The paleontology of reptiles in the Caribbean is a topic of great interest to understand how the current fauna of the area was constituted from colonization and extinction of their groups. The largest number of fossils belongs to Squamata, ranging from the Eocene to our days. The registry covers all the islands of the Greater Antilles, most of the Lesser Antilles, and of the Bahamas. Cuba, the largest island of the Antilles, has a relatively sparse Squamata fossil record, with 11 known species from 10 locations, distributed in the West and Center of the Country. However, there are many other fossils deposited in biological collections without identification that could better clarify the history of their reptile fauna. A total of 328 fossils from three paleontological collections were selected for their analysis, searching osteological characteristics that would serve to diagnose them at the lowest possible taxonomic level, and compare them with other fossils and recent species. In the present work, the Squamata fossil record is increased, both in the number of species and in the number of localities. The registry is extended to practically all of the Cuban territory. Fossil remains belonging to previously reported species are confirmed, such as Leiocephalus cubensis, L. carinatus, Tarentola americana, Chilabothrus angulifer, and Cubophis cantherigerus. Fossils of Amphisbaena, Pholidoscelis auberi, and Leiocephalus macropus are described for the first time. Besides, other fossils belonging to the genera Tarentola, Leiocephalus, and Chilabothrus but different from the species that currently inhabit the archipelago, are described. These results show that the Squamata fossil record in Cuba is broader than what was previously considered, despite being composed of very fragile and small fossils with little potential for fossilization. For the paleontology of Squamata the description of new taxa and record of new localities in Cuba, are the first steps for more integrating studies on biological diversity, evolution, biogeography, paleoenvironment among others that contribute to the understanding of the fauna in the Caribbean region. / A paleontologia de répteis no Caribe é um tema de grande interesse para entender como a fauna atual da área foi constituída a partir da colonização e extinção dos seus grupos. O maior número de fósseis pertence a Squamata, que vai desde o Eoceno até nossos dias. O registro abrange todas as ilhas das Grandes Antilhas, a maioria das Pequenas Antilhas e as Bahamas. Cuba, a maior ilha das Antilhas, tem um registro fóssil de Squamata relativamente escasso, com 11 espécies conhecidas de 10 localidades, distribuídas no oeste e centro do país. No entanto, existem muitos outros fósseis depositados em coleções biológicas sem identificação, que poderiam esclarecer melhor a história de sua fauna de répteis. Um total de 328 fósseis de três coleções paleontológicas foi selecionado para sua análise, buscando características osteológicas diagnosticas do menor nível taxonômico possível, e comparando-os com outros fósseis e espécies recentes. No presente trabalho, o registro fóssil de Squamata foi aumentado, tanto em número de espécies quanto em número de localidades. O registro foi estendido a praticamente todo o território cubano. Restos fósseis pertencentes às espécies relatadas anteriormente são confirmados, como Leiocephalus cubensis, L. carinatus, Tarentola americana, Chilabothrus angulifer e Cubophis cantherigerus. Fósseis de Amphisbaena, Pholidoscelis auberi e Leiocephalus macropus foram descritos pela primeira vez, bem como de outros fósseis pertencentes aos gêneros Tarentola, Leiocephalus e Chilabothrus, mas diferentes das espécies que atualmente habitam o arquipélago. Esses resultados mostram que o registro fóssil de Squamata em Cuba é mais amplo do que era considerado anteriormente, apesar de ser composto de fósseis muito frágeis e pequenos, com pouco potencial para a fossilização. Para a paleontologia de Squamata, a descrição de novos táxons e registro de novas localidades em Cuba são os primeiros passos para estudos mais integradores sobre diversidade biológica, evolução, biogeografia, paleoambiente entre outros que contribuam ao entendimento da fauna na região do Caribe.

Reproduction de : Thèse de doctorat : Histoire moderne : Lyon 2 : 2007. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre. Bibliogr.

La rénovation urbaine de Pointe-à-Pitre (1961-1981) fut l'une des plus vastes jamais menée en France entre 1961 et 1981 et la première programmée en outre-mer. Elle avait pour but de répondre à la crise du logement et de réhabiliter des quartiers de cases insalubres qui s'étaient étendus de façon non maîtrisée sur des marécages situés autour de la ville. Cette rénovation urbaine ne fut pas simplement une opération d'aménagement car elle servit de front pionnier et de laboratoire aux acteurs de la composition urbaine en outre-mer par la mise en place d'organismes publics à qui l'État confia une compétence fonctionnelle pour aménager le territoire. A cette occasion furent introduits en Guadeloupe, une nouvelle architecture et un nouvel urbanisme retlet de la modernité. / Urban renewal of Pointe-à-Pitre (1961-1981) was one of the 1argcstever conducted in France during the years (1961- . 1981) and the fust programmed overseas territories. 1'0 respond to the housing crisis and renovate parts of unhealthy ceUsthat had spread in an uncontroUed manner on wetlands located around the city it was intended to. Urban renewal was not simply a development operations because it served as a frontier laboratory and the actors of the urban composition overseas by sctting up public bodies to which the State gave a functional competence develop the territory. On this occasion were introduced in Guadeloupe, a new architecture and new urbanism reflection of modernity.

