Anguinae
|
publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.26879/1156 |
|
persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03C287BE-8322-7800-D217-F9F4F10FF060 |
|
treatment provided by |
Felipe |
|
scientific name |
Anguinae |
| status |
|
Anguinae View in CoL sp. indet. 1.
Figure 6 View FIGURE 6 G-J
Material. UBB V 964/1-3 one vertebra, two osteoderms.
Description. In ventral view, the vertebral centrum appears shallowly convex, whereas the medial part of the subcentral area is elevated possessing a flat surface ( Figure 6G View FIGURE 6 ). The synapophyses are undivided, whereas the interzygapophsyeal ridges weakly developed. The neural spine is relatively high with its anterior portion broken off ( Figure 6H View FIGURE 6 ). In anterior view, the height of the neural canal is smaller than the dorso-ventral height of the cotyle ( Figure 6I View FIGURE 6 ).
The osteoderms are subrectangular in shape and thickened in the middle ( Figure 6J View FIGURE 6 ). The outer surface is sculptured with irregularly distributed grooves and vermicular tuberosities. The smooth area near the margins was covered by other osteoderms from bordering rows; there is no medial crest.
Remarks. The vertebra, provided with a relatively short and wide vertebral centrum, and with robustly built synapophyses is reminiscent of Pseudopus sp. from the late Miocene (MN 9) of Felsőtárkány basin in Northern Hungary (Venczel and Hír, 2013). According to Čerňansky et al. (2018, 2019), in the trunk vertebrae of Pseudopus the neural canal is always smaller than the height of the cotyle. The large-sized and robustly built osteoderm is also typical for the above genus. Abundant remains from the late Miocene (MN 9) of Gritsev have been assigned to P. pannonicus by Roček (2019). Owing to the scarcity of the available material a closer assignment of the specimens is not possible.
Anguinae sp. indet. 2.
Figure 7 View FIGURE 7
Material. UBB V 960/1-4 one fragmentary maxilla, three fragmentary dentaries; UBB V 961/1-10 eight fragmentary presacral vertebrae, two fragmentary caudal vertebrae; UBB V 962/1-4 two vertebrae; two osteoderms; UBB V 963, 200 osteoderms.
Description. The maxillary and dentary fragments represent small sized individuals. The tooth positions are situated close to each other suggesting closely packed teeth in the maxillae and dentaries. The dental parapet in the dentary is inclined lingually with a relatively wide insertion surface for the tooth bases. The tooth crown appears slightly compressed labiolingually and provided with mesiodistal crests. The subdental shelf is wide and shallow, whereas the horizontal lamina is extremely thin delimiting dorsally the widely open Meckel’s groove. The latter structure is open up to the first tooth position.
The vertebrae are relatively small sized with triangle-shape vertebral centrum and slightly convex subcentral area. The pre- and postzygapophyses are oval in shape, the interzygapophyseal ridges reduced, and the neural spine is reduced to a dorsal crest with a more elevated posterior spine. In anterior view ( Figure 7H View FIGURE 7 ), the height of the neural canal is larger than the height of the cotyle.
The osteoderms are small, thin and elongated, bearing on the outer surface a sculptured area and a more elevated medial crest. Part of the osteodermal surface, covered in living animal by adjacent osteoderms, remains smooth.
Remarks. The presence of mesiodistal crests on the maxillary and dentary teeth, as well as the presence of slender osteoderms, provided with prominent medial crests prevent the association of the fossil material with Anguis or Pseudopus (both lacking mesiodistal crests on the tooth crowns and without elongated osteoderms). The neural canal in Anguinae sp. indet. 2 is always larger than the height of the cotyle, a feature reminiscent of the genus Ophisaurus (Čerňansky et al., 2018, 2019). Nevertheless, more material is needed to document the presence of the latter genus.
SERPENTES Linnaeus, 1758 SCOLECOPHIDIA Duméril and Bibron, 1844 Scolecophidia indet.
Figure 8 View FIGURE 8 A-B
Material. UBB V 965/1-2 two fragmentary vertebrae.
Description. The vertebrae are small sized with their vertebral centrum moderately long ( Figure 8A, B View FIGURE 8 ). The neural is flattened, devoid of neural spine. The zygosphene in both specimens is damaged. The pre- and postzygapophyses are elongated, whereas the prezygapophyseal process is about the same length as that of the prezygapophysis. The subcentral surface is slightly convex and devoid of haemal keel. The synapophyses are globular and undivided.
Remarks. The morphological characters of the trunk vertebrae are shared by the members of Typhlopidae , Leptotyphlopidae and Anomalepididae , therefore closer assignment of the available material is not possible (Szyndlar 1991a).
| V |
Royal British Columbia Museum - Herbarium |
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.