A New Species of Lapparentophis from the Mid-Cretaceous Kem Kem Beds, Morocco, with Remarks on the Distribution of Lapparentophiid Snakes Romain Vullo
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A new species of Lapparentophis from the mid-Cretaceous Kem Kem beds, Morocco, with remarks on the distribution of lapparentophiid snakes Romain Vullo To cite this version: Romain Vullo. A new species of Lapparentophis from the mid-Cretaceous Kem Kem beds, Morocco, with remarks on the distribution of lapparentophiid snakes. Comptes Rendus Palevol, Elsevier Masson, 2019, 18 (7), pp.765-770. 10.1016/j.crpv.2019.08.004. insu-02317387 HAL Id: insu-02317387 https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-02317387 Submitted on 19 Jun 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivatives| 4.0 International License C. R. Palevol 18 (2019) 765–770 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Comptes Rendus Palevol www.sci encedirect.com General Palaeontology, Systematics, and Evolution (Vertebrate Palaeontology) A new species of Lapparentophis from the mid-Cretaceous Kem Kem beds, Morocco, with remarks on the distribution of lapparentophiid snakes Une nouvelle espèce de Lapparentophis du Crétacé moyen des Kem Kem, Maroc, et remarques sur la distribution des serpents lapparentophiidés Romain Vullo Université de Rennes, CNRS, Géosciences Rennes, UMR 6118, 35000 Rennes, France a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Two isolated trunk vertebrae from the ?uppermost Albian–lower Cenomanian Kem Kem Received 27 February 2019 beds of Morocco are described and assigned to Lapparentophis, an early snake genus known Accepted after revision 29 August 2019 from coeval deposits in Algeria. The Moroccan specimens represent a new species, Lap- Available online 10 October 2019 parentophis ragei, which can be distinguished from the type and only known species, Lapparentophis defrennei, by its smaller size, its more elongate vertebrae, the presence of Handled by Nathalie Bardet parazygosphenal foramina, and paradiapophyses extending anteroventrally closer to the cotyle. The discovery of Lapparentophis in the Kem Kem beds adds to the relatively diverse Keywords: snake assemblage previously reported from this formation and extends the geographical Squamata range of the genus. The distribution of Lapparentophis and lapparentophiid-grade (?lap- Ophidia parentophiid) snakes is discussed. This poorly known family of terrestrial snakes seems to Lapparentophiidae Albian be restricted to the latest Albian–early Cenomanian of North Africa, with the exception of Cenomanian Pouitella from the early–middle Cenomanian of France. As for many other vertebrate taxa of North Africa this period, this distribution is consistent with a dispersal event from Africa to the western Palaeobiogeography part of the European archipelago. © 2019 Academie´ des sciences. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4. 0/). r é s u m é Mots clés : Deux vertèbres dorsales provenant de l’Albien terminal–Cénomanien inférieur des Kem Squamata Kem (Maroc) sont décrites et attribuées à Lapparentophis, un serpent basal connu dans Ophidia des dépôts équivalents en Algérie. Les spécimens marocains représentent une nouvelle Lapparentophiidae espèce, Lapparentophis ragei, qui diffère de la seule autre espèce connue, Lapparen- Albien Cénomanien tophis defrennei, par sa plus petite taille, ses vertèbres plus allongées, la présence de foramens parazygosphéniens et des paradiapophyses plus rapprochées antéroventrale- Afrique du Nord Paléobiogéographie ment du cotyle. La découverte de Lapparentophis dans les Kem Kem accroît la diversité de l’assemblage de serpents déjà décrit dans ces niveaux et étend la distribution géographique du genre. La distribution de Lapparentophis et des serpents de grade lapparentophiidés (? Lapparentophiidae) est discutée. Cette famille de serpents terrestres, qui demeure mal connue, semble être restreinte à l’Albien terminal–Cénomanien inférieur d’Afrique du Nord, E-mail address: [email protected] https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crpv.2019.08.004 1631-0683/© 2019 Academie´ des sciences. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). 766 R. Vullo / C. R. Palevol 18 (2019) 765–770 à l’exception de Pouitella du Cénomanien inférieur–moyen de France. Comme pour de nom- breux autres groupes de vertébrés, cette distribution est en accord avec l’existence d’une migration depuis l’Afrique vers la partie occidentale de l’archipel européen. © 2019 Academie´ des sciences. Publie´ par Elsevier Masson SAS. Cet article est publie´ en Open Access sous licence CC BY-NC-ND (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/ 4.0/). 