Among the Early Pleistocene Italian fossil herpetofaunas, Rivoli Veronese is remarkable in having yielded the youngest known allocaudates, represented by Albanerpeton pannonicum, together with ...remains of other amphibians and reptiles. The assemblage includes at least 15 other taxa, including two caudates (Speleomantes sp., Ichthyosaura alpestris), four anurans (Bombina sp., Bufo bufo, Hyla gr. H. arborea, Rana sp.), five lizards (Lacerta gr. L. viridis, cf. Zootoca vivipara, a third, small-sized lacertid, Anguis gr. A. fragilis, cf. Pseudopus sp.) and four snakes (Coronella sp., Zamenis longissimus, Natrix sp., Vipera gr. V. aspis). The finding of Speleomantes is particularly interesting as it is one of only a handful of fossil occurrences of this genus, being only the second one outside of its extant range. Excluding the extinct Albanerpeton and Speleomantes, which has a very narrow environmental range, the remainder of the assemblage suggests a Mean Annual Temperature rather similar or slightly colder than the present one in Rivoli Veronese (11.6°C versus 12.4°C), with much higher Mean Annual Precipitation (1322mm versus 834mm). The palaeoenvironment would have included either permanent or temporary water bodies, located in a forested area. More open landscapes might have also been present in the local vicinity. The palaeoherpetofauna of Rivoli Veronese supports the hypothesis of Albanerpeton favouring a moist environment, and confirms the presence of a humid forested landscape on the northern side of the Po Plain during the cold phases of the Gelasian, as already suggested by the pollen record for its southern margin.
•The palaeoherpetofauna from the Early Pleistocene of Rivoli Veronese is studied.•The diverse assemblage includes at least 16 taxa of amphibians and reptiles.•A rare fossil occurrence of the caudate Speleomantes is reported.•The reconstructed palaeoenvironment was cold, humid and forested.•This suggests a preference for moist habitats by Cenozoic allocaudates.
Disarticulated remains of anguid lizards from the latest Early Pleistocene of the Sierra de Quibas (Abanilla, Murcia, SE Spain) are described and assigned to a new species, Ophisaurus manchenioi. ...Although Ophisaurus is still extant in subtropical humid environments in North America, Northern Africa, and Southeast Asia, the new species is the youngest known fossil representative of the genus in Europe. Analysis of the palaeobiogeographic distribution of the genus reveals that its maximum extension occurred during the Miocene, followed by a north-south withdrawal, leading to its late Pliocene restriction to the Mediterranean area. Its European extirpation occurred at ca. 1.2–0.9 Ma, after having survived in a few Early Pleistocene refugia on the southernmost Iberian Peninsula. This extirpation is coeval with the Early-Middle Pleistocene transition, an episode of major climatic change related to the intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation between 1.4 and 0.7 Ma, and which led to the disappearance of the subtropical humid forest biome at around 1.2 Ma. Based on its latitudinal withdrawal, temperature is inferred to have been an important limiting factor for the distribution of the genus Ophisaurus. However, as the climate seems never to have been very cold on the southernmost Iberian Peninsula, increasing aridity or habitat fragmentation linked to such increasing aridity may have also played a role in the extirpation of the genus Ophisaurus from Western Europe during the Early-Middle Pleistocene transition.
•A new species of anguid lizard is described from the Early Pleistocene of Spain.•It probably corresponds to the very last fossil record of the genus in Western Europe.•Its European extirpation occurred at ca. 1.2–0.9 Ma after southern prolonged survival.•Such extirpation is coeval with the Early-Middle Pleistocene transition.
Venta Micena is an area containing several palaeontological sites marking the beginning of the Calabrian stage (Early Pleistocene). The richness of the fossil accumulation including species of Asian, ...African and European origin, makes Venta Micena a key site for the the palaeoecological and palaeoenvironmental study of southern Europe during the Early Pleistocene. Thus, research has been focused on Venta Micena 3, which was originally interpreted as a single palaeosurface associated with a marshy context, in which most of the fauna was accumulated by Pachycrocuta brevirostris. Recent excavations have unearthed a new site, Venta Micena 4, located in the same stratigraphic unit (Unit C) and in close proximity to Venta Micena 3. Here we show the first analyses regarding the taphonomic and spatial nature of this new site, defining two stratigraphic boundaries corresponding to two different depositional events. Furthermore, the taphonomic analyses of fossil remains seem to indicate a different accumulative agent than Pachycrocuta, thus adding more complexity to the palaeobiological interpretation of the Venta Micena area. These results contribute to the discussion of traditional interpretations made from Venta Micena 3.
