Un nouveau Palaeotheriidae (Perissodactyla, Mammalia) de l'Éocène moyen (Auversien) du Languedoc : Mekodontherium crocheti n. g.,n. sp., de la faune de Canlong (niveau biochronologique MP 14)

A new genus and species of Palaeotheriidae is defined from a mandible of the Canlong local fauna. This form is characterized by brachyodont and bunodont teeth lacking metastylids, and a peculiar shape of the premolars, whose talonids are large and rather crescentic although lacking entoconids; the mandible is slender with a short symphysis, the post-canine diastema elongated and the angular apophysis backward-expanded. Plesiomorphic peculiarities of Mekodontherium bring to light that it was rather close to the stem from which the genera Palaeotherium and Franzenium originated. Affinities with the latter add weight to the assumption of at least episodic relationships in the upper Middle Eocene between endemic Spanish faunas and those of southern France.