Early Miocene herpetofaunas from the Greek localities of Aliveri and Karydia – bridging a gap in the knowledge of amphibians and reptiles from the early Neogene of southeastern Europe

Abstract

We here describe new remains of amphibians and reptiles from the early Miocene (MN 4) of two different Greek localities, Aliveri and Karydia. The newly described material consists of urodelans, alytids, indeterminate anurans, turtles, crocodylians, lacertids, indeterminate scincomorphs, anguids, colubrids, viperids, and indeterminate snakes. The presence of the frog Latonia cf. gigantea in Greece is documented for the first time. Additionally, the presence of viperids in Aliveri implies a much wider distribution for these snakes during the early Miocene of Europe. Of special interest is the presence of a peculiar colubrid that seems to possess a hitherto unknown vertebral structure, which is herein defined as the ‘paracentral ridge’. Although incomplete, the new material has important taxonomic and biogeographic implications, as it enhances our understanding of southeastern European herpetofaunas from the early Miocene, a time period that was characterised by major dispersal and extinction events and climatic change that affected the whole continent.

Keywords:

• Amphibia
• Reptilia
• Miocene
• taxonomy
• biogeography
• Greece

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge Wilma Wessels and Hans de Bruijn (University of Utrecht) for the loan of several specimens described in this paper and also Constantin Doukas (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens) for providing us information regarding the Aliveri and Karydia localities. We thank Rebecca Biton (University of Torino) for useful discussions about identification and distribution of Latonia. We also thank Walter Joyce (University of Fribourg) and Zbigniew Szyndlar (ZZSiD) for useful comments that enhanced the quality of the manuscript. Our special thanks also to our Editor Gareth Dyke (University of Southampton) and our reviewers Andrej Čerňanský (Comenius University of Bratislava) and Jean-Claude Rage (MNHN) for their insightful comments that improved the quality of the manuscript.