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The first ascertained breeding record ever of the Short-toed Snake eagle in Switzerland was documented in 2012, with a fledgling in Upper Valais. We here report about a second successful reproduction in Valais, in the French-speaking part of the canton, in 2017. A photographic survey of the nest established that the Aspic viper was by far the dominant prey provisioned by parents to the chick in 2017, confirming the earlier findings of 2012. The authors discuss whether the reliance on a single reptile species can obliterate the chances of this raptor to expand across the northern Alps in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In recent years, to the list of classic pet animals (dogs and cats) as allergens we must now add the “new pet animals” (NPAs). This group of animals, referred to by the Anglo-Saxons as “pets”, includes both those previously recognized (rabbit, guinea pig, hamster, birds) and the “truly new NPAs”; by general agreement “NPA” will include all animals other than cats and dogs. Some rather rare animals are regularly added to this list. The emergence of “NPAs” can be related to a social phenomenon, in particular, to the fashion and need for the exotic (http://www.aquadesign.be). They are a very diverse group: warm-blooded animals, spiders, batrachia (frogs, toads, salamanders, etc.) and reptiles. Besides the physical risks from their natural aggressive behaviour, the “NPAs” can be an allergic risk factor and this risk has a tendency to increase. Allergists and paediatricians have a role to play in the diagnosis and prevention of these allergies by giving advice on the choice of pet animals. This review concerns allergies to rodents, reptiles, batrachians, spiders, etc. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Permian formations outcropping on the southern side of the Mercantour massif (Barrot dome; Mont-Bego and the Vallée des Merveilles) have not, up until now, yielded vertebrate footprints, unlike other southern French regions (Lodévois, Provence). However, this has now changed. Discoveries have been made, first on loose blocks and then in stratigraphy (upper part of the Meraviglie or Merveilles formation), during a geological survey in the national Mercantour Park. These footprints belong to the same ichnite type, Varanopus curvidactylus Monodi, 1929. Nonetheless, this attribution needs to be confirmed by subsequent footprint discoveries. Despite unfavourable outcropping conditions and often intense tectonic deformation (fracturation, beginning of schistosity, network of quartzous vein, occasionally with epidote), the traces and the associated sedimentary features (current ripples, mudcracks, raindrop imprints, cyanobacterial mats, annelid bioturbations) allow us to correlate the depositional environment of the upper Meraviglie terrigenous formation with a deltaic lower flood plain of a lakeshore. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Because of their modes of life, Amphibians and Reptiles are good environmental and climatic indicators and can therefore teach us a lot about present and past environments. However, the remains of these animals are little studied in archaeological contexts. This study shows that development of the field of analysis of fossils bones of Amphibians and Reptiles is of major interest, but also highlights the necessity to make osteological collections for comparison, to undertake neotaphonomic studies and to put palaeoclimatic indications in place for these taxa. These remarks are especially pertinent for geographical regions that have a high potential with regard to Prehistory, as is the case in Morocco. In this study, we present information on the environment of Neolithic people from the region of Rabat-Temara, Morocco. Five thousand and eight hundred years ago, although global climate was similar to that of today, it was more humid, as shown by the presence of a toad species (Bufo bufo) that is absent today in this same region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In recent years, to the list of classic pet animals (dogs and cats) as allergens we must now add the New Pet Animals (NPAs). This group of animals, referred to by the Anglo-Saxons as pets, includes both those previously recognized (rabbit, guinea pig, hamster, birds) and the “truly new NPAs”; by general agreement “NPA” will include all animals other than cats and dogs. Some rather rare animals are regularly added to this list. The emergence of “NPAs” can be related to a social phenomenon, in particular, fashion and the need for the exotic. They are a very diverse group: warm-blooded animals, spiders, batrachia (frogs, toads, salamanders, etc.) and reptiles. Besides the physical risks from their natural aggressive behaviour, the “NPAs” can be an allergic risk factor and this risk has a tendency to increase. Allergists and paediatricians have a role to play in the diagnosis and prevention of these allergies by giving advice on the choice of pet animals. This review concerns allergies to rodents, reptiles, batrachians, spiders, etc. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: First record of the Upper Jurassic and of a marine Barremian intercalation in the continental ''redbeds'' from the central Moroccan High Atlas: palaeogeographic and structural implications. Meaningful assemblages of charophytes and ostracods have been collected in the intermediate unit (Iouaridene Formation) of the Jurassic–Cretaceous ''redbeds'' from the central Moroccan High Atlas. In the type locality of the Iouaridene syncline and also in the Ouaouizarht syncline, the lower part of the above-mentioned formation has yielded the charophytes Porochara kimmeridgensis and Dictyoclavator ramalhoi, allowing us to underline for the first time an Upper Jurassic continental sedimentation (Oxfordian?–Kimmeridgian) in the central High Atlas. Moreover, ostracods collected in the upper part of the formation quoted indicate an early marine ingression in the Lower Barremian. These biostratigraphic data allow us to precise the dating for the Dinosaurs'' remains and tracks, to improve the palaeogeographical reconstructions, to recognize the stratigraphic position of two extrusive magmatic events B1 and B2 as well as to constrain the structural and evolutionary patterns of the Atlasic Belt during the Mesozoic period. To cite this article: A. Charrière et al., C. R. Palevol 4 (2005) . [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Stratigraphy and palaeontology (plants, vertebrates) of the paralic deposits from the Uppermost Albian–Lower Cenomanian of Tonnay-Charente (Charente-Maritime, France). The Tonnay-Charente area (Charente-Maritime, southwestern France) contains several sand and clay exploitations of Uppermost Albian and Lower Cenomanian ages. These sediments have been deposited in a coastal area where plant remains, amber, and aquatic or terrestrial vertebrates were trapped. The two last quarries that could be studied, Puy-Puy and Les Renardières, are true Lagerstätten, the first one for the abundance and the diversity of meso- and macroremains of plants (pollen, cuticles, lignite), especially angiosperms, the second one for the vertebrate microremains, consisting of about forty taxa, with selachians and actinopterygians, different reptiles (crocodilians, dinosaurs, ophidians, turtles) and one mammal. This paper describes the sedimentary and palaeoenvironmental settings of the Albian–Cenomanian series from Puy-Puy and Les Renardières and illustrates the most outstanding taxa of vertebrates and plants collected until today. To cite this article: D. Néraudeau et al., C. R. Palevol 4 (2005) . [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

When English marine Reptiles crossed the Channel. Mary Anning and Georges Cuvier, two actors of the discovery and study of Ichthyosaurs and Plesiosaurs. From 1800 to 1824, Georges Cuvier succeeded in obtaining a great deal of informations, as well as documents, drawings, casts and original fossils related to marine Reptiles (Ichthyosaurs and Plesiosaurs) from the Lower Jurassic (Lias) of Great Britain. He was completely informed about the discoveries made by Mary Anning. A great number of documents in the archives of the Museum national d’histoire naturelle in Paris show the importance and the quality of the scientific links that existed between France and Great Britain, in spite of the political vicissitudes between the two nations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]