Few Quaternary herpetofaunas have been recovered from The Netherlands. Among these, the one coming from the early Pleistocene site of the Russel-Tiglia-Egypte pit near Tegelen is of particular ...interest, because it is the type locality of the recently described, last western European palaeobatrachid anuran, Palaeobatrachus eurydices. The large number of fossil remains of amphibians and reptiles found in the pit are representative of a very diverse fauna, including at least 17 taxa: Triturus gr. T. cristatus, Lissotriton sp., Pelobates fuscus, Bufo bufo, Bombina sp., Pelophylax sp., Rana sp., Hyla gr. H. arborea, Pelodytes sp., Mauremys sp., Lacerta sp., Lacertidae indet., Anguis gr. A. fragilis, cf. Pseudopus sp., “colubrines” indet., Natrix natrix and Vipera sp. Emys orbicularis, previously reported from a different Tegelen pit, is not present in this assemblage. Palaeoclimatic conditions reconstructed based on the herpetofaunistic association indicate a humid subtropical climate (Cfa according to the Köppen-Geiger classification of climates) for Tegelen during the TC5 section of the Tiglian, with low, but fairly regular rainfalls during the year. Mean annual temperature was 13.4 ± 0.3 °C and mean annual precipitation was 542 ± 50 mm. Moreover, three dry months were present during summer and early autumn, resulting in a much drier climate than the one present at Tegelen today. Nevertheless, the occurrence of the water-dwelling P. eurydices suggests the persistence of suitable permanent water bodies during the whole year, and the survival of this taxon in this part of Europe might have been allowed by the generally humid climate.
•The palaeoherpetofauna from the early Pleistocene of Tegelen is studied.•This is the type locality of the recently described Palaeobatrachus eurydices.•The diverse assemblage includes at least 17 taxa of amphibians and reptiles.•The reconstructed palaeoclimate was humid and subtropical, with a dry summer.•The humid conditions might have allowed the survival of P. eurydices in the area.
Dmanisi is currently the oldest Early Palaeolithic site discovered out of Africa. It has produced over 40 hominin remains, including a set of very informative skulls, in direct association with ...faunal remains and numerous lithic artifacts. Given the relevance of this locality, every effort is being made to reconstruct the landscapes where these hominins once lived. Amphibian and reptile remains from Dmanisi are here described for the first time and used as paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental proxies. They comprise at least six taxa: a green toad (Bufo gr. Bufo viridis), the Greek tortoise (Testudo graeca), a green lizard (Lacerta gr. Lacerta viridis), a four-lined snake (Elaphe gr. Elaphe quatuorlineata), an indeterminate colubrid and a water snake (Natrix sp.). As these taxa are not extinct and their ecology can be directly studied, they can contribute to the reconstruction of the landscape and climate. The application of the Mutual Climatic Range method provides quantitative data indicating that during the hominin presence at Dmanisi climate was warm and dry, similar to the present-day Mediterranean climate. In comparison with today climate of Dmanisi, estimated mean annual temperature was 3.1 °C higher, with a greater increase of temperature in summer (+7.1 °C) than in winter (+4.7 °C). The mean annual precipitation was slightly lower (−65 mm) than the current level, with precipitation higher than current one during winter (+104 mm) but strongly lower during the other seasons, suggesting a stronger contrast in the rainfall regime during the year. From a paleoenvironmental point of view, fossil amphibians and reptiles all suggest the predominance of arid environments, from steppe or semi-desert to open Mediterranean forest, with stony or rocky substrate and bushy areas. The presence of permanent aquatic environments is also documented. These results mainly agree with those for large mammals, small mammals and the archaeobotanical analysis that indicate an important water stress suggesting a period of increased aridity contemporaneous with human occupations of the site.
•Dmanisi is currently the oldest Early Palaeolithic site discovered out of Africa.•Fossil herpetofauna from Dmanisi is used as climatic and environmental proxy.•The Mutual Climatic Range method applied to the herpetofauna provides quantitative data.•The temperature was locally higher and the precipitations were lower than at present.•The results mostly agree with those already published for mammals and plants.
