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Présence de Cyprinidae (Teleostei) dans l’Oligocène supérieur d’Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône, France)

Jean GAUDANT

fr Geodiversitas 35 (1) - Pages 31-47

Published on 29 March 2013

Occurrence of Cyprinidae (Teleostei) in the Upper Oligocene of Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône, France)

During several decades, palaeontological investigations carried out in the Uppermost Oligocene of Aix-en-Provence have shown that Cyprinid fishes are present in four outcrops belonging to different stratigraphical levels of the Aix-en-Provence Formation. They belong to at least three different genera including Tarsichthys Troschel, 1854, Palaeotinca Obrhelová, 1969 and Protothymallus Laube, 1901 or Varhostichthys Obrhelová, 1969. These finds confirm the palaeoecological information provided by the amiid fragment and the skeletons of several Anuran Amphibians (Raninae) which had been found formerly in the old gypsum quarries. Moreover, they confirm the results obtained by an isotopic analysis of the gypsum which had led one to consider that it was produced by a secondary precipitation of dissolved Permo-Triassic gypsum rather than by a primary precipitation of Oligocene oceanic sulphates.


Keywords:

Fishes, Cyprinidae, Oligocene, Provence, Tarsichthys, Palaeotinca?, Protothymallus?, Varhostichthys?, palaeoecological significance

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