A fossil viper (Serpentes: Viperidae) from the Early Pleistocene of the Crimean Peninsula

ABSTRACT

A fragmentary maxilla and isolated vertebrae of a viperid snake were found in the Lower Pleistocene deposits of the Taurida cave, Crimean Peninsula. The snake is assigned to Vipera cf. renardi based on the morphology of the maxilla. This is the first unquestionable fossil record of the Vipera ursinii-renardi complex dispersed into Crimea earlier than previously supposed, already in the Early Pleistocene.

KEYWORDS:

• Vipera
• snake
• maxilla
• vertebrae
• Early Pleistocene
• Crimean Peninsula

Acknowledgments

For collecting fossil specimens, we thank A. Lavrov (Borissiak Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow), D. Gimranov (Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ekaterinburg) and A. Tesakov (Geological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow). For assistance with SEM microscopy, microtomography and technical support, we thank R. Rakitov (Borissiak Paleontological Institute, Moscow). We greatly thank J. Mead (The Mammoth Site, USA) and H.-A. Blain (Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana, Spain) for helpful reviews and corrections.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, grant no 22-14-00214, https://rscf.ru/project/22-14-00214.