Where: Aude, France (43.2° N, 3.1° E: paleocoordinates 43.1° N, 1.1° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

When: Late/Upper Oligocene to Late/Upper Oligocene (28.4 - 16.0 Ma)

• The age of the deposit has been variously assigned to the lower Miocene (Aquitanian) by de Lapparent (1906, 1938) and Lavocat (1955) and by Schmidt-Kittler (1971) to the later Oligocene (Stampian). The deposit described by Noulet (1877) and Viguier (1888) was an old quarry and was well known and collected assiduously towards the end of the last century (de Saporta 1865 ; de Lapparent 1906, p. 1590 ; Lavocat 1955). Early authors (such as Noulet 1877) noted the remains of abundant plant fragments, molluscs, birds, mammals, reptiles and fishes. It is interesting to note that both words, mammals and reptiles, are recorded in the plural state although only one reptile is known from the deposit. Many aquatic angiosperms were noted by de Saporta (1866). Two mammals have been recorded from the deposit: Anthracotherium hippoideum (Noulet Urn) and Pseudosciurus suevicum. (Lavocat 1955 ; Schmidt-Kittler 1971). No other mention has been made of the Anthracotherium. Lavocat (1955) following de Lapparent states that the Pseudosciurus indicated a lower Miocene age (Aquitanian). Schmidt-Kittler (1971) in his review of the genus implies that the Armissan specimen is identical with specimens from Germany and states that the latest date for this form is middle Stampian. Noulet (1877) and Viguier (1888) record that all the vertebrate fossils are from one layer. The matrix of the block, in which the specimen was included, had imprints of plant leaves, ostracods and fish teeth. Apparently the original quarries have been filled and lost.

Environment/lithology: terrestrial; limestone

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils, microfossils

Collection methods: quarrying,

• Claude Bernard University collection

Primary reference: M. K. Hecht. 1992. A new choristodere (Reptilia, Diapsida) from the Oligocene of France: an example of the Lazarus effect. Geobios 25(1):115-131 [R. Benson/R. Benson]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 117925: authorized by Roger Benson, entered by Roger Benson on 28.09.2011

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)