Georgalis & Szyndlar 2022
Georgios L. Georgalis, Zbigniew Szyndlar
First occurrence of Psammophis (Serpentes) from Europe witnesses
another Messinian herpetofaunal dispersal from Africa – biogeographic
implications and a discussion of the vertebral morphology of psammophiid snakes.
First published: 09 February 2022
https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.24892
We here describe abundant new snake material from the late Miocene (MN 13) of
Salobreña, Spain. Vertebral morphology suggests a referral of the specimens to
the extant psammophiid Psammophis, documenting the first occurrence of this
genus in Europe. The diversity and disparity across the vertebral morphology of
different psammophiid genera are discussed. We identify vertebral features that
could diagnose Psammophis and therefore enable the recognition of the genus in
the fossil record. A comparison of the new Spanish form with other taxa is
conducted. We provide a detailed review of the psammophiid fossil record.
Material previously described from the middle Miocene of Beni Mellal, Morocco is
here tentatively referred to as ?Psammophis sp., an action that renders that
occurrence as the oldest (probable) record of the genus and Psammophiidae as a
whole, providing thus a potential calibration point. On the other hand, Eastern
European Pliocene material that had been previously supposedly referred to
Psammophis is here discarded as being rather fragmentary, not affording any more
precise determination. The two psammophiid genera Psammophis and Malpolon appear
almost simultaneously in the European fossil record (MN 13), with the former
achieving only a short-lived and apparently geographically limited distribution
in the continent, while the latter still exists in its modern herpetofauna. We
assess biogeographic implications of the new find, suggesting a direct dispersal
event from northwestern Africa to the Iberian Peninsula during the late Miocene,
facilitated by the Messinian Salinity Crisis.