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The discovery of subfossil fragments of Canthydrus Sharp, 1882 (Coleoptera, Noteridae) in Holocene sediments (c. 6 500 yrs BP) from the coastal retrodunal Greco pond, on Cavallo island (Lavezzi archipelago, Corse-du-Sud, France), is the first French citation for this thermophilous water beetle genus. This discovery raises issues about the factors that led to the probable extinction of this taxon at a local scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Résumé L’analyse d’artefacts en silex et en obsidienne a permis de mettre en évidence les liens qui existaient au Néolithique et au Chalcolithique entre la Corse et la Sardaigne. Cependant, on ne sait aujourd’hui que peu de choses sur les déplacements et les échanges ayant eu lieu à l’intérieur même de la Corse. Pourtant, une roche volcanique siliceuse, la rhyolite, a été exploitée en Corse et diffusée à travers tout le territoire dès le Néolithique ancien. Une seule étude d’envergure a été menée, dans le Nord de l’île, afin d’identifier par l’analyse pétrographique les gîtes de matière première de ces artefacts en rhyolite. La pétrographie étant une méthode destructive, il est difficile de l’appliquer sur de grandes séries d’objets archéologiques. Notre étude a donc consisté à rechercher des méthodes d’analyse moins invasives, basées sur la géochimie des roches, afin de mener de futures études de provenance sur ces vestiges en rhyolite. Nous avons analysé 34 échantillons géologiques provenant de quatre gisements différents, ainsi que 31 échantillons archéologiques mis au jour sur trois sites différents. La méthode EDXRF est particulièrement performante pour discriminer les sources et peut être mise en œuvre de manière non destructive pour caractériser les artefacts. Une autre méthode employée, la spectroscopie LA-ICP-MS, très peu intrusive, se heurte à des problèmes d’hétérogénéité des roches. Through the analysis of flint and obsidian artefacts, numerous studies have shown the links that existed between Corsica and Sardinia during Neolithic and Chalcolithic. However, we have almost no information about the movements and exchanges that took place in Corsica itself. Rhyolite, a siliceous volcanic rock, has been exploited in Corsica and disseminated throughout the territory from the early Neolithic. Up to now, only one major study has been conducted in the North of the island, in order to identify, by petrographic analysis, the raw material deposits of these rhyolite artefacts. Petrography is a destructive method; it is thus difficult to apply it to large series of archaeological objects. Our aim was therefore to investigate less invasive analytical methods, based on the geochemistry of rocks, in order to conduct future studies based on these rhyolite remains. We analysed 34 geological samples from four different sources, as well as 31 archaeological samples unearthed at three different archaeological areas. We show that EDXRF is an effective method to discriminate sources but also to characterise artefacts using nondestructive protocol. LA-ICP-MS encounters issues due to heterogeneity of the studied rocks. However, we show that by adjusting our testing protocol this method can complement the EDXRF analysis, which is ineffective on objects that are too thin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Résumé: La provenance d’une grande partie des obsidiennes du site néolithique corse d’A Guaita a été déterminée pour ses trois niveaux chronoculturels, soit entre la seconde moitié du VIe et le début du IVe millénaires avant notre ère. Les compositions élémentaires de 140 échantillons ont été obtenues par spectrométrie de dispersion en énergie en microscopie électronique à balayage (SEM–EDS) ou/et par analyse sous faisceau d’ions (PIXE). Cent trente-huit pièces proviennent de Sardaigne et deux de l’île de Palmarola. Ces résultats confirment la quasi-exclusivité de l’obsidienne sarde en Corse, et l’étendent à son extrémité nord. Les trois principaux types sardes SA, SB2 et SC sont représentés, avec une prédominance de SB2 et SC. La présence de deux obsidiennes venant de Palmarola suggère des contacts occasionnels avec la péninsule italienne dès le VIe millénaire, en accord avec les données sur la céramique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The provenance of twelve un-worked blocks and one part-knapped block recovered from the surface of five Middle Neolithic sites in the vicinity of Porto Vecchio, southeastern Corsica (western Mediterranean), was determined by ion beam analysis (PIXE). This is the first such discovery on Corsica of actual raw blocks of this exotic material. Twelve of these samples come from sources associated with the Monte Arci volcanic complex of Central-West Sardinia, with six each of the SA and SC chemical types. The only possible origin for the remaining block is Lipari, a raw material previously only attested by three artifacts from a Neolithic site of NW Corsica. This piece is aberrant for its unusual facies and its poor quality, making it quite unsuitable for knapping, and by extent distinct from the high quality glassy obsidian from Lipari that was used regularly by Neolithic peoples. This raises the question of the archaeological significance of this surface find. