Python europaeus Szyndlar & Rage, 2003

Rage, Jean-Claude & Bailon, Salvador, 2005, Amphibians and squamate reptiles from the late early Miocene (MN 4) of Béon 1 (Montréal-du-Gers, southwestern France), Geodiversitas 27 (3), pp. 413-441 : 427-428

Python europaeus Szyndlar & Rage, 2003 ( Fig. 6A)

python – Rage 1987: 63.

Python sp. – Ivanov 2000: 561-563; 2001: 564, tab. 1; 2002: 531, fig. 12, tab. 1.

Python europaeus Szyndlar & Rage, 2003: 68-72 , figs 31-33.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — 33 trunk vertebrae (Béon 2004 LT 59; Béon 93 E3 SN 3, 4; Béon 98 E3 3023, 3040, 3053, 3056; Béon 98 F1 3049) and 1 caudal vertebra (Béon 2004 LT 60).

COMMENTS

Python europaeus was described recently on the basis of specimens from Vieux-Collonges (MN 4/5, early/middle Miocene transition) and “old levels” from La Grive (MN 5, early middle Miocene), both localities in France ( Szyndlar & Rage 2003). The assignment of this species to Python rests mainly on one single palatine from Vieux-Collonges, but the vertebrae also show a combination of features that is characteristic for this genus: haemal keel well defined by subcentral grooves or depressions that reach the cotyle, but only its posterior part projects below the centrum ( Scanlon & Mackness 2001); neural arch markedly vaulted and upswept above the zygantrum; zygapophyseal facets weakly inclined; paracotylar foramina absent. Within Python , the vertebrae of P. europaeus are characterized by their low neural spines. The vertebrae from Béon 1 are quite similar to those from Vieux-Collonges and La Grive. The largest vertebra from Béon 1 (centrum length: 11.1 mm) is slightly larger than those from Vieux-Collonges and La Grive (centrum lengths: 10.1 and 10.7 mm respectively) but, on the whole, the size is similar in the three localities. Only one difference may be noted: at Béon 1, the central lobe of the zygosphene, when present, is more prominent than in the other localities. P. europaeus is restricted to the late early and early middle Miocene (MN 4 and MN 5) of France. Béon 1 has yielded the earliest representatives of the species.

Family COLUBRIDAE Oppel, 1811