Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia, 41(1) 1998

Issue:

VOL 41(1) 1998

Keywords:

Serpentes, late Miocene, Hungary, osteology

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Late Miocene snakes (Reptilia: Serpentes) from Polgárdi (Hungary): a second contribution

• Márton VENCZEL

Abstract:

New fossil ophidian materials from the Late Miocene (MN 13) localities of Polgárdi 2, Polgárdi 4 “Lower”, Polgárdi 4 “Upper” and Polgárdi 5 (Hungary) are described. The ophidian assemblages contained at least ten different taxa: Colu­ber hungaricus, Coluber sp., Coronella miocaenica sp.n., Elaphe kormosi, E. praelongissima, E. szyndlari sp. n., Telescopus sp., Natrix cf. N. longivertebrata (Colubridae), Macrovipera gedulyi and Vipera sp. (Viperidae). All the taxa de­scribed in this paper belonged to extant genera, which widely replaced those of older faunas prior to the Messinian crisis. The Polgárdi localities produce the oldest fossil records of the genera Coronella and Telescopus, and, at the same time show the last occurrence of the genus Macrovipera in Central Europe. The composition of the snake assemblages of the Polgárdi localities, slightly differing in age, may evidence the fluctuating climatic conditions, which favoured a rapid spread of small sized modern colubrine snakes of Asiatic origin in Europe.