Valbro: A new site of vertebrates from the early Oligocene (MP 22) of France (Quercy). III -Amphibians and squamates

Rage, Jean-Claude , Auge, Marc

2015 ANNALES DE PALEONTOLOGIE 2015   101(卷), 1(期), (29-41页)

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The Valbro locality (Phosphorites du Quercy. France) has yielded a relatively diverse fauna of amphibians and squamate reptiles from the early Oligocene. Amphibians include two caudatans (the salamandrids cf. Megalotriton sp. and Salamandra sp.) and two anurans (an alytid of the 'Discoglossus group' and an indeterminate pelobatid). Squamates are more diverse, they comprise an agamid (Uromastyx europaeus), an indeterminate lacertid, an anguid (Dopasia sp.), a platynotan (Necrosaurus sp.), two amphisbaenians (an amphisbaenid and a blanid), an anilioid-grade snake (Eoanilius aft. E. oligocenicus). three boids and a colubrid (Coluber cadurci). The fauna includes taxa known also in the Eocene, i.e. which were already present in the Phosphorites before the Grande Coupure, and immigrants that entered western Europe after this event. The stratigraphic overlap of the holdovers Necrosaurus, 'boid C' and cf. Megalotriton sp., and of the newcomers U. europaeus, E. aft. E. oligocenicus and C. cadurci suggests a MP 22 (early Oligocene) age. This precise age was already inferred from mammals of the locality. Taxa indicative of arid environment and aquatic (in fresh water) forms are associated in this fauna, as is possible in karstic areas. (C) 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.