Cranial morphology of a new apatemyid, Carcinella sigei n. gen. n. sp. (Mammalia, Apatotheria) from the late Eocene of southern France

2009 ◽  
Vol 288 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 53-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wighart von Koenigswald ◽  
Irina Ruf ◽  
Philip D. Gingerich
Keyword(s):  
Late Eocene ◽  
Cranial Morphology ◽  
Southern France

Osteological description of the braincase of Rhabdodon (Dinosauria, Euornithopoda) and phylogenetic implications

2006 ◽  
Vol 177 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Pincemaille-Quillevere ◽  
Eric Buffetaut ◽  
Frédéric Quillevere
Keyword(s):  
Cranial Nerves ◽  
Sister Group ◽  
Suture Line ◽  
Foramen Magnum ◽  
Cranial Morphology ◽  
Common Element ◽  
Occipital Condyle ◽  
Adult Individual ◽  
Southern France ◽  
Phylogenetic Implications

Abstract Since the 19th century, the Campanian and Maastrichtian continental deposits of southern France have yielded numerous dinosaur remains [Le Loeuff, 1991; 1998; Buffetaut et al., 1997; Laurent et al., 1991; Allain and Suberbiola, 2003]. The ornithopod remains that have not been referred to the hadrosaurids have been systematically attributed to Rhabdodon [Buffetaut and Le Loeuff, 1991; Buffetaut et al., 1996; Garcia et al., 1999; Pincemaille-Quillévéré, 2002]. This genus, initially named by Matheron [1869] after its discovery in the lower Maastrichtian of La Nerthe (Bouches-du-Rhône), belongs to the Euornithopoda [sensu Sereno, 1999]. Rhabdodon represents the most common element of the dinosaur assemblages from the late Cretaceous of southern France [e.g. Allain and Suberbiola, 2003]. Nevertheless, since the localities have only provided some fragmentary material [Pincemaille-Quillévéré, 2002], the global morphology of this dinosaur and its phylogenetic placement within the euornithopods are still debated. The cranial morphology of Rhabdodon is particularly poorly understood due to the rarity of cranial remains preserved in the localities of southern France [Matheron, 1869; Garcia et al., 1999; Buffetaut et al., 1999; Pincemaille-Quillévéré, 2002]. Buffetaut et al. [1999] first mentioned the discovery of a braincase (M4) referred to Rhabdodon, at Massecaps, a locality close to the village of Cruzy (Hérault, France). More recently, a new braincase (MN25) has been discovered at Montplô Nord, another locality close to Cruzy (specimens M4 and MN25 are conserved in the Museum of Cruzy). Both these localities have revealed a diverse and abundant vertebrate fauna suggesting a late Campanian to early Maastrichtian age [Buffetaut et al., 1999]. These braincases are described here in an attempt to detect potential autapomorphic characters in Rhabdodon, and compared to a more complete braincase of Tenontosaurus, an euornithopod from the Lower Cretaceous of North America, considered as the sister group of Rhabdodon [Weishampel et al., 1998; 2003; Garcia et al., 1999; Pincemaille-Quillévéré, 2002], in order to determine the potential differences and synapomorphies between the occiputs of the two genera. Finally, the braincases from Cruzy are compared to those of the other euornithopods described in the literature. Specimen M4 (figs. 1–4) is incomplete but exceptionally well preserved. This braincase belongs to a juvenile individual, as shown by the numerous visible suture lines between the different cranial elements. Specimen MN25 (fig. 5) is badly deformed and attributable to an adult individual. Until now, all the ornithopods from the Upper Cretaceous of southern France have been referred either to hadrosaurs or to Rhabdodon. The Hadrosauridae show a low nuchal crest and their exoccipitals meet and form a bar on the dorsal border of the foramen magnum, excluding the supraoccipital from this border. Specimens M4 and MN25 do not present any nuchal crest and the supraoccipital participates in the dorsal border of the foramen magnum. Both braincases M4 and MN25 are therefore attributable to Rhabdodon. Specimens M4 and MN25 have been compared to the occiput of a juvenile Tenontosaurus tilletti (fig. 6 : MCZ 4205, conserved in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University). This reveals that Tenontosaurus and Rhabdodon share numerous characters : (1) the exoccipitals form the lateral borders of the foramen magnum, its ventral border being occupied by the basioccipital; (2) the occipital condyle is partly constituted by the exoccipitals, and in the same proportions; (3) the supraoccipital is rostrally oriented; (4) the suture line located between the prootic and the laterosphenoid shows the same outline; (5) the cresta prootica starts within the paroccipital process and extends onto the opisthotic; (6) the cresta prootica is transversal and non-horizontal; (7) the distribution of the cranial nerves is homologuous along the lateral surface of the braincase. Nevertheless, the braincase of Tenontosaurus differs from that of Rhabdodon in several significant respects : (1) the exoccipitals are dorsally connected, excluding the supraoccipital from the dorsal border of the foramen magnum; (2) two small dorsal humps are present at the level of the suture of the exoccipitals; (3) the supraoccipital is excluded from the dorsal border of the foramen magnum, which gives it a triangular shape; (4) the paroccipital processes are short, laterally flattened, and wing-shaped, and are more mediodorsally oriented than in Rhabdodon; (5) the cresta prootica follows a concave line and ends up on the prootic, at the level of the opening of the trigeminal nerve; (6) the external curve of the laterosphenoids is stronger; (7) the suture between the basioccipital and the opisthotic is very clear. The first of these unshared characters suggests that Rhabdodon belongs to Norman’s [1984] ‘hypsilophodontoid’ clade and Tenontosaurus to the more evolved ‘iguanodontoid’ clade. The fusion of the exoccipitals on the dorsal border of the foramen magnum, together with other cranial adaptations, may have reduced the stress caused by a more elaborate mastication. Rhabdodon appears to have had a more primitive type of mastication. The strip formed by the reunion of the exoccipitals is less expanded dorsoventrally in Tenontosaurus tilletti than in the ‘iguanodontoid’ and ‘hadrosauroid’ clades. Tenontosaurus may therefore represent an intermediate group between the ‘hypsilophodontoid’ and ‘iguanodontoid’ clades.

