A well preserved tibiotarsus from the Early Eocene locality of Saint-Papoul (Aude, southwestern France) is described as belonging to the giant ground bird Gastornis parisiensis Hébert, 1855, on the basis of close resemblances with the lectotype of that species. Small and variable differences in the tibiotarsi of European and North American gastornithids are considered as insufficient to justify a separation between Gastornis and Diatryma, the latter being considered as a junior synonym of the former. The discovery of Gastornis in southern France lends weight to the hypothesis according to which the large bird eggs found in the continental Lower Eocene of southern France may have been laid by gastornithids.