Abstract: In addition to its distant familial similarity with Rift Valley fever virus and its proximity to the Akabane virus, the new Schmallenberg virus has high genetic similarity in some segments with a virus for which we currently have little information: the Shamonda virus (Nigeria, 1965). In late January 2012, widely dispersed outbreaks were confirmed initially in Germany, followed by the Netherlands and Belgium, and then France, with 29 outbreaks initially exclusively in sheep. When faced with one (or two, depending on the area) young stillborn or malformed ruminants, samples of brain and blood should be sent to the departmental laboratory, which will forward them to the Animal Health Laboratory at Maisons-Alfort (virology), the only laboratory that can currently provide direct diagnosis by RT-PCR.