New lizard material from two Early Miocene localities in France: Montaigu-le-Blin (MN 2) and Crémat (MN 3)

Abstract

Squamate faunas from the MN 1–3 intervals (earliest Miocene) are scarcely documented from the European continent. I here describe squamate faunas from two French localities – Montaigu-le-Blin (MN 2) and Crémat (MN 3), the latter being the youngest locality of the Phosphorites du Quercy. The palaeobiodiversity of squamates from these sites is low relative to the faunas described from coeval localities of Amöneburg (MN 2) in Germany and Merkur-North (MN 3) in the Czech Republic. The beginning of the Miocene represents the temporary return to a paratropical humid climate after the relatively cool and dry Oligocene, and the Montaigu and Crémat materials provide previously undocumented components of herpetofaunas and their changes during this crucial time interval in France. The importance of fossil squamates from the area of the Phosphorites du Quercy is therefore highlighted for the beginning of the Miocene as well as the better known Eocene-Oligocene sites. The lizard material of Montaigu includes lacertids and blanids, the latter being represented by Blanus cf. gracilis, one of the oldest records of the genus. Moreover, it shows a higher spatial and temporal distribution of this amphisbaenian species during the Early Miocene than previously known. The material from Crémat consists of few elements which can be allocated to anguids and potentially to lacertids. Detailed figures of the specimens are provided through the means of both photography and micro-CT scanning.