again proposed and discussed. Finally, intra-generic relationships are taken into consideration. 

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.
 
  

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. 

There is only one suid known in the Upper Miocene of Montredon (Hérault): Microstonyx (Limnostonyx nov. subgen.) antiquus (KAUP). It is differenciated from Microstonyx major by the presence of upper and lower canines which are considerably longer and biger. Its presence at Montredon corroborates the palustrine habitat for the species. 

As a result of the enrichment of eotheriodont material by one of us (P.K.T.), these specimens (essentially Biarmosuchur and Eotitanosuchur) are reexamined and refigured. A reevaluation of their particularities supports the distinction of two families, for which new diagnoses are proposed. This leads us to discuss the affinities of these families, with respect to the sphenacodonts on one hand, and to the South African primitive theriodonts on the other (gorgonopsids and ictidorhinids). This study contains inherent paleogeographic consequences which are considered in conclusion. 

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

The new fauna of Collet Redon (Bouches-du-Rhône, France) is dated by three rodents: Megacricetodon aff. bavaricus, Democricetodon affinis mutilus and Peridyromys cf. hamadryas. They correlate this locality with Oggenhof and Ohningen in Bavaria (Western Germany). As the radiometric age of Ohningen is estimated between 14 and 13 M.Y., these three localities are of Serravallian age. This datation brings a complete readjusment of the stratigraphy of the section of Collet Redon formerly described by Collot and Combaluzier. The marine deposits with underly the continental formation with the mammal fauna, are Burdigalian. The angular unconformity between the marine and the continental deposits gives evidence of an episode of emersion on the margin of a sedimentary basin, with deformation and erosion. Owing to the newly discovered fauna, this geodynamical event is clearly settled within the regional geographical and chronological context. Lacustrine and continental deposits of such an age were up to now unsuspected in this area. 

Deux types de remaniements post mortem me paraissent caractéristiques de l'état de conservation des dents de mammifères fossiles dans les Phosphorites du Quercy :

1) Des destructions localisées d'origine biologique, sous forme de galeries de morphologie très variable creusées dans la dentine et le cément, et impliquant sans doute la participation de différents types de micro-organismes. Ces altérations se sont développées peu de temps après la mort, avant la fossilísation proprement dite et se sont rapidement arrêtées après l'enfouissement dans le sédiment phosphaté.

2) Des perturbations dans les structures de la dentine liées aux variations locales de minéralisation, provoquées par une imprégnation diffuse des zones les moins calcifiées par divers minéraux et probablement surtout de l`apatite. 

The biometric and morphologie variability of the cheek teeth in the end-of-the-phylum species Lophiodon lautricense Noulet studied in this note, reposes on the observation of about 800 teeth. These were revealed to be little variable in absolute dimensions. The considerable morphologie variability in the upper premolars permitted the problem of the molarization process to be taken up. An hypothesis concerning the order of eruption of the cheek teeth is formulated based on an examination of a large number of milk dentitions. In conclusion, it is suggested that reservations be held on the value of dental characters classically used in systematics for the group under consideration. 

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

  

Pleistocene bird fossils have been studied from nine localities on Crete. Part of this material was described earlier by the author (Weesie, 1982) and will not be treated here in extenso, the results will be incorporated. More than one third of the over 10,000 fossil bird bones available could be identified ; they were found to represent at least 65 bird species. The following species of the Pleistocene Cretan avifauna are new to the fauna of Crete : Branta ruficollis, Haliaeetus albicilla, Gyps melitensis, Aquila chrysaetos simurgh n. ssp., Ketupa zeylomensis, Aegolius funereus, Dendrocopos leucotos, Zoothera dauma, Turdus iliacus and Pyrrhula pyrrhula. The Pleistocene Cretan avifauna differs less from comparable mainland avifaunas than (fossil) avifaunas from oceanic islands do. Still, the Pleistocene Cretan avifauna has two qualities that are characteristic of island avifaunas : the almost complete absence of a group of birds (the Galliformes) and the presence of two endemic (sub)species : the giant eagle Aquila chrysaetos simurgh n. ssp. and the long-legged owl Athene cretensis (Weesie, 1982). The new subspecies is described in the present study.
These endemic birds of prey were found in association with their supposedly principal prey species (now extinct as well) : endemic mice for the owl and endemic deer for the eagle. Endemic mammals have been found in association with endemic birds of prey on many islands, not only in the Mediterranean. There is evidence that the size of endemic birds of prey becomes optimally adapted to their feeding on certain endemic mammals, especially rodents. Another characteristic of the Pleistocene Cretan avifauna is the great number of species of birds of prey. This appears to be a common characteristic of fossil avifaunas from caves on Mediterranean islands as well as from caves on the European mainland. However, we think that ecological conditions on Pleistocene Crete (especially the abundant presence of mice) helped to account for the high representation of birds of prey. Furthemore, the fossil avifauna enables us to draw some conclusions about the climate and vegetation on Pleistocene Crete : it is concluded that the climate was cooler than today and that Crete was largely covered with forests. Finally, the reasons for the extinction or disappearance from Crete of some bird species of the Pleistocene Cretan avifauna are discussed. 

