The Early Pleistocene herpetofauna of Rivoli Veronese (Northern Italy) as evidence for humid and forested glacial phases in the Gelasian of Southern Alps

• Published in: Palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology, 2018-01, Vol.490, p.393-403
• Main Authors: Villa, Andrea, Blain, Hugues-Alexandre, Delfino, Massimo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Albanerpeton pannonicum; Amphibians; Palaeoclimatology; Quaternary; Reptiles; Speleomantes
• ISSN: 0031-0182; 1872-616X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.11.016

Among the Early Pleistocene Italian fossil herpetofaunas, Rivoli Veronese is remarkable in having yielded the youngest known allocaudates, represented by Albanerpeton pannonicum, together with remains of other amphibians and reptiles. The assemblage includes at least 15 other taxa, including two caudates (Speleomantes sp., Ichthyosaura alpestris), four anurans (Bombina sp., Bufo bufo, Hyla gr. H. arborea, Rana sp.), five lizards (Lacerta gr. L. viridis, cf. Zootoca vivipara, a third, small-sized lacertid, Anguis gr. A. fragilis, cf. Pseudopus sp.) and four snakes (Coronella sp., Zamenis longissimus, Natrix sp., Vipera gr. V. aspis). The finding of Speleomantes is particularly interesting as it is one of only a handful of fossil occurrences of this genus, being only the second one outside of its extant range. Excluding the extinct Albanerpeton and Speleomantes, which has a very narrow environmental range, the remainder of the assemblage suggests a Mean Annual Temperature rather similar or slightly colder than the present one in Rivoli Veronese (11.6°C versus 12.4°C), with much higher Mean Annual Precipitation (1322mm versus 834mm). The palaeoenvironment would have included either permanent or temporary water bodies, located in a forested area. More open landscapes might have also been present in the local vicinity. The palaeoherpetofauna of Rivoli Veronese supports the hypothesis of Albanerpeton favouring a moist environment, and confirms the presence of a humid forested landscape on the northern side of the Po Plain during the cold phases of the Gelasian, as already suggested by the pollen record for its southern margin. •The palaeoherpetofauna from the Early Pleistocene of Rivoli Veronese is studied.•The diverse assemblage includes at least 16 taxa of amphibians and reptiles.•A rare fossil occurrence of the caudate Speleomantes is reported.•The reconstructed palaeoenvironment was cold, humid and forested.•This suggests a preference for moist habitats by Cenozoic allocaudates.