Abstract The order Characiformes (Teleostei: Otophysi) is one of the most diverse freshwater fish groups. It contains around 1400 living species in South and Central America and Africa. Their fossil record starts in the Cretaceous on both continents and also in Europe. Here, we describe and discuss the occurrences of new characiform fish teeth from Provence (Maastrichtian, S. France). Five morphological types are recognized. They belong to possibly three different taxa, and they are regarded as Characiformes indet. However, two of them have resemblances to alestin fishes and could be related to the African family Alestidae. The characiform fishes from Provence are among the oldest known in Europe, together with a freshwater characiform fish occurring in Romania, and the recently described marine fish Sorbinicharax from Italy. The biogeographical history of characiform fishes has been intensively discussed during the last three decades. The group is generally accepted to be Gondwanan and its diversification linked with the break-up of this continent, with two main scenarios depending on whether the group is archaeo- or telolimnic. Some authors also propose a Pangaean origin. The recent discoveries of Sorbinicharax and of the fossils from Provence change our view on the Cretaceous characiform diversity and their early ecology, and they also enable us to re-evaluate the proposed biogeographical scenarios, reinforcing the hypothesis of the telolimny of the group.

Abstract The Lower Jurassic-Aalenian transgressive/regressive major cycle transects the western European craton from the nascent Tethyan margin, now involved in the Subalpine folding in the south, to the mid-Norway basin in the north. It includes the eastern Aquitaine, the Anglo Paris and the North Sea basins. This cycle has been named Ligurian from the main phase of the rifting that affected the southern part of the craton and led to the opening of the Ligurian part of the Tethys. The lower boundary of this major cycle is the early Cimmerian unconformity dated as latest Norian age. The upper boundary is dated as late Aalenian (mid-Graphoceras concavum ammonite Zone) and is related to the mid-Cimmerian unconformity. Peak transgression coincides with deposition of the organic-rich lower Toarcian black shales (Harpoceras falciferum ammonite Zone). Three 2nd-order transgressive/regressive facies cycles have been identified from the Tethyan margin; they record the successive steps of Ligurian rift development and subsequent phases of subsidence. However, four 2nd-order cycles are recognized in the Paris Basin and five the onshore United Kingdom basins. The number of cycles, ages of peak transgressions and main cycle boundaries vary regionally according to the local extensional tectonic development. For example, a major regressive episode is apparent at the end of the Sinemurian stage in northern areas but is not prominent in the southern areas. Instead, a regression dated as early Pliensbachian (Tragophylloceras ibex ammonite Zone) is dominant in the southern areas. Most of the 27 3rd-order depositional sequences comprising the Ligurian major cycle can be documented from the North Sea to southern Europe. Precise age dating was done using ammonites (down to the "horizon" level, where possible), from the Provence shelf in the south to the Hebrides basin in the north, allow correlation. In more northern areas where ammonites are missing, palynological determinations provided the biostratigraphical control.

Abstract: The western Mediterranean region contains abundant examples of the different types of Lower, Middle and Upper Miocene reefs (hermatypic coral reefs, ahermatypic mounds, rhodalgal biostromes and stromatolitic reefs). Those corresponding to the Upper Tortonian-Messinian rock units are the ones that have attracted the most attention because of the extraordinary quality of the outcrops and their relation to the polemic Messinian events in the Mediterranean. This section is a general introduction to the region, with a review of the Lower-Middle Miocene rhodalgal biostromes and coral reefs of the Gulf of Valencia-Provençal Basin and the Middle-Upper Miocene reefs of southeastern Spain and northern Morocco. The emphasis in this paper will be on the complex Miocene stratigraphy and paleogeography of southeastern Spain (Betics) and northern Morocco (Rif). This part of the western Mediterranean is important in understanding the paleogeographic evolution of the entire Mediterranean and its connection with the Atlantic Ocean.