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Fossil lizards and snakes (Diapsida, Squamata) from the Late Miocene hominid locality of Haritalyangar, India

The Late Miocene hominid-bearing locality in Haritalyangar, India, has yielded remains of fossil lizards and snakes. The material consists of the following taxa: Varanus and an indeterminate anguimorph, Python, a colubrid and a natricid. These squamates are documented from this region for the first...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geobios 2022-12, Vol.75, p.41-51
Main Authors: Singh, Ningthoujam Premjit, Deep, Shubham, Čerňanský, Andrej, Sehgal, Ramesh Kumar, Singh, Abhishek Pratap, Kumar, Navin, Uniyal, Piyush, Kumar, Saroj, Krishan, Kewal, Patnaik, Rajeev
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Language:English
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Summary:The Late Miocene hominid-bearing locality in Haritalyangar, India, has yielded remains of fossil lizards and snakes. The material consists of the following taxa: Varanus and an indeterminate anguimorph, Python, a colubrid and a natricid. These squamates are documented from this region for the first time. A co-existence of Varanus and Python, two iconic squamates, is demonstrated. The overall fauna, which is dominated by both large and small semi-aquatic and terrestrial taxa, indicates seasonally wet sub-humid to semi-arid climate in the area during the Late Miocene, ∼9.1 Ma. Moreover, the mean annual temperature must have been high in the region at that time (not less than 15–18.6 °C, similar to the mean annual temperature in this area today), indicated by the occurrence of important thermophilic elements such as Varanus and Python.
ISSN:0016-6995
DOI:10.1016/j.geobios.2022.10.003