The Holocene has always been considered a crucial epoch where the major cultural steps of humankind took place. Understanding past Holocene climatic variability, shifts in vegetation, and faunal ...communities are among crucial challenges in predicting the upcoming changes of the natural environment.
In Central Europe, the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland is one of the best study areas for detecting faunal, environmental, and climate shifts. For that reason, we choose to study the small vertebrate and mollusc communities of three archaeological sites with Holocene horizons: Sąspowska Zachodnia Cave, Ciasna Cave, and Małe Rockshelter.
We analysed the faunal community shifts, and we compared our results with the major Holocene sites in the area with the correspondence and cluster analyses. The environment and climate were reconstructed through Habitat Weighting, Quantified Ecology, malacological spectra and Bioclimatic methods.
Environment and climate values showed a temporary replacement of the Late Glacial tundra and grasslands with boreal forest mixed with open wetlands during the Preboreal and then stable landscapes dominated by temperate forests. Models based on rodent data show that temperature and precipitation generally increased, starting from the Boreal, to reach values near, or sometimes overwhelm, the current climate values of the area during the Atlantic and Subboreal. The climate values obtained from herpetofaunal analyses show very slight changes between the Preboreal and the Atlantic (Ciasna Cave layers 3 and 4), except for the winter temperatures, whereas results obtained for Sąspowska Zachodnia Cave are probably biased by a very low number of recovered remains. Among rodents, a major negative oscillation detected in layers related to the edge of Early Holocene was related to the Preboreal Oscillation or long-lasting effect of the Younger Dryas.
In recent years several studies have been carried out to test the validity of Bergmann's rule for amphibians, and have generated varying results. Due to the lack of agreement on this topic, here we ...examine the relationship between climate and body size for one anuran species (Bufo calamita, commonly known as the natterjack toad) with a new methodological approach that uses the fossil record as the data source. We analysed bones from two archaeo‐paleontological sites located close to each other in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain) that together encompass more than one million years from Early to Late Pleistocene. We used ordinary least squares (OLS) simple regression models to integrate body size and palaeoclimatic data (temperature and precipitation) and describe the relationship between the amphibian's body size and climate along the entire temporal gradient. We found the body size of B. calamita to be negatively related to the mean annual temperature and the mean temperature of the coldest month, and positively related to December‐to‐February precipitation. The climatic influence was stronger in females, which were smaller than males in most cases, and therefore an inverse sexual size dimorphism pattern was found. Juvenile individuals or the limited sexual size dimorphism of this species may be causes of this unusual pattern. Bufo calamita populations showed a clear Bergmann cline during the Pleistocene period, and winter stands out as the most influential season. Although this new methodology can only be used to describe patterns, we discuss several mechanisms that could explain our results. We propose that starvation resistance and delayed maturation are the main causes for this increase in size in periods with cooler winters, and a fecundity‐related hypothesis to explain why climate has a greater influence on female body size.
The Voroncha site is an accumulation of Holocene small vertebrates, from which numerous amphibian and reptile remains have been recovered continuously over the course of many years. The accumulation ...has been said to represent a badger or fox den on a gully slope. The latest available collection contains some 11,538 herpetofauna bones suitable for systematic identification. This assemblage includes two caudates (Lissotriton vulgaris and Triturus cristatus), five anurans (Bufo bufo, Pelophylax lessonae, Pelophylax ridibundus, Rana arvalis, and Rana temporaria), one anguid lizard (Anguis fragilis sl), one lacertid lizard (Zootoca vivipara), and two snakes (Natrix natrix and Vipera berus). This paper describes the comparative characteristics of these bones. The considerable quantity of fossils helps to better visualize the identification criteria for the higher taxonomic categories. In addition, the great number of the bones identified at the species level reveals considerable intraspecific variability for some elements. This study complements previous studies by adding L. vulgaris, T. cristatus, B. bufo, P. ridibundus, R. arvalis, Z. vivipara, N. natrix and V. berus to the site's faunal record. Voroncha represents the first fossil record for caudates in the region of Belarus and the first record for Z. vivipara in the western East European Plain.
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