1. Introduction lissamphibians, turtles, squamates, pterosaurs, crocodyli- forms and dinosaurs (see Cavin et al., 2010). The squamate Although primitive snakes have been reported as early assemblage consists mostly of snakes, including various as the Middle Jurassic based on a few jaw fragments from forms such as Simoliophis cf. libycus, Norisophis begaa, the Bathonian of England (Caldwell et al., 2015), the mid- an indeterminate madtsoiid, a possible nigerophiid and dle part of the Cretaceous coincides with an explosive an incertae sedis snake (Klein et al., 2017; Rage and increase in the snake fossil record worldwide (e.g., Albino Dutheil, 2008). In addition, three lizard specimens have et al., 2016; Apesteguía and Zaher, 2006; Caldwell and Lee, been reported so far from the Kem Kem Beds, correspond- 1997; Caldwell et al., 2015; Cuny et al., 1990; Gardner ing to an isolated vertebra of an indeterminate form (Rage and Cifelli, 1999; Hsiou et al., 2014; Klein et al., 2017; Lee and Dutheil, 2008), a jaw fragment assigned to an acrodon- et al., 1999; Rage, 1988; Rage and Escuillié, 2000; Rage tan (Jeddaherdan aleadonta; Apesteguía et al., 2016), and and Werner, 1999; Rage et al., 2016; Tchernov et al., 2000; a dentary of a borioteiioid (Bicuspidon hogreli; Vullo and Xing et al., 2018). Snakes are particularly well represented Rage, 2018). in the vertebrate assemblages from the mid-Cretaceous (Albian–Cenomanian) of North Africa, with various, mostly 3. Systematic palaeontology terrestrial forms described from Morocco (Klein et al., 2017; Rage and Dutheil, 2008), Algeria (Cuny et al., 1990; Lepidosauria Haeckel, 1856 Hoffstetter, 1959), Libya (Nessov et al., 1998; Rage and Squamata Oppel, 1811 Cappetta, 2002), Sudan (Rage and Werner, 1999; Werner Ophidia Brongniart, 1800 and Rage, 1994), and Egypt (Nopcsa, 1925). The genus Lapparentophiidae Hoffstetter, 1959 Lapparentophis (and the family Lapparentophiidae) was Lapparentophis Hoffstetter, 1959 recognised based on three isolated vertebrae found in Type species. Lapparentophis defrennei Hoffstetter, deposits of late Albian–Cenomanian age at In Akhamil in 1959. eastern Algeria (Hoffstetter, 1959). So far, Lapparentophis Lapparentophis ragei sp. nov. is only known from the type locality and includes a sin- Etymology. The specific epithet is in honour of my late gle species, L. defrennei. In addition, a few vertebrae of friend and colleague Jean-Claude Rage, who first suggested possible lapparentophiid snakes have been described from that the material studied here may belong to Lapparen- coeval deposits in northern Algeria (Cuny et al., 1990) and tophis, and in recognition of his innumerable and invaluable Sudan (Rage and Werner, 1999; Werner and Rage, 1994). contributions to palaeoherpetology and palaeobiogeogra- Outside Africa, the poorly known genus Pouitella is the phy. only other taxon tentatively referred to Lapparentophiidae Type material. MHNM.KK387 (holotype) and (Rage, 1988). Here I report the first occurrence of Lappar- MHNM.KK388 (paratype), two nearly complete trunk entophis from the rich and diverse vertebrate assemblage vertebrae (Fig. 1) housed in the “Muséum d’Histoire of the Moroccan Kem Kem beds. The material, consisting Naturelle de Marrakech” (MHNM), Morocco. of two well-preserved and isolated vertebrae, represents a Type locality and horizon. El Begâa locality near Taouz, new species. southeastern Morocco; Kem Kem beds, Ifezouane Forma- tion, ?latest Albian–early Cenomanian in age (see Cavin 2. Geological and palaeontological settings et al., 2010). Diagnosis. A species of Lapparentophis differing from The two specimens come from the lower part of the Kem the type and only other species, L. defrennei, in the fol- Kem beds cropping out at El Begâa, a productive fossil site lowing features: smaller size, more elongate (as long as located a few km east of Taouz (southeastern Morocco) wide) vertebrae, presence of parazygosphenal foramina, (see Cavin et al., 2010). The lower part of the Kem Kem paradiapophyses (synapophyses) extending anteroven- beds lie within the Ifezouane Formation, which is com- trally closer to the cotyle. posed mainly of sandstone characterized by cross-stratified Description. Both specimens are equally-sized, non- structures and channel structures filled with microcon- pachyostotic mid-trunk vertebrae that come