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Comptes Rendus comptes rendus palevol 2021 20 13 iles — Jean- pt Cl re au d d n e a R s a n g a e i — b i h P p a l a m e a o f b o i o y l l h o o p p g g a a y y r r g g a o n e d g p o i a l b a o e DIRECTEURS DE LA PUBLICATION / PUBLICATION DIRECTORS : Bruno David, Président du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle Étienne Ghys, Secrétaire perpétuel de l’Académie des sciences RÉDACTEURS EN CHEF / EDITORS-IN-CHIEF : Michel Laurin (CNRS), Philippe Taquet (Académie des sciences) ASSISTANTE DE RÉDACTION / ASSISTANT EDITOR : Adeline Lopes (Académie des sciences ; [email protected]) MISE EN PAGE / PAGE LAYOUT : Audrina Neveu (Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle ; [email protected]) RÉDACTEURS ASSOCIÉS / ASSOCIATE EDITORS (*, took charge of the editorial process of the article/a pris en charge le suivi éditorial de l’article) : Micropaléontologie/Micropalaeontology Maria Rose Petrizzo (Università di Milano, Milano) Paléobotanique/Palaeobotany Cyrille Prestianni (Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels) Métazoaires/Metazoa Annalisa Ferretti (Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena) Paléoichthyologie/Palaeoichthyology Philippe Janvier (Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Académie des sciences, Paris) Amniotes du Mésozoïque/Mesozoic amniotes Hans-Dieter Sues (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington) Tortues/Turtles Juliana Sterli (CONICET, Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio, Trelew) Lépidosauromorphes/Lepidosauromorphs Hussam Zaher (Universidade de São Paulo) Oiseaux/Birds Éric Buffetaut (CNRS, École Normale Supérieure, Paris) Paléomammalogie (mammifères de moyenne et grande taille)/Palaeomammalogy (large and mid-sized mammals) Lorenzo Rook (Università degli Studi di Firenze, Firenze) Paléomammalogie (petits mammifères sauf Euarchontoglires)/Palaeomammalogy (small mammals except for Euarchontoglires) Robert Asher* (Cambridge University, Cambridge) Paléomammalogie (Euarchontoglires)/Palaeomammalogy (Euarchontoglires) K. Christopher Beard (University of Kansas, Lawrence) Paléoanthropologie/Palaeoanthropology Roberto Macchiarelli (Université de Poitiers, Poitiers) Archéologie préhistorique/Prehistoric archaeology Marcel Otte (Université de Liège, Liège) COUVERTURE / COVER : Azilestes ragei n. gen., n. sp., detail of the molar morphology. Comptes Rendus Palevol est indexé dans / Comptes Rendus Palevol is indexed by: – Cambridge Scientifi c Abstracts – Current Contents® Physical – Chemical, and Earth Sciences® – ISI Alerting Services® – Geoabstracts, Geobase, Georef, Inspec, Pascal – Science Citation Index®, Science Citation Index Expanded® – Scopus®. Les articles ainsi que les nouveautés nomenclaturales publiés dans Comptes Rendus Palevol sont référencés par / Articles and nomenclatural novelties published in Comptes Rendus Palevol are registered on: – ZooBank® (http://zoobank.org) Comptes Rendus Palevol est une revue en fl ux continu publiée par les Publications scientifi ques du Muséum, Paris et l’Académie des sciences, Paris Comptes Rendus Palevol is a fast track journal published by the Museum Science Press, Paris and the Académie des sciences, Paris Les Publications scientifi ques du Muséum publient aussi / The Museum Science Press also publish: Adansonia, Geodiversitas, Zoosystema, Anthropozoologica, European Journal of Taxonomy, Naturae, Cryptogamie sous-sections Algologie, Bryologie, Mycologie. L’Académie des sciences publie aussi / The Académie des sciences also publishes: Comptes Rendus Mathématique, Comptes Rendus Physique, Comptes Rendus Mécanique, Comptes Rendus Chimie, Comptes Rendus Géoscience, Comptes Rendus Biologies. Diffusion – Publications scientifi ques Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle CP 41 – 57 rue Cuvier F-75231 Paris cedex 05 (France) Tél. : 33 (0)1 40 79 48 05 / Fax : 33 (0)1 40 79 38 40 [email protected] / https://sciencepress.mnhn.fr Académie des sciences, Institut de France, 23 quai de Conti, 75006 Paris. © Publications scientifi ques du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle / © Académie des sciences, Paris, 2021 ISSN (imprimé / print) : 1631-0683/ ISSN (électronique / electronic) : 1777-571X An enigmatic specialized new eutherian mammal from the Late Cretaceous of Western Europe (Northern Pyrenees) Emmanuel GHEERBRANT UMR 7207, CR2P, Centre de Recherche en Paléontologie, Paris, Sorbonne Université, MNHN-UPMC-CNRS, MNHN-CP38, 8 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris (France) [email protected] (corresponding author) Dominique TEODORI 8, impasse de San Marino, 31140 Pechbonnieu (France) Submitted on 9 December 2019 | Accepted on 30 March 2020 | Published on 24 March 2021 urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:6FEC6885-0CD7-4E0C-AF7D-76BC3AA0159E Gheerbrant E. & Teodori D. 2021. — An