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MATERIAL AND TERMINOLOGYMaterial of Le QuesnoyThe fossils were collected during field work undertaken in 1997 and 1998. The fossils come from two different channels (numbered QNY1 and QNY2). The second channel (QNY2) has yielded the major part of the vertebrate material. All the material is housed in the collection of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle of Paris. Some postcranial material has been found in Le Quesnoy. Unfortunately they have been found isolated. However, comparison with postcranial material of Oxyaenidae housed in the collections of AMNH, and UM allows their identification as oxyaenids. Terminology and MeasurementTerminology of the molar dental cusps and crests follows Van Valen (1966). The terminology of Ginsburg (1999) is used to describe the premolars. Instead of the term "metastyl", we used the term "postmetacrista", which is more adequate functionally. We compared the fossils from Le Quesnoy with casts of the North American and European oxyaenids. The measurements (in cm) followed those used by Gingerich and Deutsch (1989) for hyaenodontids. The parameters provided are only the observed range (OR) and the mean (M). The evolution of the shape of the trigonid of the lower molars and of the M1 follows Gunnell and Gingerich (1991, figures 12, 13, 14). |
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