Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia, 37(1) 1994

Issue:

VOL 37(1) 1994

Keywords:

Serpentes, Late Miocene, Hungary, osteology

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Late Miocene snakes from Polgárdi (Hungary)

• Márton VENCZEL

Abstract:

Snake remains from the Late Miocene (MN 13) localities of Polgárdi 2 and Polgárdi 4 (Hungary) belong to at least eight different taxa: Coluber hungaricus, Coronella cf. C. austriaca, Elaphe kormosi, Elaphe praelongissima sp.n., Natrix cf., N. longivertebrata (Colubridae), Vipera gedulyi, Vipera sp. 1 (»Oriental viper« group), and Vipera sp. 2 (»European viper« group) (Viperidae). The ophidian assemblage from Polgárdi 4 was dominated by small colubrids, while that from Polgárdi 2 by Vipera gedulyi. The composition of the snake fauna indicates rapid faunistic and paleoecological changes at the end of the Miocene.