scholarly journals A new fossil drywood termite species from the Late Eocene of France allied to Cryptotermes and Procryptotermes (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae)

2015 ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Engel ◽  
André Nel
Keyword(s):  
New Genus ◽  
Late Eocene ◽  
New Genus And Species ◽  
Termite Species ◽  
Southern France ◽  
Stem Group ◽  
Fossil Genus

A new fossil genus and species of drywood termite (Kalotermitidae) is described and figured from the Late Eocene of southern France.  <em><strong>Huguenotermes septimaniensis</strong> </em>Engel &amp; Nel, new genus and species, is closely allied to <em>Cryptotermes</em> Banks and <em>Procryptotermes</em> Holmgren, perhaps representing part of the stem group leading to the <em>Cryptotermes</em>-<em>Procryptotermes</em> clade.

Evolution of skull shape in carnivores. 3. The origin and early radiation of the modern carnivore families

Paleobiology ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 177-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonard B. Radinsky
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Hypothesis ◽  
Late Eocene ◽  
Cranial Morphology ◽  
Morphological Transformation ◽  
Skull Morphology ◽  
The Family ◽  
Prey Resources ◽  
Early Radiation ◽  
Families First

Functionally significant aspects of skull morphology were examined in Eocene miacids and in early members of the modern carnivore families to see if functional craniology might shed light on factors involved in the origin and early evolution of the modern carnivores. No key innovations are apparent at the beginning of the modern carnivore radiation, and an alternative hypothesis to account for that radiation is proposed: the radiation represents the filling of niches vacated by the extinction of several groups of archaic carnivores in the late Eocene. Differences that distinguish modern viverrids, canids, felids, and mustelids from each other today were less pronounced in the Oligocene, when these families first appeared, and provide no insights into possible ecological differences at the family level. However, body size differences among the early members of the modern carnivore families suggest that partitioning of prey resources by size may have been a factor in their initial radiation. Comparison of cranial morphology in Eocene miacids, early members of the modern carnivore families, and living carnivores allows reconstruction of the primitive conditions of carnivore skull morphology and determination of the pathways of morphological transformation that resulted in the diversity of skull morphology seen in modern carnivores.

An early Oligocene stem Galbulae (jacamars and puffbirds) from southern France, and the position of the Paleogene family Sylphornithidae

The Auk ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 137 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anaïs Duhamel ◽  
Christine Balme ◽  
Stéphane Legal ◽  
Ségolène Riamon ◽  
Antoine Louchart
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Sister Group ◽  
Late Eocene ◽  
New Genus And Species ◽  
Southern France ◽  
Early Oligocene ◽  
The Family ◽  
Tropical America ◽  
Fossil Bird ◽  
Leg Bones

Abstract Together, puffbirds (Bucconidae) and jacamars (Galbulidae) form the suborder Galbulae, sister group of all other Piciformes. Hitherto, the Galbulae had no ascertained pre-Pleistocene fossil record, and all previous alleged candidates have been refuted, except possibly the Sylphornithidae. Here we describe a wing of a tiny fossil bird from the early Oligocene of the Luberon region (southern France), which we assign to the Galbulae, as a new genus and species. Several characters, especially of the ulna and wing phalanx 1 of digit II, exclude the Passeriformes and Zygodactylidae, and indicate a representative of the Piciformes. Among Piciformes, absence of papillae remigales caudales and several characters of the wing phalanx 1 of digit II make it possible to assign the fossil to the Galbulae, and exclude all other clades. The fossil Sylphornithidae, with the carpometacarpus of Sylphornis being available, show some similarity with the Luberon fossil. The combination of features of the wing elements leads to the placement of the new fossil as stem Galbulae, and tentatively within the family Sylphornithidae. As such, it fills a gap and permits to better assign the whole enigmatic tiny sylphornithids, otherwise essentially known from leg bones. This yields the first firm pre-Pleistocene fossil record for the Galbulae. Today, both the Bucconidae and Galbulidae live exclusively in tropical America. The presence of stem Galbulae in the Oligocene of Europe, and probably the late Eocene, is a new example of a present-day Neotropical clade that had stem representatives in the Paleogene of Europe.

Evolution tectonique de la montagne Sainte-Victoire en Provence

1964 ◽  
Vol S7-VI (1) ◽  
pp. 91-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georges Corroy ◽  
Jean Pierre Durand ◽  
Claude Tempier
Keyword(s):  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Late Miocene ◽  
Thrust Fault ◽  
Late Eocene ◽  
Southern France ◽  
Jurassic Limestone

Abstract The Sainte Victoire mountain, NE of Marseilles in southern France, is an eroded, thrust-faulted anticline of Jurassic limestone and dolomite. The broad fold, with a shorter south limb, developed in the late Cretaceous, and was eroded during the Eocene. The fold was overturned and split by a thrust fault in the late Eocene. Erosion again occurred, and further deformation took place in the late Miocene.

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