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

Venczel, Márton (1998) Late Miocene snakes (Reptilia: Serpentes) from Polgárdi (Hungary): a second contribution. ACTA ZOOLOGICA CRACOVIENSIA (1956 - 2004), 41. pp. 1-22. ISSN 0065-1710

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Abstract

New fossil ophidian materials from the Late Miocene (MN 13) localities of Polgardi 2, Polgardi 4 “Lower”, Polgardi 4 “Upper” and Polgardi 5 (Hungary) are described. The ophidian assemblages contained at least ten different taxa: Colu ber 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 de scribed in this paper belonged to extant genera, which widely replaced those of older faunas prior to the Messinian crisis. The Polgardi localities produce the oldest fossil records of the genera Coronella and Telescopus, and, at the same time show the last occurrence o f the genus Macrovipera in Central Europe. The composition of the snake assemblages of the Polgardi localities, slightly differing in age, may evidence the fluctuating climatic conditions, which favoured a rapid spread o f small sized modern colubrine snakes of Asiatic origin in Europe.

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