New data about Rhapydionina Stache, 1913 and Fanrhapydionina n. gen., a bunch of Rhapydioninidae (Aveolinacea, Foraminifera) expanded in periadriatic area by Campanian-Maastrichtian time.

Rhapydionina gr. liburnica and its flabelliform variant Fanrhapydionina flabelliformis n. gen., n. sp. are the most outstanding components of a group, part of the Rhapydionininae subfamily, widely expanded in restricted environments of the carbonate platforms in north-occidental Mediterranean area by Campanian-Maastrichtian time. This group, like all Alveolinacea, comprises chambers divided into “primary chamberlets” by radial secondary partitions (“cloisonnettes”) perpendicular to the wall, hollowed out near the septum as to give way to a preseptal undivided volume (“preseptal passage”), crossed only by faint “preseptal buttresses”, and like all Rhapydioninidae a compact fabric in the axial part of chambers (“central endoskeleton”) irregularly crossed by some “secondary chamberlets”. The distinctive features of the group are a marked tendency to “uncoiling” (short involute scroll followed by a large “uniserial rectilinear part”: PRU in the text) and mainly a convex apertural “skull-cap”; the peripheral (“primary”) openings of this apertural riddle, oblique to the chamber axis, apparently isolate, in sections, the central endoskeleton from the rest of the test. The group appears and expands by the end of Cretaceous times. In Greece, two biozones, established on the distribution of members of the Rhapydioninidae family are distinguished: “CsB6”, partly Campanian-Maastrichtian in age, and “CsB7” partly Maastrichtian. The Rhapydionina Stache, 1913 species of the CsB6 biozone, called R. gr. dercourti as a whole, are equipped with small proloculus and keep a relatively large involute scroll. Among them, three new species are identified: R. bulbiformis n. sp. small in size, with a tiny proloculus, is assumed to be close to the origin of the group; R. dercourti n. sp., of medium size, with still a little proloculus, initial scroll relatively large, PRU essentially cylindrical to conical in shape, is well spread; R. fourcadei n. sp. close to the preceding, develops flattened chambers and a larger number of cloisonnettes, forecasting the Fanrhapydionina n. gen. way. Rhapydionina aff. liburnica mainly populates the CsB7 biozone, devoid of the previous species; the populations are close to the Slovene type of the species, specially because of their important uncoiling part, but are equipped with smaller proloculus, hardly larger than those of the CsB6 biozone. Moreover, the CsB7 biozone conceals Fanrhapydionina flabelliformis n. gen., n. sp., structurally identical to R. liburnica (Stache, 1889) but with a larger proloculus and a fan-shaped evolute part in the A generation. A CsB6 less specialized precursor (Fanrhapydionina aff. flabelliformis) proves individuality of this branch.

New well-preserved remains of the megalonychid sloth Eucholoeops Ameghino, 1887 recovered under strict stratigraphic control from late Early Miocene Santa Cruz Formation (c. 19 to 14 Ma; Santacrucian Age), together with analysis of older collections, consideration of intraspecific variation in extinct and extant sloths, and assessment of the validity of the early literature on Santacrucian sloths, permit revision of the status of the numerous species erected for this genus. The current contribution deals with the systematics of E. ingens Ameghino, 1887, but its methodology provides a basis for revision of other Eucholoeops species, as well as other sloth genera recovered from the Santa Cruz Formation. The failure to make progress on the systematics of the Santacrucian taxa since their first description is shown to be due mainly to a combination of the poor quality of many of the specimens, which are often fragmented and incomplete and from older collections, as well as inadequate stratigraphic and geographic control of their recovery, an overly rigid reliance on the early literature that accompanied their descriptions, and lack of consideration for intraspecific variation. A neotype is designated for E. ingens, as the original specimen is no longer available. The species E. latirostris Ameghino, 1891, E. externus Ameghino, 1891, and E. curtus Ameghino, 1894 are considered as junior synonyms of E. ingens.

A new Rhinopomatidae (Chiroptera) from the Miocene Paleokarst of Baixas (E-Pyrénées Dept., France); zoogeographical considerations.

Remains of various fossil mammals were found within a large quarry close to Baixas village (E-Pyrénées Dept., France). Among them are tooth remains of a bat poorly known as a fossil: a rhinopomatid one.The presumed age of the associated fauna, especially obtained from the rodents, is recognized to be the MN 4 biozone (Early Miocene, about 16 My). The Rhinopoma Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1818 genus is mostly known from the recent fauna, with rare species (two more common ones), extending across warm to arid areas of the Western Old World. Rare fossil rhinopomatids are reported, from Fayum (Egypt), Israël, and north-mediterranean egean Greece. The Baixas ones are 65 specimens. They display the typical tooth morphology of these bats, nevertheless preserving some structures which vanished from recent ones, or less evolved (as regards lower and upper canines, or P4). The originality of this rhinopomatid species supports its recognition as a new genus and species, Corbarhina handae n. gen., n. sp. Recent molecular considerations supported the rhinopomatids origin from rhinolophoid ancestry. The position here promoted from tooth morphology retains the rhinopomatid origin from emballonurid ancestors.

New remains of Hypolagus balearicus Quintana, Bover, Alcover, Agustí & Bailon, 2010 from Ses Fontanelles (Eivissa) gives new information concerning this Early Pliocene endemic leporid from Eivissa and Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Western Mediterranean sea). The body mass estimated for H. balearicus ranges from 1.3 to 2.7 kg, which is small in comparison to other species of the same genus. The cranium of H. balearicus is proportionally short and has relatively smaller orbits than Oryctolagus cuniculus (Linnaeus, 1758). Remarkable in the usually conservative (in leporids) postcranial skeleton is the particular morphology of the elbow (with crests and pits with a soft outline) and its length in relation to the length and the transversal diameter of the humerus, which yields similar proportions to those of the Amami rabbit Pentalagus furnessi (Stone, 1900) from Amami-Ohshima Island and Tokuno-Shima Island (Japan). In contrast, the diaphysis of the ulna shows a robustness comparable to that observed in some mainland leporids of the genus Pronolagus Lyon, 1904 or Caprolagus Blyth, 1845. In light of the rather small size of the sample and the information yielded, two alternative hypotheses are proposed to explain the particular traits of the forelimb of H. balearicus: a) it is a leporid evolved under conditions of insularity; or b) the traits reflect an adaptation to particular ecological conditions, not necessarily linked to an island in the classical sense of the word. The observed differences between this species (morphology of p3 as well as particular traits of the forelimb) and other species of the genus Hypolagus Dice, 1917 are likely indicative of the particular taxonomical position of this taxon.