A historical specimen of plesiosaur, discovered by Mary Anning and kept in the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, under the number MNHN A. C. 8592 is here described. Discovered in 1824 by the first palaeontologist woman, Mary Anning, the specimen was sold by her to Constant Prévost who took it to Paris. This specimen is the second ever discovered plesiosaur and is here described for the first time even though it was figured by Cuvier (1825). The specimen is preserved in articulation and retained almost the entire post cranium but lacks the skull and most part of the neck. It preserves 56 vertebrae, most of the pectoral and pelvic girdles and most of the limbs. It was referred to Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus by Storrs (1997). Comparison with other specimens of Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus indicates that MNHN A. C. 8592 is an adult of advanced age. It reveals some unique features that may be attributed to ontogenetical and/or intraspecific variations. A better understanding of these variations among several individuals of the same species may help to clarify the problematic taxonomy and phylogeny of plesiosaurs.

Panulirus destombesi n. sp. (Crustacea, Decapoda, Palinuridae) from the Albian (Lower Cretaceous) of Wissant (Pas-de-Calais, France).

One single decapod palinurid lobster from the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) is reported from Wissant (Pas-de-Calais, France). The studied specimen has been ascribed to the infraorder Achelata Scholtz & Richter, 1995, and named Panulirus destombesi n. sp. (Palinuridae Latreille, 1802). It is the first report of the Recent genus Panulirus White, 1847 in the fossil record, enlarging our knowledge of Lower Cretaceous palinurids.

Un spécimen unique de langouste (Decapoda, Palinuridae) a été recueilli dans l'Albien (Crétacé inférieur) de Wissant (Pas-de-Calais, France). Le spécimen a été assigné à l'infra-ordre des Achelata Scholtz & Richter, 1995, et nommé Panulirus destombesi n. sp. (Palinuridae Latreille, 1802). C'est la première mention d'un fossile appartenant au genre actuel Panulirus White, 1847, ce qui enrichit notre connaissance des Palinuridae du Crétacé inférieur.

Unpublished material originally identified by J.-M. Remy, as well as evaluation of his type material deposited in the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, has resulted in two new genera, Remyranina n. gen. and Planobranchia n. gen.; two new species, Liocarcinus heintzi n. sp. and Szaboa lamarei n. sp., and five new combinations, Remyranina ornata n. comb., Calappilia? gorodiskii n. comb., Mursia simplex n. comb., Planobranchia simplex n. comb., and Planobranchia laevis n. comb. These taxa include the first Oligocene record for the Matutidae, and the extinct genus Szaboa is re-diagnosed. The Remy collection, comprised primarily of fossils from France and equatorial Africa, consists of numerous Calappidae and Carpilioidea, especially abundant today in tropical environments, suggesting that at least for some taxa in these groups, environmental tolerances have changed little since the Eocene.

This work presents for the first time the application of the residual colour patterns revelead under UV light for the systematic study on Caenozoic seraphsids. The seraphsids species have been previously distinguished on the basis of the shell shape, but this generally bear few diagnostic characters. This study concerns 14 European Palaeogene species belonging, in the previous classification, to the following taxa Seraphs (s.s.) Montfort, 1810, S. (Diameza) Deshayes, 1865, S. (Miniseraphs) Jung, 1974 and Paraseraphs Jung, 1974. The observation of 1400 specimens under UV light allows integrating intraspecific variability. Except for P. praecedens n. sp. (Thanetian, oldest occurrence of the genus) and S. subconvolutus (d'Orbigny 1852) (Rupelian), all species show colour patterns. The bauplan of the fossil colour patterns is very similar to that of the single extant Terebellum terebellum (Linnaeus, 1758), except for Diameza Deshayes, 1865. Taking into account their peculiar pattern and shell shape, Diameza and Miniseraphs are here excluded from Seraphs and raised to genus level, and Miniseraphs is regarded as a subgenus of Diameza. At specific level, the similarity of the colour patterns of S. volutatus (Solander in Brander, 1766), S. olivaceus (Cossmann, 1889) and S. sopitus (Solander in Brander, 1766), do not justify their distinction based on close shell shapes. Considering the colour patterns, we demonstrate that several shell characters, previously used to distinguish Paraseraphs species, are no longer useful for diagnose. Seraphs peterjungi n. sp. (Lutetian, Paris Basin) is distinguished on the basis of the colour pattern and two Seraphs species are in open nomenclature. As for T. terebellum, the colour patterns of S. chilophorus (Cossmann, 1889) and P. tetanus Jung, 1974 are highly variable. Thus, taking into account intraspecific variability, the residual colour patterns represent an important taxonomic tool in addition to the traditional study of the shell shape.