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.
  

The discovery in the Turolian (Late Miocene) of Dytiko 3 (Macedonia, Greece) of a complete skull with mandibles and cervical vertebrae, atlas and epistropheus, is a very important contribution to the knowledge of the subfarnily Chalicotheríinae. After the description, the comparison with other specimens of Miocene chalicotheres permits the revival of the generic name Macrotherium with a new species M. macedonicum. This genus is mainly characterized by a short snout and an inflated cerebral skull. It coexists during the Miocene with Chalicotherium. A cladistic analysis leads to conclusion that the species which has been described from the Early Middle Miocene of Rusinga must be identified as the type-species of a new genus: Butleria.





  

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.

  

 A new genus of hystricognath rodent with two new species, Soriamys gaimanensis and Soriamys ganganensis, from the Colhuehuapian Age (Early Miocene), Sarmiento Formation, of Patagonia is described. The first species comes from the south barranca of the valley of Rio Chubut, near Gaiman locality (Chubut Province). It is known through a great number of dental remains in different stages of wear. The teeth are protohypsodont, with cement in the principal valleys. P4 are simpler, more oval inoutline and without a differentiated hypocone-hypoflexus. Upper molars are pentalophodont in early stages of wear and become bilobated in middle and advanced stages; M3 have a temporary third posterior lobe due to the maintenance of the braquiflexus on the posterior wall of the tooth. Lower teeth have a completely asymrnetrical pattern in relation to the uppers. The molars are trilophodont, with only one complex crest in the trigonid composed of the fusion of the anterolophid and mesolophid. The dp4 have a derived pentalophodont pattern due to the loss or fusion of the mesolophid and the development of an accessory transverse crest between the anterolophid and metalophid. The second species is known through a complete skull and jaw and other skull fragments with the dentition, proceeding from Pampa de Gan Gan, Chubut province. Respect to the first species, the teeth are higher crowned, with an earlier occlusal simplification and a third posterior lobe of M3 more developed and persistent. The skull and jaws show many chinchilloid characters, such as jugal bone with an ascending process, concave palate, very prominent dorsal shelf of the masseteric fossa, nasolachrymal duct opened laterally on the maxillary and very developed lateral mandibular fossa. Moreover, Soriamys is closely related to Cephalomys by sharing a similar asymmetric dental pattern and other dental and mandibular characters. These two genera constitute a natural group, the Cephalomyidae, with peculiar dental characters, like the asymmetric pattem of the upper and lower teeth; Cephalomyopsis, and probably Litadontomys, can be considered part of this group. Scotamys and Perimys constitute a distinct lineage (the Neopiblemidae or Perimyidae), more closely related to the chinchillids. Many characters shared by cephalomyids, eocardiids and caviids suggest a closer affinity between the Chinchilloidea and the Cavioiidea as a whole. Abrocoma shows also an asymmetric dental pattern and other chinchilloid features that suggest some degree of relationship with the cephalomyids, still not well determined. 