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Priabonian age is highlighted for the first time in Corsica in the Venaco Formation using the presence of specific microfauna (in particular some representatives of Turborotalia cerroazulensis lineage). This silicoclastic formation is mainly represented by coarse facies. It is composed of three members from south to north and from oldest towards youngest: member of Uboli, Cardo and Orsu. The sedimentologic analysis reveals a gravity depositional environment, involving different type of currents. Sedimentologic and chronologic characteristics make the Venaco Formation and the Annot Formation (p.p.) equivalent. Dating the Venaco Fm. brings confirmation that the green schist metamorphism of the Variscan batholith and the related deformation are from the pre-Priabonian period. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Argentine ant, Linepithema humile (Dolichoderinae), is one of the most widespread invasive ant species in the world. When established in optimal habitat, this species usually excludes most other local ants and can heavily impact other arthropods as well. Although Argentine ants have been present in southern Europe for more than 100 years, they were first noted in Corsica, a French Mediterranean island, in 1957 in only one urban station. In this study, we aimed to map precisely their geographical distribution in Corsica and to quantify their presence by using an infestation index. We recorded changes in the distribution of Argentine ants in Corsica over the past decade. Argentine ants appeared to be well established within their introduced range and spreading along the Corsican coasts principally through Human-mediated jump-dispersal but not homogenously. To cite this article: O. Blight et al., C. R. Biologies 332 (2009). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A complete section of the southern realm of the Variscan orogenic belt can be restored in the Corsica–Sardinia segment. Northern Corsica exposes a nonmetamorphosed Palaeozoic succession lying on Panafrican mica schist related to a microcontinent (most likely Armorica or from a microcontinent from the Hun superterrane) that had drifted away directly from Gondwana. These formations are thrust over the Variscan Internal Zone composed mainly of anatectic high-grade Palaeozoic formations that crop out from central Corsica to northern Sardinia; the metamorphic peak of the eclogite remnants has been dated at c. 420Ma. The Variscan Internal Zone interpreted here as a collision zone, and also the Eovariscan suture, was intruded in Corsica by Mg–K granite from 345 to 335Ma. The thrust of this Internal Zone onto the stack of parautochthonous nappes in central Sardinia is cross-cut by the Posada Asinara dextral shear zone. To the south, parautochthonous nappes overthrust the North-Gondwana margin which displays a possible Panafrican basement topped by an Iglesiente–Sulcis nonmetamorphic/anchimetamorphic Palaeozoic succession. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Provenance studies of Corsican siliceous raw materials used during, the Neolithic focused mainly on obsidian. They showed an almost systematic use of Monte Arci sources (Sardinia). Chert studies have long been dodged, whereas the multiplicity of potential origins, in Sardinia and in continental areas, may provide complementary spatial information about diffusion patterns and interaction phenomenon in the Middle Tyrrhenian during the Neolithic. We studied obsidian and chert industries of three Corsican sites: Renaghju (Early Neolithic), Monte Revincu and Vasculacciu (both Middle Neolithic). In order to assign a provenance, 2241 chert archaeological samples were characterized by petrographic approaches and 100 obsidian artefacts were submitted to geochemical analyses. Each site provides a specific trend regarding relative abundances of raw materials, provenance and consumption patterns. Considered in the wider perspective of the Neolithic Corsican context, results reveal procurement variations from a chronological as well as a geographical point of view. Those variations may echo economic and social evolutions undergone in Neolithic societies of the Tyrrhenian area. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Jurassic N-MORB ophiolites of the Pineto Unit, which were unaffected by Alpine metamorphism, can be compared to the Apennine ophiolites. They are, however, distinguished by their cover rocks that include a silico-clastic flysch that we have dated as Albian–Cenomanian. Clastic deposits of the same type, but coarser grained, are known from the normal cover rocks of the Balagne Nappe E-MORB ophiolites, originally located on a thinned continental crust and/or near a continental margin. The Pineto Unit thus indicates that the detrital input of continental material was able to extend to a domain of clearly oceanic character in the Ligurian palaeo-ocean. To cite this article: M. Durand-Delga et al., C. R. Geoscience 337 (2005). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]