Abstract
A diversified fauna of fossil mammals is described from the Thanetian Marnes de Montchenot near Reims (France, Paris Basin). The new fauna is composed mainly of micromammals, which are represented by isolated teeth and a few more complete dental remains. Multituberculates, insectivore-like mammals and louisinine “condylarths” are particularly common at Montchenot, and tiny toliapinid plesiadapiforms are relatively well represented. In contrast, the larger-sized plesiadapiform Plesiadapis and pleuraspidotheriid “condylarths” are less abundant than at Cernay or Berru. Special attention is paid to Neoplagiaulax nicolai, the most common species of multituberculate at Montchenot. The new sample of this species allows to reconsider the composition of its upper premolar series and the orientation of isolated deciduous anterior upper premolars in neoplagiaulacids. Insectivore-like mammals from Montchenot include a previously unrecognised adapisoriculid, known by the complete upper and lower molar series, which combines an Afrodon-like morphology with strong posterior cingula on its upper molars. Mammal fossils indicate an age of the Montchenot fauna close to Cernay (European mammalian reference level MP6), confirming previous age determinations based on mollusks and charophytes. Preservational biases including selective predation and hydrodynamic sorting, possibly in combination with specific palaeoenvironmental conditions related to deposition in a quiet freshwater milieu, seem to be responsible for the peculiar composition of the mammalian fauna from Montchenot compared to other late Paleocene localities in the Paris Basin.
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Notes
Also known as Mont-Chenot (Laurain et al. 1981)
Following Zack et al. (2005), the Louisininae are here considered as members of the Apheliscidae. This family name has been revived for forms previously placed in the Hyopsodontidae excluding the type genus Hyopsodus Leidy, 1870. The latter seems in fact more closely related to forms traditionally considered as Mioclaenidae, which are now placed in the redefined Hyopsodontidae (ibid.). Hooker and Russell (2012) have raised the Louisininae to family rank and consider them, together with the Apheliscidae, as basal Macroscelidea. Evaluating these systematic changes is beyond the scope of this paper, and Louisininae are here retained as a subfamily within the “condylarth” family Apheliscidae.
Andrews (1990) found the proportion of mammalian molars showing signs of digestion in pellets of different birds of prey and scat of different mammalian predators to vary strongly with the predator species (between 0 % and close to 100 % for avian predators). In almost all cases, a significant part of ingested molars had no visible signs of digestion. Absence of evidence for digestion in individual fossil teeth can thus not be interpreted as evidence against these teeth having been ingested by a predator.
Based on the faunal list of Russell et al. (1966), mammals known from the Marnes de Rilly include Neoplagiaulax eocaenus, N. copei, N. nicolai [=Neoplagiaulax sp. A (ibid.)], Liotomus marshi, Walbeckodon girardi [=Adunator lehmani? (ibid.)], Adapisorex gaudryi, Plesiadapis tricuspidens, Dipavali petri and Orthaspidotherium edwardsi.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank M. Laurain for helpful discussions of local geology, M. Duchamplecheval, E. Herbomel (EPHE) and several residents of Villers-Allerand for support during excavations at Montchenot. The Marguet Champagne (B. Marguet) provided a washing and screening site in Ambonnay. E. Zoukouba (EPHE) and the staff of the Musée national d’Histoire naturelle de Luxembourg helped in sorting residue. J.-C. Rage kindly provided first determinations for the herpetofauna of Montchenot. M. Vianey-Liaud and E. Gheerbrant provided helpful comments for improving this paper.
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This article is a contribution to the special issue “Messel and the terrestrial Eocene—Proceedings of the 22nd Senckenberg Conference”
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Jehle, M., Godinot, M., Delsate, D. et al. A new late Paleocene micromammal fauna from Montchenot (Paris Basin). Preliminary results. Palaeobio Palaeoenv 92, 487–496 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-012-0100-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-012-0100-x