No description available.

No description available.

This study examines the systematics and biogeography of frogs in the Eastern Caribbean, a biogeographical province consisting of the Lesser Antilles, Trinidad, and Tobago. A comprehensive collection of specimens was subjected to an analysis incorporating morphometric, osteological, and biochemical approaches. An investigation of $ alpha$-level taxonomy revealed the presence of four additional taxa: Colostethus chalcopis sp. nov. on Martinique, Eleutherodactylus amplinympha sp. nov. on Dominica, E. euphronides comb. nov. on Grenada, and E. shrevei comb. nov. on St. Vincent. Based on species distributions and detailed analyses of the largely congruent data sets, Eastern Caribbean frogs can be grouped into two major categories, those originating with South American stock and those of Greater Antillean ancestry. A South American origin is obvious for species which have no congeneric relatives in the Greater Antilles, e.g. C. chalcopis, Leptodactylus fallax, L. wagneri. Among the Eleutherodactylus species, northern Eastern Caribbean taxa form a monophyletic group within the E. auriculatus species group; the topology of relationships is ((E. barlagnei, E. pinchoni) ((E. amplinympha, E. martinicensis) E. johnstonei)). The southern Eastern Caribbean species may or may not form a monophyletic group, but E. euphronides and E. shrevei are sister taxa. The topology for these species is (E. urichi (E. terraebolivaris (E. euphronides, E. shrevei))). Thus, the Eastern Caribbean forms a biogeographic link between the large South American and Greater Antillean radiations of Eleutherodactylus; Eleutherodactylus is the only truly circum-Caribbean frog genus. Furthermore, historical evidence shows that the patchy, Caribbean-wide distribution of E. johnstonei is the direct result of accidental introduction mitigated by humans during the past three centuries.

Plus de 70 % de la surface terrestre est recouverte par les mers et océans. Nombre de phénomènes tectoniques parmi les plus dévastateurs ont par ailleurs lieu en environnement océanique. On peut citer en exemple les zones de subduction, pouvant générer des mégaséismes associés à des tsunamis dévastateurs (Sumatra en 2004, Tohokuen 2011), mais aussi les failles décrochantes sous-marines. Dans de nombreux cas, les méthodes de géodésie spatiale ne permettent pas de discriminer entre un comportement bloqué ou asismique, les instruments étant situés trop loin de la zone potentiellement déformée par le processus tectonique. Il faut alors mettre au point de nouvelles techniques qui permettent de prolonger les réseaux d’observation classiques au large afin de cartographier la déformation sur l’intégralité de la zone. Cette thèse s’intéresse à deux méthodes de géodésie fond de mer permettant d’aider à l’évaluation du risque sismique. La première est la distancemétrie relative acoustique, avec comme zone d’application effective la mer de Marmara. Nos premiers résultats laissent supposer un comportement bloqué au niveau du segment de la faille nord-anatolienne immergé devant İstanbul. La seconde zone d’étude considérée est la subduction antillaise. L’échelle de travail nécessite une localisation des points observés dans un référentiel global. Nous étudions les phénomènes océaniques à considérer et détaillons une méthodologie dite GNSS/A (pour Acoustique), consistant en des interrogations acoustiques depuis une plateforme de surface précisément positionnée par GNSS, pour une future expérience de positionnement absolu au large de la Guadeloupe. / More than 70 % of the Earth surface is covered by seas and oceans. Several tectonic phenomena, among the most devastating, take place in ocean environment. For example, the subduction zones, which can generate mega-earthquakes associated with devastating tsunamis (Sumatra in 2004, Tōhoku in 2011), but also the underwater strike-slip faults. In many cases, methods of space geodesy cannot discriminate between a blocked or aseismic behavior, because the instruments are located too far from the area potentially deformed by the tectonic process. Thus, it is necessary to develop new techniques to extend conventional observation networks off-shore to map the deformation in the entire area. This thesis focuses on two seafloor geodesy methods, in order to assess the seismic risk evaluation. The first is the relative acoustic ranging, with an efective deployment of the Marmara Sea area. Our early results suggest a locked state at the segment of the North Anatolian fault of İstanbul. The second area considered is the Caribbean subduction. The working scale requires localization of the observed points in a global reference frame. We study ocean processes to consider, and detail a GNSS/A (Acoustic) methodology, consisting of acoustic interrogations from a precisely GNSS positioned surface platform, for a future absolute positioning experience of Guadeloupe.

