The Early Cretaceous plant diversity and palaeoecology of the Krishna-Godavari Basin flora is studied. The study is based on the plant fossils collected by the authors during the recent years and published reports of past work. Nature and mode of preservation of the leafy fossils were considered to understand the vegetation relationship. Similarly, Nearest Living Equivalent method and palaeoecological information of diverse plant groups from the published sources, along with sedimentological inputs are adopted to draw the palaeoenvironnement. The results show that the flora was dominated by bennettitaleans. The vegetation includes plant fossils from the parauto- to allo-chthonous sources. The association of the plant fossils with marine fauna indicates the vegetation was growing near to the sea. The phytogeographical correlation of the flora shows its similarity with that of Antarctica and Australia in the generic composition but greatly differ in specific composition. The composite flora indicates the prevalence of warm and humid conditions.

The continuous enrichment of the European Pleistocene mammal fossil record leads inevitably to a comprehensive forthcoming review of the biogeographic and evolutionary history of bisons on the continent. New and revised data from the post-Olduvai (<1.8 Ma)-pre-Jaramillo (>1.0 Ma) time span of the Mygdonia basin (N. Greece), exposed here, indicate the presence of a small bison referred to as Bison cf. degiulii (Masini, Palombo & Rozzi, 2013) due to its similarities with the contemporaneous type material from the Italian Peninsula. A series of minor morphometrical changes detected across chronologically successive Mygdonia bison populations is interpreted as local adaptations to harsher environmental conditions. A re-evaluation of several morphological and biometrical features of the European early bison populations in comparison with later and extant taxa leads to the reconfirmation of some characters as taxonomically and phylogenetically important, while questioning others. The results allow recognizing B. degiulii as most likely member of the true bison clade Bison (Bison) Hamilton Smith, 1827 and reconsidering the current B. (Eobison) Flerov, 1972 concept. The data from Mygdonia basin and Northern Greece confirm the short co-occurrence of Bison Hamilton Smith, 1827 and Leptobos Rütimeyer, 1877-1878 in the Balkans and suggest the appearance of at least two bison lineages in Southern Europe between 1.7-1.5 Ma.

Le gisement de Lăpugiu de Sus (Sud-Ouest de la Roumanie) est renommé pour la richesse et la diversité de la faune préservée dans les couches argilo-sableuses du Langhien (Miocène moyen). La faune corallienne y est également bien représentée. Sur la base des travaux réalisés depuis le 19^ème siècle et de récentes récoltes de matériel, une révision en est proposée. Elle permet d'établir une liste d'environ 65 espèces dont 22 sont nouvellement signalées. Le cadre environnemental est discuté. L'exceptionnelle biodiversité corallienne du gisement, unique pour la Paratéthys, est replacée dans son cadre paléoclimatique et paléogéographique.

The fossil species Prochaeradodis enigmaticusPiton, 1940, from Menat (France, Paleocene) has been regarded as a crown-Mantodea (praying mantis) and was subsequently used as one of the very few temporal calibration points relevant for the order. Ambiguities in previous descriptions prompted us to re-examine the type material. Based on our new observations and a broad comparative analysis across Dictyoptera, we recognized three independent morphological character states supporting an unequivocal placement of the fossil within Blattodea (cockroaches and termites). These states are: 1) in forewing, the AA area has intercalary veins; 2) in forewing, ScP is short and oblique; and 3) in hind wing, CuA has many posterior branches not reaching the posterior wing margin but the cubital furrow. This new placement discounts the use of this fossil as a Mantodea tree calibration point.

The present paper describes a disarticulated skull of Allqokirus australisMarshall & Muizon, 1988, a basal sparassodont (Metatheria, Mammalia) from the early Palaeocene (c. 65 Ma.) of Tiupampa (Bolivia). The specimen includes the rostrum and palate with right premaxilla, both maxillae, left lacrimal, palatines and most upper teeth. The second largest element includes the frontals, the left squamosal, the parietals, the supraoccipital, the basisphenoid, the presphenoid, the alisphenoid, and part of the pterygoids. The nasals, basioccipital and exoccipitals are missing. Other elements are the left petrosal, the right jugal and squamosal, and both dentaries. The elements of the specimen allow for a good reconstruction of the skull, which is thoroughly described and compared to that of other sparassodonts and to the Tiupampa pucadelphyids, Pucadelphys and Andinodelphys. The dental morphology of Allqokirus australis is extremely similar to that of Patene simpsoni from the early Eocene of Itaboraí (Brazil) and presents distinct (although incipient) carnivorous adaptations. Furthermore, some characters of the ear region (e.g. medial process of the squamosal, deep groove for the internal carotid artery at the ventral apex of the petrosal) are also present in most other sparassodonts and in the pucadelphyids from the same locality. A parsimony analysis performed on the basis of a data matrix of 364 characters and 38 taxa placed Allqokirus in a sparassodont clade (the Mayulestidae) that also included Mayulestes and Patene. This family constitutes the sister group of all other sparassodonts. Our analysis also retrieved a large clade composed of the sparassodonts and the pucadelphyids, formally named Pucadelphyda n. superord. This superorder represents the large metatherian carnivorous radiation of the Tertiary of South America, which is first known at Tiupampa, and which started to diversify probably slightly earlier, during the late Cretacous in South America. So far, no representative of Pucadelphyda has been discovered in North America. At Tiupampa, Allqokirus and Mayulestes are the largest metatherians of the fauna and they fill the predaceous mammalian ecological niche. They are the earliest representatives of Sparassodonta, a successful metatherian carnivorous radiation which persisted in South America until the late Pliocene, i.e., during more than 63 Ma.

Chapmanina gassinensis (foraminifer) has been observed as it seems for the first time in the Lutetian of the “falunière” of Grignon (Yvelines, southwestern Paris Basin). It is widespread in the Eocene of western Europe, also present in the Tethysian domain l.s. and even across the Atlantic. In the Oligocene, it becomes very rare and has been only found in some places of Mediterranean Europe and disappears in the Miocene. The Paris Basin seems to be its northernmost occurrence.