Zbigniew Szyndlar

Snakes from the lower Miocene locality of Dolnice (Czechoslovakia)

ABSTRACT The Lower Miocene (MN 4) locality of Dolnice (West Czechoslovakia) has yielded remains of about 12 ophidian taxa: Scolecophidia indet., Bransateryx septentrionalis, n.sp., cf. Gongylophis sp. (Boidae), Palaeonatrix lehmani, Neonatrix nova, n.sp., Texasophis bohemiacus, n.sp., Coluber dolnicensis, n.sp., three different unidentified colubrine snakes (Colubridae), Vipera platys-pondyla, n.sp., and Vipera antiqua, n.sp. (Viperidae). Several of the above snake genera are well known from other Miocene sites in West Europe and North America (Bransateryx, Neonatrix, Texasophis), while others represent recent genera of more isolated occurrence (Gongylophis, Vipera of the “Oriental vipers” group).

Oligocene snakes of southern Germany

ABSTRACT Sites in the middle Oligocene (Herrlingen 7, Ehrenstein 12) and upper Oligocene (Ehrenstein 7, Herrlingen 8, Eggingen-Mittelhart) of southern Germany have yielded ophidian assemblages consisting of Eoanilius oligocenicus, sp. nov. (Aniliidae), Bransateryx vireti, cf. “Tropidonotus” atavus, cf. Platyspondylia sp., four other unidentified boids (Boidae), and Texasophis bohemiacus (Colubridae). Most forms presumably were fossorial. Based on the caudal vertebrae, Bransateryx cannot be closely related with the extant Eryx and Charina. Texasophis is considered an oriental immigrant, while Eoanilius, cf. Platyspondylia, and perhaps Bransateryx represented an autochthonous European assemblage. Eoanilius, Boinae C, Bransateryx, and Texasophis survived in central Europe at least until the early Miocene.

A last interglacial fauna from the Eastern Sahara

Abstract Recent work on the middle Paleolithic at Bir Tarfawi, in the hyperarid Eastern Sahara (

Une faune très diversifiée du Pléistocène inférieur de la Sierra de Quibas (province de Murcia, Espagne)

The Quaternary karstic site of Sierra de Quibas (Abanilla, province of Murcia, Spain) has provided a wide faunal list with more than 60 species. The assemblage of the taxa Arvicola deucalion, Castillomys rivas rivas, Eliomys intermedius, Equus altidens, Capra sp. aff. C. alba and cf. Praeovibos allows the correlation with other Spanish Lower Pleistocene sites in the Betic Cordillera, as Plines 1, Orce 3 and Venta Micena. Therefore Quibas can be located between 1.3 and 1.0 Ma. The palaeoenvironmental features of the area around the karstic cavity and the palaeoclimatic regime are inferred.

Two species of the genus Eryx (Serpentes; Boidae; Erycinae) from the Spanish Neogene with comments on the past distribution of the genus in Europe

Snakes of the living genus Eryx were widely distributed in countries lying between the Mediterranean and Black Seas in the period between the end of lower Miocene to the late Pliocene. Vertebral remains of Eryx reported from two Spanish localities, the uppermost Miocene (MN 13) of Salobrena and the middle Pliocene (MN 15) of Gorafe 5, belong to E. cf. E. jaculus and E. primitivus sp. nov., respectively. The available fossil record sugests that most representatives of Eryx inhabiting Europe in the past were similar to the recent Asiatic members of the genus. However, E. primitivus sp. nov., displaying primitive conditions in its caudal osteology, probably represented an early offshoot of a hypothetical ancestral stock leading to the extant species of Eryx.

New material of Laophis crotaloides, an enigmatic giant snake from Greece, with an overview of the largest fossil European vipers

Laophis crotaloides was described by Richard Owen as a new and very large fossil viperid snake species from Greece. The type material is apparently lost and the taxon was mostly neglected for more than a century. We here describe a new partial viperid vertebra, collected from the same locality and of equivalent size to the type material. This vertebra indicates that at least one of the three morphological characters that could be used to diagnose L. crotaloides is probably an artifact of the lithographer who prepared the illustration supporting the original description. A revised diagnosis of L. crotaloides is provided on the basis of the new specimen. Despite the fragmentary nature of the new vertebra, it confirms the validity of L. crotaloides, although its exact relationships within Viperidae remain unknown. The new find supports the presence of a large viperid snake in the early Pliocene of northern Greece, adding further data to the diversity of giant vipers from Europe.

Boine Snake Bavarioboa from the Oligocene/Miocene of Eastern Turkey with Comments on Connections Between European and Asiatic Snake Faunas

Fossil remains of the extinct boine snake Bavarioboa, thus far known exclusively from several localities of western and central Europe, are reported for the first time outside Europe. The new fossil record is from the Mendikdere Formation in easternmost Turkey, dated Late Oligocene to Early Miocene. The finding provides strong evidence of links connecting ophidian faunas of Europe and southwestern Asia in the past, and confirms the supposition that Anatolia may have had close terrestrial connections with Europe around the Oligocene/Miocene boundary.

Remains of Small Vertebrates from Bir Tarfawi and Their Paleoecological Significance

The fossil remains of amphibians and reptiles (excluding turtles) described below were collected at Bir Tarfawi by Professor K. Kowalski in 1986; they come from a peaty soil (Area N) on the northwestern side of the lake of Grey Phase 2 near the archaeological site of BT-14 (Fig. 3.5). The collection is very small, containing about 85 crocodilian teeth and 19 isolated bones or bone fragments of at least eight other amphibian and reptilian taxa. Most of the fossils have been identified to the familial level only, mainly because of the limited comparative materials available; however, the size of the collection and the lack of important diagnostic elements would make more precise identification impossible anyway.