A new terrestrial vertebrate site just after the Paleocene–Eocene boundary in the Mortemer Formation of Upper Normandy, France

European terrestrial vertebrate sites of the Upper Paleocene–Lower Eocene deposits are predominantly known from the central and eastern parts of the Paris Basin. However, several outcrops covering this interval are scattered along the Upper Normandy coast, in the western part of the Paris Basin. Here we report the discovery of a new terrestrial vertebrate site in the Mortemer Formation, at the top of the cliffs of Sotteville-sur-Mer in Upper Normandy, France. The vertebrate level is situated about 1.5 m above the onset of the Paleocene–Eocene Carbon Isotope Excursion (CIE) based on dispersed organic carbon and is therefore Earliest Eocene in age. The vertebrate fauna is composed of fish, amphibians, lizards and mammals, including the earliest peradectid marsupials and paromomyid plesiadapiform of Europe. A diverse and rich charophyte flora is well represented throughout the lower part of the outcrop and allows the conclusion that the CIE falls in the Peckichara disermas biozone.