THE CAMPANO-MAASTRICHTIAN VERTEBRATE FAUNAS FROM SOUTHERN EUROPE AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER FAUNAS IN THE WORLD - PALEOBIOGEOGRAPHICAL IMPLICATIONS

The discovery and excavation of several new rich Maastrichtian vertebrate localities in northern Spain and southern France, and the re-examination of previously collected material, lead to a better knowledge of Campano-Maastrichtian European terrestrial ecosystems. A compilation of the families of terrestrial vertebrates in the world at the end of the Cretaceous is presented. A Parsimony Analysis of Endemicity (PAE) permits the relationships between the best known palaeobioprovinces to be assessed. The European ecosystems show a complex mixed pattern involving both Laurasiatic and Gondwanan elements. Most of them are inherited from an Early Cretaceous Afro-Euro-American palaeobioprovince dissociated during the Cretaceous; the South European province was isolated from North America and Asia during the whole of the Late Cretaceous. Late Cretaceous faunal interchange events between Europe and Africa are discussed in relation to the convergence of African and European plates. © 1991 Academic Press Limited.