The origin and early evolutionary history of the dinosaurs is a topic that has recently gone through a period of renewed interest and academic debate. For 130 years, one way of classifying the various dinosaur subgroups persisted as the accepted model, with increasing levels of research in the past quarter-century also providing evidence for the hypothesis that dinosaur origination occurred in the Southern Hemisphere, particularly in South America. It is, after all, from within the Late Triassic strata of countries like Argentina and Brazil that we get some of the very best early dinosaur specimens; many of these specimens are the earliest known representatives of some of the major dinosaur subgroups, such as the theropods and sauropodomorphs. However, some recent analyses have brought about a shift in terms of what is currently accepted and what is now disputed regarding the origin of dinosaurs – the Southern Hemisphere origination hypothesis was questioned (although this was based upon observations and not with quantitative analysis techniques), as has the shape of the dinosaur tree. Responses to the new hypothesis were numerous; many further supported a Southern Hemisphere point of origin. Whilst the interrelationships between the major dinosaur clades remains to be resolved, the current data does seem to comprehensively answer the question of where the dinosaurs first originated. However, it is arguable whether the current data that is being used in such palaeobiogeographical analyses is sufficient to provide an answer to the question of where specifically the dinosaur clade first appeared. This short communication urges a degree of caution about the current consensus and what steps may need to be taken to ensure that more meaningful results are produced in the future. 

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. 

Two new species, Omanodon minor n. g., n. sp. and Shizarodon dhofarensis n. g., n. sp., known from fifteen isolated teeth, are described here as the first adapiform primates (?Anchomomyini) recognizable to date in the Taqah material (early Oligocene of Sultanate of Oman).

Omanodon minor n. g., n. sp. displays special morphological similarity to the adapid tribe Anchomomyini from the Eocene of Europe, and especially to the Anchomomys lineage. Resemblances with the extant lemurifonn Microcebus are also noticeable and could be regarded as supporting Schwartz & Tattersall (1983) hypothesis of special relationships between the anchomomyine adapids and the cheirogaleid lemuriformes. However, these morphological affmities can be interpreted, altematively, as the results of parallelisms: important differences in upper molars indicate that the resemblances of cheirogaleids and Omanodon minor n. g., n. sp. are indeed probably due to parallelisms. Phyletic relationship of O. minor n. g., n. sp. to Anchomomyini is finally the most likely hypothesis.

Shizarodon dhofarensis n. g., n. sp., although much more poorly known, is closely related to Omanodon minor n. g., n. sp., at least at a familial level. The general morphology of this species suggests
also a close link with adapid Anchomomyini, although precise relationships within this tribe remain obscure. Interesting resemblances of Shizarodon dhofarensis n. g., n. sp. to Djebelemur martinezi lower molars (early Eocene of Tunisia) are also noticeable. These resemblances are even stronger than those betwen Omanodon minor and Djebelemur martinezi. However the very bunodont upper molars referred to D. martinezi are unusual for adapids, and there are moreover some notable differences in their lower molars. Thus resemblances in Djebelemur and Shizarodon are probably due to paralellisms.

Because of the fragmentary nature of the material and of possible parallelisms, the systematic position of Omanodon and Shizarodon within adapiformes cannot however yet be established definitively. 

Two new Squalicorax species, S. benguerirensis nov. sp. and S. microserratus nov. sp. are described from the Lower Maastrichtian of the Benguérir phosphate open mine, Ganntour deposit, Morocco. The species S. benguerirensis nov. sp. was classically assigned to S. yangaensis since Arambourg (1952) and has been also recognized in coeval deposits from eastern USA to Mid-East. The species S. microserratus nov. sp. correspond to the lateral teeth of S. kaupi as reported by Arambourg (1952) and which is now referred in fact to S. bassanii. The comparison of these two new species with other Anacoracids, known in Moroccan or elsewhere, allows highlighting the great taxonomic and ecological diversities of this family during the Cretaceous.
  

A general view is given of the vertebrate faunas, Cretaceous to Quaternary of age, found in Columbia and of their principal characteristics. This view leads to the discussion of the isolation of the South American continent and of the role played by the Bolivar syncline with respect to North American immigrants during the Oligocene. The absence of marine deposits of Oligocene age in the north and northwest of Columbia suggests the possibility of a communication with Central America. This communication would have permitted the passage of hystricomorph rodents, of platyrrhine monkeys, and of colubrids. The non-occupation, until then, of the ecologie niches of these groups would have favored their installation beside the indigenous fauna. In this hypothesis it would no longer be necessary to admit that these vertebrates arrived as «island hoppers ››. The eco-biologic conditions would explain the absence of large-sized forms of North American origin.