OSTRACODES OF THE TOARCIAN OF QUERCY (AQU ITAINE BASIN, FRANCE) - SYSTEMATICS, BIOSTRATIGRAPHY AND PALEOBIOGEOGRAPHY

The sedimentological and paleontological study of ostracodes recovered in eighty samples of Quercy (France) allows us to display four typica l associations consisting of the lower part of the Lower Toarcian, the Lower Toarcian, the Lower Toarcian-Middle Toarcian interval, and the Upper Toarcian. The Toarcian (ostracode) fauna represents a paleobioge ographic province centered by the Aquitaine and Paris Basin showing fa unistic relations with the different European countries of the western and southern Tethys and Northern Atlantic Ocean : Ireland, England, G ermany, Denmark, Central and North-Western Europe, Spain, Portugal, Ne wfoundland, Morocco, and Israel.