Chamaeleo andrusovi Cernansky , 2010b

Vasilyan, Davit, Cernansky, Andrej, Szyndlar, Zbigniew & Moers, Thomas, 2022, Amphibian and reptilian fauna from the early Miocene of Echzell, Germany, Fossil Record 25 (1), pp. 99-145 : 99

Chamaeleo andrusovi Cernansky, 2010b

Fig. 11A, B

Material.

One frontal HLMD-Ez 1960.

Description.

Frontal: The frontal is partly preserved. Only its posterior region around the parietal foramen (sensu Gauthier et al. 2012: character 105) is available. The dorsal surface possesses well-developed ornamentation formed by large, robustly developed, and distinctly pustular protuberances (Fig. 11A ). Only four are preserved (note, however, most of the dorsal surface of two of them is damaged). In the posterior region, the protuberances are large and somewhat anteroposteriorly elongated. They appear to be moderately spaced with a more-or-less complex structure (somehow resembling gomphothere molars). The internal surface of the frontal (Fig. 11B ) is pierced by a small, elliptical foramen. It opens a canal that continues anterodorsally (note that the preserved dorsal surface is not pierced by it). Lateral to it, rounded, dorsally sloped ridges are well-developed. They form the border between the central, bulged region with its central shallow longitudinal depression and two additional distinct depressions located lateral to the central region. These lateral depressions become more distinct anteriorly, being gradually more recessed (in other words, the central region is deeper relative to the lateral areas). In the central region, another hole is preserved, which was most probably caused by damage.

Remarks.

Similar depressions located laterally from the central area with a foramen and being more anteriorly recessed, whereas the foramen opens a canal which continues anterodorsally, can be observed in extant Chamaeleo chamaeleon as well. The typical ornamentation formed by distinctly developed and complicated pustular protuberances, which are moderately spaced and not arranged in a ridge here, allows allocation of this cranial bone to the European Miocene chameleon Chamaeleo andrusovi Čerňanský 2010b. This species was initially described from the early Miocene of the Czech Republic ( Čerňanský 2010b) and later recognized from other areas of Europe (e.g., Georgalis et al. 2016; Čerňanský et al. 2017).

Figures

Figure 11. Chamaeleo andrusovi (A, B) and Chamaeleonidae indet. (C-M) from the Echzell locality. Frontal HLMD-Ez 1960 in (A) dorsal and (B) ventral views. Right maxilla HLMD-Ez 1961 in (C) lateral, (D) medial and (E) ventral views. Right maxilla HLMD-Ez 1962 in (F) lateral, and (G) medial views. Left dentary HLMD-Ez 1963 in (H) lateral, (I) medial, and (J) dorsal views. Left dentary HLMD-Ez 1964 in (K) lateral, (L) medial, and (M) dorsal views.