Gekkonidae, Gray, 1825

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

Gekkonidae indet. ( Fig. 4A, B )

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Maxilla: 1; ilium: 1; trunk vertebra: 3.

DESCRIPTION

A fragment of maxilla corresponding to eight tooth positions preserves only one tooth; it is pleurodont, slender, conical, and monocusped; a cavity opens at the base of the tooth. Two rows of foramina are aligned on the outer surface of the maxilla.

A right ilium has a short but dorsoventrally expanded shaft; the anterior process is developed as a wide dorsal lamina and not as a prominent tubercle.

The largest trunk vertebra has an amphicoelous centrum slightly longer than 1 mm; the cotyles are approximately circular; the neural canal is extremely large when compared to the centrum; the prezygapophyses are nearly completely brokenoff; the postzygapophyseal facets are narrow and elongated; the anterior edge of the neural arch is V-shaped; the posterior edge of the neural arch develops a process that does not significantly surpass the postzygapophyses; the neural crest is weakly developed or absent and therefore the neural arch is nearly smooth, being present only as a modest keel; the synapophyses are elongated and dorso-caudally directed; the ventral surface of the centrum is markedly concave and devoid of keels or ridges. The figured vertebra (DSTC 6012; Fig. 4A, B ) has an evident tubercle on both the lateral surfaces of the neural arch.

DISCUSSION

The amphicoelous condition of the vertebra, associated to a maxilla bearing a pleurodont monocusped tooth, allows the identification of a member of Gekkonidae (see among others Bailon 1991). The absence of diagnostic characters on the skeletal elements preserved in the Capo Mannu D1 LF assemblage hinders a more precise identification.

Family LACERTIDAE Bonaparte, 1831

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.