@misc{10481/108542,
year = {2025},
month = {11},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10481/108542},
abstract = {Post-Palaeogene anguids from Europe have been referred to three extant genera: Anguis, Ophisaurus s.l. (including
Dopasia and Hyalosaurus), and Pseudopus. In recent years, a higher generic diversity has started to be recognised,
with extinct genera described from both Neogene and Quaternary localities. We here describe a new genus and spe‑
cies of anguid lizard, Fontisaurus tarumbaire gen. et sp. nov., based on a large articulated skull from the Vallesian (Late
Miocene) of Sant Miquel de Toudell, in the Vallès-Penedès Basin, on which we also performed neutron CT scanning.
The new lizard differs from all other anguid species from Europe, both extant and extinct, most notably in the combi‑
nation of widely laterally extended anterolateral processes and medially directed anterior end of the anterolateral ven‑
tral crests in the parietal. Phylogenetic analyses using maximum parsimony and Bayesian inference support the place‑
ment of this new genus and species as a member of the Anguinae, which is currently the only anguioid clade clearly
present in Europe after the Palaeogene/Neogene transition. Based on tip-dating Bayesian analyses, the divergence
of this new anguid from its sister taxon within the Anguinae largely predates this transition, but uncertainties still
surround its detailed phylogenetic relationships. An isolated parietal from the Middle Miocene of Griesbeckerzell
1a in Germany strongly resembles the morphology displayed by the holotype of Fontisaurus tarumbaire gen. et sp.
nov. but differs from it in the sculpturing type and the development of the muscular surface. This fossil from Ger‑
many is here referred to as Fontisaurus aff. tarumbaire and implies a wider stratigraphical and geographic distribution
for Fontisaurus gen. nov.},
organization = {Agencia Estatal de Investigación / Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación 
(PID2024-159434NB-I00, PID2020-117289GB-I00, PID2020-117118GB-I00)},
organization = {Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR) – Generalitat de Catalunya
(2021 SGR 00620, 2021 SGR 01184)},
organization = {Agencia Estatal de Investigación (MCIN/AEI) / Unión Europea – NextGenerationEU / ESF (Ramón y Cajal RYC2022-037745-I; RYC2021-032857)},
publisher = {Springer},
keywords = {Europe},
keywords = {Phylogeny},
keywords = {Neogene},
title = {A new anguine lizard (Squamata, Anguidae, Anguinae) from the Late Miocene (Vallesian) of the Vallès‑Penedès Basin (NE Iberian Peninsula)},
doi = {10.1186/s13358-025-00411-3},
author = {Villa, Andrea and Bolet, Arnau and Klembara, Jozef and Serrano‑Martínez, Alejandro and Luján, Ángel H. and Fortuny, Josep and Delfino, Massimo and Schillinger, Burkhard and Alba, David M.},
}