Abstract
The locality Valbro (Quercy, France) has yielded a rich fossil vertebrate fauna. Here are presented the geological context, a preliminary faunal list and the systematics of the Rodentia and carnivores, the most abundant taxa of the fauna. The Rodentia are known from 11 taxa: the Theridomyidae Blainvillimys grega-rius Schlosser, 1884, Blainvillimys ?gemellus Vianey-Liaud, 1989, Issiodoromys medius (Vianey-Liaud, 1976)and S. cayluxi Schlosser, 1884, the Aplodontidae Plesispermophilus angustidens Filhol, 1882, the GliridaeButseloglis tenuis (Bahlo, 1975), Butseloglis micio (Misonne, 1957) and Bransatoglis planus (Bahlo, 1975), theSciuridae Palaeosciurus goti Vianey-Liaud, 1974 and cf. Oligopetes sp., and the Cricetidae Atavocricetodonsp. aff. A. nanus (Pelaez-Campomanes, 1995). Thirteen taxa of carnivores are present at Valbro; amongthe Hyaenodontida: Hyaenodon leptorhynchus Laizer et Parieu, 1838 and cf. Apterodon sp.; among the Car-nivora: a Feliformia gen. et sp. indet., the Nimravidae Nimravus intermedius (Filhol, 1872), Dinailurictisbonali Helbing, 1922 and Nimravidae gen. et sp. indet. (Certainly belonging to one the two already iden-tified species), the Ursida Pachycynodon crassirostris Schlosser, 1888, Pachycynodon sp., Amphicynodonsp. 1 cf. A. typicus (Schlosser, 1888), Amphicynodon ? sp. 2 and Ursida gen. et sp. indet. cf. Pachycynodonboriei (Filhol, 1876), the Mustelida M. olivieri Bonis, 1997, the Carnivora incertae sedis Palaeogale sectoria(Gervais, 1848–1852), the Arctoidea gen. et sp. indet. and Carnivora gen. et sp. indet. (probably represen-ting taxa already identified at lower taxonomic levels). The evolutionary grade of B. gregarius of Valbrocompares to that of the species from Mas de Got, La Plante 2 and Cavalé, which supports an MP22 agefor Valbro. This datation is further supported by the association of Theridomyinae yielded by the locality(B. gregarius, B. gemellus, I. medius and S. cayluxi), and by the presence of a N. intermedius that well comparesthe material of the species from Villebramar, La Plante et Mas de Got, of D. bonali, P. sectoria, M. olivieri(species known only from Mas de Got), and by additional evidence from the remaining vertebrates fromValbro, especially the squamates. Despite a limited amount of specimens (341 specimens have been stu-died), the faunas of rodents and carnivores from Valbro are the most speciose and diverse known for theMP22 level and, for the Carnivora fauna in particular, for the Oligocene of the Old World.