A new anguine lizard (Squamata, Anguidae, Anguinae) from the Late Miocene (Vallesian) of the Vallès‑Penedès Basin (NE Iberian Peninsula)

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.