Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia, 7() 1962
Notes on the Amphibian and Reptilian Fauna of the Polish Pliocene and Early Pleistocene
Abstract:
This paper is the summing-up of the investigations on the Pliocene and early Pleistocene amphibians and reptiles of Poland carried out up to the present time, completed with some new, unpublished data regarding the old and the new localities. The introductory part presents the characteristics of the localities under study: Węże I, Węże II, Podlesice, Rębielice Królewskie, Kamyk and Kadzielnia and of the amphibians and reptiles occurring in them. The systematic part comprises the review of the forms and systematic groups so far recognized with special respect to turtles and lizards. The note on the occurrence of Lacerta (Podarcis) cf. sicula Rafinesque, the survey of the fossil remains of Anguis Linnaeus and the determination of the systematic position of Testudo szalaii Młynarski deserve here particular attention. The character of the „preglacial“ herpetofauna of this country and its comparison with the amphibian and reptilian fauna from the Pliocene and early Pleistocene of the localities in Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary and Roumania are the subject of the general part. The problem of the origin of the contemporary European land tortoises and their ancestors is also discussed.
