New Material of the Earliest Hominid from the Upper Miocene of Chad

Anthropolog

New termite trace fossils: galleries, nests and fungus combs from the Chad Basin of Africa (Upper Miocene-Lower Pliocene)

International audienc

A new Xerinae (Rodentia, Sciuridae) from the late Miocene of Toros-Menalla (Chad)

International audienc

The Age of the Sahara Desert

International audienc

The Anthracotheriidae (Cetartiodactyla, Mammalia) from Toros-Ménalla (Northern Chad) and the Neogene Saharan Paleobiogeography

International audienc

Description and palaeobiology of a new species of Libycosaurus (Cetartiodactyla, Anthracotheriidae) from the Late Miocene of Toros-Menalla, northern Chad

International audienceThe analysis of a large sample of anthracothere remains discovered by the Mission Paléoanthropologique Franco-Tchadienne at Toros-Menalla (TM), Northern Chad, has revealed the occurrence of a single species with a large intraspecific morphological variability. Taxonomic problems triggered the necessity of naming a new species for the TM anthracotheres, Libycosaurus bahri sp. nov. The description of the craniodental remains and the analysis of their variability indicate a marked sexual dimorphism, most probably induced by sex differential growth, helping to reassess the specific diversity of Libycosaurus and its main evolutionary trends in a phylogenetic perspective. The ecological niche occupied by the new species was also further characterized in its semiaquatic, behavioural, and dietary dimensions. On these grounds we suggest that Late Miocene environmental changes, particularly habitat opening and hydrographic network fragmentation related to increased aridity, played a major role in canalizing semi-aquatic specializations and the extinction of the last African anthracotheres, as well as other bothriodontines

Synthèse géologique des dépôts sédimentaires continentaux d’âge Miocène et Pliocène du bassin du Tchad : proposition de nouvelles coupes géologiques à travers le bassin.

International audienc