[gallery] The beginning of the diversification of modern mammals (placental) remain poorly understood so far by lack of fossils, especially in some key continents of the southern hemisphere such as Africa. Emmanuel Gheerbrant, researcher at the CNRS, said, as part of a collaboration agreement between France and Morocco including the Museum and the Office Chérifien des Phosphates (2), the discovery of one of the oldest in modern ungulates levels Paleocene of Morocco. Aged about 60 million years, this mammal fossil belongs to a new species named Eritherium azzouzorum. It comes from the same basin of Ouled Abdoun phosphate (Morocco) that Phosphatherium escuilliei (3), which was, until the discovery of Eritherium, the oldest representative of elephants (55 million years), but sedimentary layers lower. It is the oldest known representative of African

ungulates (paenungulés), especially the elephants (Proboscidea (4)) which confirms the ancient African origin. Eritherium azzouzorum is small (4 to 5 kg) and extremely primitive.It testifies to the emergence of an order of ungulates modern stage archaic unpublished, illustrated by original reminiscences among Proboscidea with primitive groups, among condylarthres (5) (louisininés, off) or afrothères (rats "to deceive, Eocene-Present). Its primary grade indicates a rapid evolution of Proboscidea to Paleocene-Eocene transition (6) (such as increasing the size), and other radiation (diversification) Quick ungulates crisis after the African Cretaceous Tertiary-ago 65 million years. Notes: (1) UMR 7207 (MNHN / CNRS / Université Pierre et Marie Curie) (2) Convention palaeontological research OCP MNHN Ministère de l'Energie et des Mines (Rabat)-Université Cadi Ayyad (Marrakech)-Université Chouaib Doukkali (El Jadida) See the website (3) 55 million years, discovered in 1996 by the same team (4) The order or Proboscidea elephants is now represented by 3 species, but it has a long and rich evolutionary history illustrated by past 180 fossil species. (5) archaic ungulates that have developed in the late Cretaceous and early Tertiary, and are the origin of modern herbivores. (6) The transition between the Paleocene and Eocene took place there are about 55 million years