Lacerta, Linnaeus, 1758

Delfino, Massimo, Bailon, Salvador & Pitruzzella, Gaetano, 2011, The Late Pliocene amphibians and reptiles from “ Capo Mannu D 1 Local Fauna ” (Mandriola, Sardinia, Italy), Geodiversitas 33 (2), pp. 357-382 : 366-367

Lacerta gr. L. viridis (Laurenti, 1768) ( Fig. 4C )

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Tooth bearing bone: 4; humerus: 1; trunk vertebra: 1; caudal vertebra: 5; rib: 1; ungual phalanx: 6.

AA

B

DESCRIPTION

The tooth bearing bones have pleurodont teeth cylindrical in shape and with a bicuspidate or tricuspidate apex; the height of the teeth does not exceed 2.5 mm approximately.

A fragmentary humerus preserves the distal region of the diaphysis and part of the epiphysis; a large foramen is present close to the epiphysis.

A trunk vertebra preserves only the triangular centrum; it shows a wide medial keel laterally bordered by two deep longitudinal grooves; cotyle and condyle are damaged but they were probably roundish in shape.

Caudal vertebrae are characterized by roundish cotyles and condyles and by the absence of any haemal process fused to the centrum.

A single rib with a circular articular surface does not show any process or keel; two longitudinal opposite grooves are developed in the proximal area (one is much shorter than the other).

A few ungual phalanges are characterized by a distal pointed end and a proximal articular surface divided into two concavities; a tubercle-like structure is developed on the ventral edge of the phalanges, close to the articular surface.

DISCUSSION

In this context, the pleurodont bicuspidate or tricuspidate teeth indicate the presence of a lacertid lizard (see Bailon 1991, and literature therein). The size and robustness of all elements described in this section clearly exceed the ones of the corresponding elements of a small lacertid lizard (as Podarcis spp. ), and they fall in the range of an adult green lizard. The remains are referred at group rank, Lacerta gr. L. viridis (named after its most representative member) due to the absence of osteological diagnostic characters allowing a discrimination among the extant species of green lizards. The phalanges and the rib are tentatively associated to the lacertid lizards, because their size matches that of the remains described above.

Figures

FIG. 4. — Fossil remains of reptiles from Capo Mannu D1 Local Fauna (Sardinia): A, B, Gekkonidae indet., trunk vertebra (DSTC 6012), dorsal and right lateral views; C, Lacerta gr. L. viridis, right maxilla (DSTC 6013), medial view; D, Lacertidae indet., fragmentary left dentary (DSTC 6014), medial view. Scale bars: 2 mm.