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The Oligocene and Miocene Fossil Lizards (Reptilia, Squamata) of Central Mongolia

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The Oligocene and Miocene Fossil Lizards (Reptilia, Squamata) of Central Mongolia geodiversitas 2019 ● 41 ● 24 e of lif pal A eo – - e h g e r a p R e t e o d l o u g a l i s C - t – n a M e J e l m a i r o DIRECTEUR DE LA PUBLICATION : Bruno David, Président du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle RÉDACTEUR EN CHEF / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF : Didier Merle ASSISTANT DE RÉDACTION / ASSISTANT EDITOR : Emmanuel Côtez ([email protected]) MISE EN PAGE / PAGE LAYOUT : Emmanuel Côtez COMITÉ SCIENTIFIQUE / SCIENTIFIC BOARD : Christine Argot (MNHN, Paris) Beatrix Azanza (Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid) Raymond L. Bernor (Howard University, Washington DC) Alain Blieck (chercheur CNRS retraité, Haubourdin) Henning Blom (Uppsala University) Jean Broutin (UPMC, Paris) Gaël Clément (MNHN, Paris) Ted Daeschler (Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphie) Bruno David (MNHN, Paris) Gregory D. Edgecombe (The Natural History Museum, Londres) Ursula Göhlich (Natural History Museum Vienna) Jin Meng (American Museum of Natural History, New York) Brigitte Meyer-Berthaud (CIRAD, Montpellier) Zhu Min (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Pékin) Isabelle Rouget (UPMC, Paris) Sevket Sen (MNHN, Paris) Stanislav Štamberg (Museum of Eastern Bohemia, Hradec Králové) Paul Taylor (The Natural History Museum, Londres) COUVERTURE / COVER : Made from the Figures of the article. Geodiversitas est indexé dans / Geodiversitas is indexed in: – Science Citation Index Expanded (SciSearch®) – ISI Alerting Services® – Current Contents® / Physical, Chemical, and Earth Sciences® – Scopus® Geodiversitas est distribué en version électronique par / Geodiversitas is distributed electronically by: – BioOne® (http://www.bioone.org) Les articles ainsi que les nouveautés nomenclaturales publiés dans Geodiversitas sont référencés par / Articles and nomenclatural novelties published in Geodiversitas are referenced by: – ZooBank® (http://zoobank.org) Geodiversitas est une revue en flux continu publiée par les Publications scientifiques du Muséum, Paris Geodiversitas is a fast track journal published by the Museum Science Press, Paris Les Publications scientifiques du Muséum publient aussi / The Museum Science Press also publish: Adansonia, Zoosystema, Anthropozoologica, European Journal of Taxonomy, Naturae, Cryptogamie sous-sections Algologie, Bryologie, Mycologie. Diffusion – Publications scientifiques Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle CP 41 – 57 rue Cuvier F-75231 Paris cedex 05 (France) Tél. : 33 (0)1 40 79 48 05 / Fax : 33 (0)1 40 79 38 40 [email protected] / http://sciencepress.mnhn.fr © Publications scientifiques du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, 2019 ISSN (imprimé / print) : 1280-9659/ ISSN (électronique / electronic) : 1638-9395 The Oligocene and Miocene fossil lizards (Reptilia, Squamata) of Central Mongolia Andrej ČERŇANSKÝ Department of Ecology, Laboratory of Evolutionary Biology, Comenius University in Bratislava, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Mlynská dolina, Ilkovičova 6, 842 15 Bratislava (Slovakia) [email protected] (corresponding author) Marc Louis AUGÉ CR2P (CNRS UMR 7207, MNHN, Sorbonne Université), Département Origines et Évolution, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, case postale 38, 57 rue Cuvier, F-75231 Paris cedex 05 (France) Submitted on 30 January 2019 | accepted on 17 June 2019 | Published on 12 December 2019 urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:8DF5E7B7-E6F5-44D9-A888-53A5F3903AAE Čerňanský A. & Augé M. L. 2019. — The Oligocene and Miocene fossil lizards (Reptilia, Squamata) of Central Mongolia, in Steyer J.