D'Orbigny, in 1846, received a collection of material made by Chevalier von Hauer from the Tertiary of the Vienna Basin with the request that he studies the foraminifera. D'Orbigny studied this material in Paris, kept a part of it, and returned the rest to von Hauer, who may have further sorted it into vials of his choosing. Some of the material was also redistributed to other museums and topotypes were also newly collected. Thus the status of four collections of foraminifera from the Vienna Basin are confused. These collections are located in the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, the Geologische Bundesanstalt, Vienna, the Roemer Museum, Hildesheim (Germany), and in the Cushman Collection of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. The research undertaken for the present work shows that the only collection containing valid syntypes of d'Orbigny's material is in Paris; the remainder are topotype collections. In the revision of the Austrian collection by Papp & Schmid (1985), the specimens referred to Dentalina spinosa d'Orbigny 1846 and Nonionina boueana d'Orbigny, 1846, were misidentified. A close examination of the syntypes housed in the French collection allows clarification of their taxonomical assignment and to designate lectotypes of these two species. Moreover, a comparative study led to reexamine the specimens of Dentalina elegantissima d'Orbigny, 1846, for which a lectotype is also designated, as well as specimens of Nonion commune (d'Orbigny, 1846) held in the same collection, and topotypes of Nonion fabum (Fichtel & Moll, 1798).

Markov G. N. & Vergiev S. 2010. — First report of cf. Protanancus (Mammalia, Proboscidea, Amebelodontidae) from Europe. Geodiversitas 32 (3): 493-500.

Three molars from northeast Bulgaria are attributed to cf. Protanancus sp., based on their distinctive morphology. These are the first finds from Europe referable to the amebelodontid genus Protanancus, hitherto known from Africa and Asia. The material from NE Bulgaria differs from both named species of the genus, P. macinnesi and P. chinjiensis, displaying a combination of derived and primitive characters.

New Middle Miocene rodent faunas from Languedoc-Roussillon (southern France); implication for biostratigraphic correlations.

The fossil mammal bearing localities Blanquatère 3 (Roussillon; filling of a fissure in a karst) and Puisserguier (Languedoc; brackish to lake deposit) have provided Middle Miocene rodents that first allow correlating these sites to Blanquatère 1 (Roussillon; older) and La Grenatière (Languedoc; younger). Second, the occurrence of the genus Cricetodon in these newly discovered localities similarly allow revisiting the correlations already proposed with the well-known localities from the Lyon area, Vieux-Collonges and La Grive. Blanquatère 3 and Puisserguier are older than La Grive, and Blanquatère 3 is slightly older than Vieux-Collonges. The fossil bearing levels of Puisserguier is interstratified in a mainly marine succession ending with brackish to lake deposits, which includes the level of La Grenatière. The onshore (Western Béziers area) and offshore (Tramontane 1 drilling) data on the marine Miocene agree referring these deposits to the Serravallian stage, the uppermost marine levels belonging to zone NN9 (drill) and NN6 (onshore), the uppermost brackish to lake deposits cannot be younger that the Miocene deposits encountered by the drill. According to the new collected data on one side, and the Miocene chronostratigraphy it can be hypothesized that Blanquatère 3 is c. 15.5 Myr old and Puisserguier, c. 14 Myr.

Addition to the study of rodents (Mammalia, Rodentia, Cricetids, Eomyids, Sciurids) from the karstic locality of Blanquatère 1 (Middle Miocene, southern France). Blanquatere 1 is the filling of a fissure opened in a limestone that had already provided a rich fauna (more than 6300 isolated teeth, 33 species) of small mammals including mainly rodents among which several new species of Cricetidae and Gliridae, referred to the Middle Miocene. The present paper brings an addition to this fauna with the description of the Cricetidae Eumyarion, Democricetodon, and Pseudofahlbuschia, of the Eomyidae Ligerimys et Keramidomys, and of the Sciuridae Spermophilinus and Heteroxerus. This highly diverse fauna must be definitely considered as a reference for the first part of the Middle Miocene (MN ⅘⅘) in South Western Europe. It testifies of the occurrence of both new taxa and allochtonous ones, as the gerbillid Dakkamys sp. the occurrence of which being likely related to the closure of the Tethys in the Middle East during the Langhian. The co-occurrence of Ligerimys and Keramidomys is also documented as the oldest one. This fauna also illustrates the interest of karstic fissure fillings when they are exceptionally rich: they can deliver remains of species either very rare or of short duration.