Annales de Paleontologie最新文献

Earliest cetaceans (whales) originated from the early Eocene of Indo-Pakistan, but the group dispersed through most of the oceans of the planet by the late middle to late Eocene. This late Eocene global distribution indicates that important dispersal events took place during the middle Eocene (Lutetian), a globally undersampled time interval that is well documented in the Togolese phosphate series. We report here the first discovery of a partial cetacean cranium from middle Eocene deposits of Togo (West Africa). A 3D model of the cranium and teeth was reconstructed in order to reveal hidden anatomical features. The dental and cranial characteristics of the Togolese specimen recall those of protocetid taxa described in Africa, Asia, and North America, but also display significant differences. In particular, we show that the new specimen shares a number of morphological features with the Togolese taxon Togocetus. Such a hypothesis is further supported by a cladistic analysis including 45 taxa and 167 morphological characters, which recovers the new specimen close to Togocetus as the first offshoot of protocetids. Phylogenetic analysis including all the protocetids remains of Kpogamé confirms the singular diversity of the Togolese phosphate basin, and enables to examine potential connections with faunas from contemporaneous localities in Africa.

A new species of pelecinid wasp, Eopelecinus marechali sp. nov., is described and figured from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber based on a single well-preserved female specimen. Contrary to Eopelecinus inopinatus Jouault et al., 2020a, unique other Eopelecinus known from this deposit, the new species is based on a complete female specimen. This discovery confirms that the Pelecinidae were highly diverse during the Cretaceous and highlights the underestimated diversity of the genus Eopelecinus in Burmese amber biota. Eopelecinus marechali sp. nov. differs from all other Eopelecinus species by its unique metasomal ratio. A summary on the fossil pelecinid species with distributions and ages is provided. Based on the particular geological history of the West Burmese Terrane and the fossil record of the family, the hypothesis of an Asian origin of the family is discussed. The records of Eopelecinus in both Laurasia and Burmese amber biota, during the mid-Cretaceous, suggest that possible transfers of fauna have taken place between these two geological blocks.

A large sample of mecochirid lobsters (Crustacea, Decapoda, Mecochiridae) has been recently collected from the early Barremian (Early Cretaceous) of Lebanon. The studied specimens are described as Meyeria libanotica sp. nov. The genus Meyeria M’Coy, 1849 is also revised and new combinations are proposed for two species: Meyeria bartholomaii (Jell, Woods, and Cook, 2017) comb. nov. (Aptian, Australia), and Meyeria rostrata (Collins and Rasmussen, 1992) comb. nov. (Campanian–Maastrichtian, Greenland). The stratigraphic range and the palaeogeographic distribution of Meyeria are consequently recognized to spread from the Oxfordian (Late Jurassic) to the Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) and from Australia to Greenland, passing by Europe, respectively.

A stratigraphic, palaeontological and sedimentological study was carried out in the red beds cropping out on the left side of Oued Tafarahit, south-east of the Ksour Mountains (Algeria). The studied succession consists of a non-marine fining-upward detrital formation, including microconglomerate, sandstone and clay beds, which were previously attributed to the Cenozoic sensu lato, since no palaeontological evidence was available. Sedimentology suggests deposition in a fluvial environment. The clayey levels yielded the assemblage formed by the charophytes Peckichara atlasensis, Maedleriella cristellata, Nitellopsis (Tectochara) thaleri, Grovesichara sp., and Lamprothamnium papulosum and the ostracods Neocyprideis meguerchiensis, Herpetocypris? sp. and Cyprinotus? sp. This assemblage allows constraining the age of the detrital series from Oued Tafarahit to the Ypresian. Ostracods are typical of freshwater to euryhaline environments. The freshwater taxa (Herpetocypris? sp. and Cyprinotus? sp.) would indicate phases of desalinisation during periods of flood. However, the brackish water species (Neocyprideis meguerchiensis) is characteristic of saline phases related to low water table periods. Moreover the charophyte and ostracod assemblage confirms a close palaeobiogeographic relationship between North Africa and Southern Europe during the Lower Eocene.

Whereas Middle Jurassic gastropods are very well known in Europe and other regions of the world, these faunas have been much less studied from northern Africa and most contributions available in literature have been based on relatively well-preserved material. Except a little lower Bajocian fauna from the Central High Atlas (Morocco) described at the turn of the 21th century, nothing is known about the Middle Jurassic gastropods of the southwestern Tethyan margin. The present paper aims to update the systematics of two vetigastropod species: Obornella cf. granulata (Sowerby, 1818) and Ambercyclus ornatus (Sowerby, 1819) recently found in the upper Bajocian succession of the Ksour Mountains (Tniet el Klakh Formation) at western Saharan Atlas (northern Algeria). The new Ambercyclus material found in well-preserved conditions confirms the absence of umbilicus in Ambercyclus; thus, we emend the original generic diagnosis. The specimens of Obornella cf. granulata and Ambercyclus ornatus represent the first occurrence of both genera and species in the upper Bajocian marine deposits of the western Saharan Atlas, and provide new taxonomic and palaeobiogeographic information about Middle Jurassic vetigastropods in Algeria.

A new species of Archiaciidae, A. ramitaensis nov. sp., has been discovered in the late Cenomanian deposits of Syria. The species is described and compared to other Archiacia species previously known. The palaeobiogeographical distribution of archiaciids and their palaeoecological affinities are discussed.

The collection of Mesozoïc turtles conserved in the Museum of Le Havre is revised, being enhanced after the destruction which occurred during the World War II. The new purchases, including two new Jurassic (Lower Kimmeridgian) taxa of the family Plesiochelyidae, from the Cap de la Hève and Bléville respectively, are compared to the previously described turtle and now destroyed remains of the Le Havre area. On the one hand, Globochelus lennieri n. g., n. sp., from the basal Kimmeridgian Baylei biozone is the oldest plesiochelyid species named from the Upper Jurassic, that we dedicate to Lennier, in tribute to his works about geology and fossils from Le Havre. On the other hand, Tropidemys langii, from the Cymodoce biozone, is a form from the European Kimmeridgian whose presence in the Normandy region was doubted. The stratigraphic series of Le Havre, from Lennier and recent works, the sedimentology of the fossiliferous layers and the petrography of the calcareous matrix are examined, showing a littoral platform environment. The Le Havre fossil turtle record including destroyed species is reconsidered: notably the Lower Kimmeridgian plesiochelyid Plesiochelys dollfusii (Lennier), this species being clearly distinctive in the genus, and the early Cretaceous « Palaeochelys » novemcostatus Valenciennes, attibuted to a pre-employed genus but which is here confirmed as a Chelonioidea as, perhaps, “Pelobatochelys sp?”. The morphology of the shell of each plesiochelyid genus is compared. Some species previously attributed to Thalassemys are integrated in plesiochelyid genera.