Publications

Freshwater fi shes are supposedly good case studies to test palaeobiogeographical models because they are attached to land masses, at least primary freshwater fi shes, which are unable to cross marine barriers. In this study, I review the literature about the fossil record and about the phylogeny of various freshwater fi sh groups in order to address, in a qualitative way, the biogeographic scenarios proposed to explain their modern distribution. At the intercontinental scale, vicariant events seem to have played a minor role in the distribution of main freshwater fi sh clades, except for some during the fi rst phases of the break-up. Most of the biogeographical events that shaped the modern distribution of freshwater fi sh clades are likely dispersals events that occurred in the Late Cretaceous and in the Palaeogene.

Environmental drivers shape freshwater alpha-diversities. The Khorat Group in northeasternThailand is a succession of five continental formations ranging from the Middle? Jurassic with thelower part of the Phu Kradung to the Aptian with the Khok Kruat Formation. In order to identifyecological traits of the palaeocenoses, we focus here on biological and taphonomical features ratherthan on the sedimentological context of each assemblage. The major distinction that can be made inthe succession of bony fi sh assemblages within the Khorat Group is between the Late Jurassic basalCretaceous Phu Kradung Formation on the one hand and the Early Cretaceous Sao Khua and KhokKruat formations on the other hand.

Latimeria chalumnae (Actinistia) was regarded as the 'ancestor of the four-legged vertebrates' and rapidly became the iconic example of a 'living fossil'. Although its evolutionary position close to the origin of tetrapods is now dismissed, the question of its evolutionary pace is still a matter of debate. The UNESCOs' World Heritage Monte San Giorgio Triassic site, spanning the border between Italy and Switzerland in the Southern Alps, has yielded one of the major marine vertebrate assemblages of the Middle Triassic worldwide. This general overview of the Middle Triassic coelacanths from Switzerland heralds a project that will be conducted in the following years. The project consists firstly to prepare, describe and compare the coelacanth material from the Besano Formation housed in the collection of the University of Zurich.

The Cretaceous locality of Bernissart, Belgium, is well known for the Iguanodon remains it yielded. Fossils were collected during coalmine exploitation at the end of the 19th century. In the frame of the ColdCase project, which aims to understand the ecological and geological conditions in the Bernissart lake/swamp during the Barremian, a revision of the actinopterygian fauna from Bernissart, found alongside Iguanodons, has been launched. The revision of the ichtyofauna has started with taxa, unstudied since 1911: Coccolepis macroptera, Lepidotus bernissartensis, L. brevifulcratus and L. arcuatus. The study shows that the material attributed to both genera could likely be attributed to other genera and that the reduced actinopterygian taxic diversity found at Bernissart coni rms the lacustrine to swampy environment

This volume discusses recent advances in avian and reptilian biology that have caused this diverse field to re-emerge. The chapters in this book are divided into 4 parts: genomics and transcriptomics, genetic manipulation, stem cells, and new model systems. Part I details how to perform genomic and transcriptomic analyses in birds and reptiles; Part II highlights technological advancements in avian genetic manipulation; Part III focuses on methods to handle pluripotent cells; and part IV looks at the emerging models in avian and reptilian developmental biology. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Cutting-edge and comprehensive, Avian and Reptilian Developmental Biology: Methods and Protocols explores a variety of approaches and different sauropsid models that will help facilitate communication and collaboration among researchers, which in turn will progress this field forward.

On the basis of nine lithostratigraphical profiles, 23 cephalopods taxa (nautilus and ammonites) are described from the Preafrican Trough and the Kem Kem region. Among them, a new species is proposed: Spathites (Jeanrogericeras) asflaensis nov. sp. This fauna is placed in its biostratigraphical framework and correlated with the standard zonation of the late Cenomanian–early Turonian. Moreover, stratigraphic correlations are proposed for the whole Maghreb from the Tarfaya Basin in the west to central Tunisia in the east. Selected taxa reveal the paleogeographical context of the western Tethys; a complex distribution of emerged areas and epicontinental seas impacted by an important marine trangression that constantly modified the costaline.