The westernmost Asian record of pythonids (Serpentes): the presence of Python in a Miocene hominoid locality of Anatolia

Pythonids are fascinating extant reptiles comprising exclusively non-venomous Old-World taxa and including some of the largest known snakes (Murphy and Henderson, 1997). Being thermophilous reptiles, they are distributed in tropical and sub-tropical areas in sub-Saharan Africa, southern and southeastern Asia, Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea, and Australia (Schleip and O’Shea, 2010; Wallach et al., 2014; Head, 2015). The most wellknown genus is Python, which recent molecular studies have nevertheless suggested partitioning into different genera (e.g., Rawlings et al., 2008; Reynolds et al., 2014). The fossil record of Python (sensu lato) is not adequately known; however, it still denotes a more extensive geographic distribution with the genus reaching Europe (Römer, 1870; Rage, 1976, 1984, 2003; Ivanov, 2000; Szyndlar and Rage, 2003; Head, 2015). Accordingly, in Asia the genus achieved a broader geographic distribution during the Neogene and Quaternary, with sporadic finds having been described during the past 130 years (Lydekker, 1888; Noetling, 1901; Hoffstetter, 1964; Rage, 1982; Rage et al., 2001; Head, 2005). Here we describe fossil vertebrae attributable to Python from the middle Miocene (late MN 5) hominoid locality of Paşalar, Turkey, which is one of the richest and most diverse mammal localities of that age across Eurasia (Andrews and Tobien, 1977; Alpagut, 1990; Alpagut et al., 1990, 2016; Andrews, 1990, 1995; Andrews and Alpagut, 1990; Ersoy et al., 2008; Kelley et al., 2008; Valenciano et al., 2019). The Paşalar Python represents the first fossil record of the genus from Anatolia. The material shows some general resemblance to the geographically proximate but enigmatic early Miocene Greek taxon Python euboicus, but due to the fact that the latter species is poorly known and its holotype and only known specimen is lost, we refrain from assigning the Anatolian specimens to that species and only refer them as Python sp. The Paşalar specimens represent the westernmost Asian occurrence of Python, confirming a rather wide Palearctic occurrence of the genus during the early and middle Miocene. Institutional Abbreviations—BP, Bursa-Paşalar collection, Paşalar Excavation Site, ustafakemalpaşa, Turkey; EUNMH PV, Natural History Museum of Ege University, Izmir, Turkey; GMH, Geiseltalmuseum of Martin-Luther Universität Halle-Wittenberg, now referred to as the Geiseltalsammlung, housed as part of the Zentralmagazin Naturwissenschaftlicher Sammlungen, Halle, Germany; HNHM, Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary; MDHC, Massimo Delfino Herpetological Collection, University of Torino, Torino, Italy; MNCN, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid, Spain; MNHN, Muséum national d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France; NHMUK, Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom; NHMW, Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Vienna, Austria; PIMUZ, Paläontologisches Institut und Museum der Universität Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; ZPW, Institute of Palaeontology, Wrocław University, Poland; ZZSiD, Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, Polan

The antiquity of Asian chameleons—first potential Chamaeleonidae and associated squamate fauna from the Lower and Middle Miocene of Anatolia

We here describe fossil remains from three Lower and Middle Miocene localities of Anatolia, which we tentatively refer to chamaeleonids. The material comprises isolated tooth-bearing bones from the Early Miocene (MN 3) of Sabuncubeli (western Anatolia), the Early Miocene (MN 4) of Dededağ (western Anatolia), and the Middle Miocene (MN 5) of the world-renowned hominoid locality of Paşalar (northwestern Anatolia). If our identifications are correct, these specimens would represent the only fossil record of this group from Anatolia as well as the oldest occurrences of chameleons from Asia. Moreover, the recovery of these specimens across different Lower and Middle Miocene localities, suggest that these animals were a typical element of the Anatolian herpetofaunas of the early Neogene. Differences among the specimens from the three localities point to a higher taxonomic diversity of Miocene Anatolian chamaeleonids, however, based on such limited material, intraspecific or ontogenetic variation cannot be ruled out. The oldest among these occurrences, the Sabuncubeli material, coincides chronologically with the oldest chameleons, which had been previously described from Central Europe (MN 3). As such, this supports the recently suggested biogeographic scenario, according to which chamaeleonids dispersed from Afro-Arabia to Europe during the Burdigalian, via the “Gomphotherium Landbridge,” through Anatolia and the Balkans. Finally, a few additional lizard and snake remains from the locality of Dededağ are described, adding to the poorly known fossil herpetofaunas of Anatolia. Citation for this article: Georgalis, G. L., A. Čerňanský, F. Göktas,̧ B. Alpagut, A. Şarbak, and S.Mayda. (2023) The antiquity of Asian chameleons—first potential Chamaeleonidae and associated squamate fauna from the Lower and Middle Miocene of Anatolia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2022.216064

Paranasal sinus anatomy of Aegyptopithecus: Implications for hominoid origins

The East African Early Miocene apes, or proconsulids, have often been considered to be among the earliest members of the Hominoidea, as defined by the divergence of the Cercopithecoidea, but this hypothesis is only weakly supported by available fossil evidence. The ethmofrontal sinus is one of a few morphological features that may link proconsulids with later hominoids. Here we present direct evidence of an ethmofrontal sinus in an early Oligocene stem catarrhine, Aegyptopithecus zeuxis. The presence of this sinus in Aegyptopithecus suggests that its presence in proconsulids is most likely to be a retained primitive condition. The morphological evidence bearing on proconsulids' purported hominoid affinities is further weakened by this conclusion, and alternative phylogenetic possibilities, such as the placement of proconsulids as stem catarrhines are considered more likely