enigmatic specialized new eutherian mammal from the Late Cretaceous of Western Europe (Northern Pyrenees), in Folie A., Buffetaut E., Bardet N., Houssaye A., Gheerbrant E. & Laurin M. (eds), Palaeobiology and palaeobiogeography of amphibians and reptiles: An homage to Jean-Claude Rage. Comptes Rendus Palevol 20 (13): 207-223. https://doi.org/10.5852/cr-palevol2021v20a13 ABSTRACT We report the discovery of a new Late Cretaceous eutherian mammal, Azilestes ragei n. gen., n. sp. from the Mas-d’Azil northern Pyrenean site (France), which is among the largest known. It is only known from a broken lower jaw found in uppermost levels of the Grès de Labarre Formation (early Maastrichtian). Despite its poor preservation, it displays distinctive specialized features with respect to KEY WORDS known Cretaceous eutherians. Th is includes a reduced premolar formula and shortened and robust jaw, Mammalia, an incipient hypolophid, and a cingular-like postcristid and hypoconulid. Th e phylogenetic analysis Eutheria, France, suggests indeed a possible stem relationship between Azilestes n. gen. and some clades of herbivorous Pyrenees, Cenozoic placentals, but with weak support. Several molar features reminiscent of the Zhelestidae, Mas-d’Azil, Cretaceous, especially Valentinella Tabuce, Vianey-Liaud & Garcia, 2004, support instead that Azilestes n. gen. dental anatomy, is a basal eutherian showing early specialization in a herbivorous diet convergent with some crown Campano-Maastrichtian, placentals. Whatever the suprageneric position of Azilestes n. gen., which remains to be clarifi ed with Grès de Labarre, new genus, additional material, its discovery highlights a signifi cant diversity of European Cretaceous eutherians new species. in contrast to their very poor fossil record. COMPTES RENDUS PALEVOL • 2021 • 20 (13) © Publications scientifi ques du Muséum et/and Académie des sciences, Paris. www.cr-palevol.fr 207 Gheerbrant E. & Teodori D. RÉSUMÉ Un nouveau mammifère euthérien spécialisé énigmatique du Crétacé supérieur d’Europe de l’Ouest ( Pyrénées du Nord). Nous signalons la découverte au Mas-d’Azil (Pyrénées du Nord, France) d’un nouveau mammifère, Azilestes ragei n. gen., n. sp., l’un des plus grands euthériens du Crétacé supérieur. Il est connu par un fragment de mâchoire inférieure provenant des niveaux supérieurs de la formation des Grès de Labarre (Maastrichtien). Malgré son mauvais état de conservation, ce spécimen présente des caractères remarquablement spécialisés qui le distinguent de l’ensemble des euthériens connus au Crétacé. Ce MOTS CLÉS sont en particulier la rangée très réduite des prémolaires, une mandibule courte et robuste, un hypolo- Mammalia, phide naissant, et la postcristide et l’hypoconulide cingulaires. L’analyse phylogénétique favorise ainsi Eutheria, France, une possible parenté ancestrale d’Azilestes n. gen. avec certains clades de placentaires herbivores du Pyrénées, Cénozoïque, mais de façon mal soutenue. Plusieurs caractères des molaires d’Azilestes n. gen. rappelant Mas-d’Azil, Crétacé, les Zhelestidae, particulièrement Valentinella Tabuce, Vianey-Liaud & Garcia, 2004, suggèrent qu’il anatomie dentaire, s’agit en fait un euthérien basal précocement spécialisé dans un régime herbivore convergent avec les Campano-Maastrichtien, placentaires modernes. Quelle que soit la position supragénérique d’Azilestes n. gen., à clarifi er avec Grès de Labarre, genre nouveau, plus de matériel, sa découverte met en lumière une diversité signifi cative des euthériens du Crétacé espèce nouvelle. européen malgré leur très pauvre registre fossile. INTRODUCTION from the Sub-Pyrenean zone that is bounded by the North Pyrenean frontal thrust to the south and by the Sub-Pyrenean Mammals from the Latest Cretaceous remain poorly known, frontal thrust to the north (Bilotte 1985). Th e Sub-Pyrenean and have a very heterogeneous geographical fossil record. zone, which is made of several synclines and anticlines in Within Laurasia, the fossil record of Europe is by far the most the Plantaurel and Petites Pyrénées areas, corresponds to the incomplete. Late Cretaceous European mammals are repre- external-most folds of the North Pyrenean domain. Th e Grès sented by three multituberculate genera of the endemic family de Labarre Fm, together with the overlying “Marnes Rouges Kogaionidae from Eastern Europe (e.g. Csiki & Grigorescu Inférieures” Fm (an eastern lateral equivalent of the Marnes 2001; Codrea et al. 2002, 2014; Csiki et al. 2005, 2018; d’Auzas Fm), comprises the last Cretaceous deposits of the Smith & Codrea 2015) and a few therians from western Sub-Pyrenean zone in the Plantaurel massif. Europe, including the marsupial Maastrichtidelphys Martin, Th e Grès de Labarre Fm corresponds to a poorly dated Case, Jagt, Schulp & Mulder, 2005 (Martin et al. 2005), and thick terrigenous Campano-Maastrichtian stratigraphic
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