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Aeshna caseneuvensis sp. nov., the second oldest representative of the genus Aeshna, is described and figured from the lowermost Oligocene of Luberon in southeastern France. The oldest described species in this genus is from the uppermost Eocene of Colorado in USA. Their occurrence in very distant areas in an interval of time of less of five millions years strongly suggests that the genus is older, possibly appearing during the middle Eocene, as it is still unknown in the early Eocene odonate faunas. The specimen could be studied thanks to a technique of photograph under UV light newly developed by one of us (RG). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The faunal assemblage of Monteviale (Vicenza, northern Italy) represents a rare condition among the earliest Oligocene assemblages of south-eastern Europe at the ‘Grande-Coupure’. The lignitic fossiliferous strata lie above explosive basaltic breccias produced by a volcanic complex raised within a lagoon where the Calcareniti di Castelgomberto Formation (earliest Oligocene in age) was deposited. Systematic revision of the vertebrate remains from Monteviale reveals the presence of 15 taxa belonging to ?Butidae, Palaeobatrachidae, Trionychidae, Geoemydidae, Diplocynodontinae, Dugongidae, ?Pantolesta, Chiroptera, Rhinocerotidae, Anthracotheriidae and Palaeochoeridae. The fossiliferous deposit of Monteviale probably originated in a coastal lagoon characterized by salinity fluctuations, from brackish to fresh water, the latter evidenced by the presence of palaeobatrachid larvae. The terrestrial vertebrate assemblage indicates a humid forest environment with an age close to the Eocene–Oligocene boundary, lowermost Rupelian, MP21. Some of the mammal taxa (e.g.Epiaceratherium,Anthracotheriumand ?Propalaeocherus) of Monteviale show a clear affinity with older (late Eocene) southern Asian species, suggesting a dispersal pattern across the several plates of south-eastern Europe and western Asia. By contrast, the herpetofauna (e.g.Trionyx,BergouniouxchelysandDiplocynodon) suggests a closer relationship to European taxa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]