Dans les zones de subduction, la géométrie du slab est l'un des paramètres qui contrôle les déformations tectoniques de la marge, le couplage et le potentiel sismogénique. La subduction des Antilles résulte du chevauchement de la plaque Caraïbe vers le NE sur les plaques Amériques, à une vitesse de convergence de 2 cm/an. La sismicité est hétérogène et augmente localement sous la plateforme des Iles Vierges. D’une obliquité croissante vers le nord, cette zone est favorable à un partitionnement dont les déformations sont très peu observées. Ces travaux ont permis de confirmer un substratum d’une affinité de croûte océanique épaissie par un panache mantellique et faiblement épaissi par le magmatisme formant les arcs volcaniques Deux structures accommodant le partitionnement de la déformation ont été mis en évidence. La faille de Bunce est une faille décrochante sénestre de 850 km s’étendant d’Hispaniola jusqu’à Barbuda découplant le prisme d’accrétion du substratum. Le Passage d’Anegada, dont nous avons découvert son extension vers le NE, entaille profondément l’avant-arc. Formé par extension due à la collision du Banc des Bahamas sur le nord de la marge caribéenne, ces structures sont réactivées en décrochement sénestre compatible avec du partitionnement. Les caractéristiques d’une dorsale lente (core complexe et grain océanique) entrant en subduction sont imagées pour la première fois. Elles affectent probablement la morphologie du prisme d’accrétion et le potentiel sismogène. Là où les séismes et les déformations de partitionnement (Passage d’Anegada) s'accentuent localement, le slab est moins profond. Ainsi, le couplage interplaque pourrait augmenter localement et favoriser l'activité sismique et le partitionnement tectonique sous le Passage d'Anegada. / In subduction zones, the 3D geometry of the plate interface is one of the key parameters that controls margin tectonic deformation, interplate coupling and seismogenic behavior. The North American plate subducts below the Caribbean plate with a convergence rate of 20 mm/y. The seismic activity is heterogeneous and increases locally under the Virgin Islands platform. The northward increasing convergence obliquity is favorable in partitioning which deformations were not really observed. This PhD confirms that the forearc crust is a crust of oceanic affinity thickened by hotspot magmatism and poorly affected by subduction magmatism. Two structures accommodating the partitioning of the deformation were identified. The Bunce Fault is a 850-kmlength sinistral strike-slip fault extending from Hispaniola to the east of Barbuda decoupling the accretionary prism from the Caribbean substratum. The Anegada Passage, whose extension towards the NE is highlighted, entailed deeply the forearc. The structures are reactivated in sinistral strike-slip faults compatible with the partitioning of the deformation after formation in extension due to the collision of the Bahamas Bank with the northern margin. We image for the first time the characteristics of a slow ridge formation (partly complex core and partly oceanic grain) entering in subduction. It affects the morphology of the accretion prism and probably the seismogenic potential of the subduction interface. We have highlighted a shallower slab which is located under the NE Anegada Passage and where earthquakes and partitioning deformations increase locally. Thus, the shallowing slab might results in a local greater interplate coupling favoring seismic activity and tectonic partitioning beneath the Anegada Passage.

I focus on phylogenetic relationships of teiid lizards beginning with generic and species relationship within the family, followed by a detailed biogeographical examination of the Caribbean genus Pholidoscelis, and end by studying species boundaries and phylogeographic patterns of the widespread Giant Ameiva Ameiva ameiva. Genomic data (488,656 bp of aligned nuclear DNA) recovered a well-supported phylogeny for Teiidae, showing monophyly for 18 genera including those recently described using morphology and smaller molecular datasets. All three methods of phylogenetic estimation (two species tree, one concatenation) recovered identical topologies except for some relationships within the subfamily Tupinambinae (i.e. position of Salvator and Dracaena) and species relationships within Pholidoscelis, but these were unsupported in all analyses. Phylogenetic reconstruction focused on Caribbean Pholidoscelis recovered novel relationships not reported in previous studies that were based on significantly smaller datasets. Using fossil data, I improve upon divergence time estimates and hypotheses for the biogeographic history of the genus. It is proposed that Pholidoscelis colonized the Caribbean islands through the Lesser Antilles based on biogeographic analysis, the directionality of ocean currents, and evidence that most Caribbean taxa originally colonized from South America. Genetic relationships among populations within the Ameiva ameiva species complex have been poorly understood as a result of its continental-scale distribution and an absence of molecular data for the group. Mitochondrial ND2 data for 357 samples from 233 localities show that A. ameiva may consist of up to six species, with pairwise genetic distances among these six groups ranging from 4.7–12.8%. An examination of morphological characters supports the molecular findings with prediction accuracy of the six clades reaching 72.5% using the seven most diagnostic predictors.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Yale University, 1912. / "Printed from type, 600 copies, July, 1912." Bibliography: p. 341-364.