-S., Augé M. L. & Métais G. (eds), Memorial Jean-Claude Rage: A life of paleo-herpetologist. Geodiversitas 41 (24): 811-839. https://doi.org/10.5252/geodiversitas2019v41a24. http://geodiversitas.com/41/24 ABSTRACT Lizard material from the early Oligocene and early and late Miocene of the Valley of Lakes, Central Mongolia is described. Besides the Oligocene fossorial squamate published elsewere, the material can be allocated to several major clades: Agamidae, Lacertidae and Anguidae (Glyptosaurinae). The presence of Pseudotinosaurus Alifanov, 1991 in early and late Rupelian localities shows that this taxon has a continuous history in this area from the Eocene to the Oligocene. The same is true for the clade Glyptosaurinae, represented by isolated osteoderms in the early Oligocene locality Hsanda Gol. This might suggest that the Eocene-Oligocene transition did not have such a strong or rapid impact in East Asia, in contrast to the Grande Coupure in Europe, at least among some lizard clades. The early Oligocene (early Rupelian) lacertids from Taatsiin Gol, Hsanda Gol and Tatal Gol represent one of the oldest evidences of Asiatic dispersal of this clade. It might reflect the dispersal pathways after closure of the Turgai Strait between Europe and Asia. Some of the material closely resembles the common KEY WORDS European Oligocene taxon Lacerta s.l. filholiAugé, 1988. In the early Miocene locality Olon Ovoony Asia, Khurem, two clades can be recognized – Lacertidae and a scincoid with a specialized dentition (fam- Paleogene, ily indeterminate). The clade Lacertidae forms a dominant component of the late Miocene lizard Neogene, Squamata, fossils in Mongolia. The material from the locality Builstyn Khudag shows differences compared to lizards. the early Miocene lacertids and represents the oldest evidence of the tribe Eremiadini in this area. GEODIVERSITAS • 2019 • 41 (24) © Publications scientifiques du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris. www.geodiversitas.com 811 Čerňanský A. & Augé M. L. RÉSUMÉ Les lézards fossiles de l’Oligocène et du Miocène de Mongolie Centrale. Des faunes de lézards du début de l’Oligocène, du début et de la fin du Miocène de Mongolie sont décrites. Elles comptent des membres de plusieurs groupes, Agamidae, Lacertidae and Anguidae (Glyptosaurinae). La présence de l’agamidé Pseudotinosaurus Alifanov, 1991 dans des gisements du Rupélien ancien et récent montre que ce genre était présent en Mongolie depuis l’Éocène jusqu’à l’Oligocène, ce qui vaut aussi pour les Glyptosaurinae, dont on a trouvé les ostéodermes dans le gisement de l’Oligocène inférieur de Hsanda Gol. Ceci suggère que la transition Éocène/Oligocène a eu un effet moins marqué sur les faunes de lézards de Mongolie que sur les faunes européennes. Les Lacertidae trouvés dans les gisements de Taatsiin Gol, Hsanda Gol et Tatal Gol représentent les premiers membres de la famille connus en Asie, peut-être issus d’une dispersion permise par la fer- meture du détroit de Turgai qui a séparé l’Europe de l’Asie durant la première partie du Paléogène. Plusieurs fossiles apparaissent très proches de l’espèce Lacerta s.l. filholiAugé, 1988, le lacertidé le plus commun en Europe durant l’Oligocène. Si cette interprétation est correcte, elle indique une large MOTS CLÉS répartition de ce lézard, de l’Asie à l’Europe durant l’Oligocène. Dans la localité de Olon Ovoony Asie, Khurem (Miocène ancien) deux taxons sont reconnus, un membre des Lacertidae et un scincoïde Paléogène, montrant une dentition très spécialisée. Les Lacertidae dominent largement l’assemblage de lézards Néogène, Squamata, du Miocène récent de Mongolie. Le matériel du gisement de Builstyn Khudag diffère des Lacertidae lézards. du Miocène inférieur, avec la première apparition des Erimiadinae en Mongolie. INTRODUCTION India and Asia that could have occurred at 35 Ma, creating the rain shadow of the Himalaya, see Ali & Aitchison 2008; The lizard material described herein comes from the Oligocene Najman et al. 2010). Aridity here most likely began by the late and Miocene localities of the Valley of Lakes in Central Mongolia Oligocene to the early Miocene (Dong et al. 2013). Eolian (Fig. 1). It forms a part of the herpetofauna that was previously deposits within Asian arid regions (see Sun et al. 2010) show briefly discussed byBöhme (2007). Mongolian fossil lizards that an arid pattern similar to that of today may have formed are well documented from the Mesozoic (e.g., Alifanov 1989, before the late Oligocene. 2016; Borsuk-Białynicka 1984, 1985, 1990, 1991; Norell et al. Asiatic paleofaunas are crucial for our understanding of dis- 1992; Gao & Lianhai 1995; Norell et al. 2008; Conrad & Norell persals of squamate clades between Europe and Asia (and their 2006; Daza et al. 2014; Tałanda 2016, 2017), but have only distribution there) and further to North America. Beringia rarely been reported from Palaeocene and Eocene localities (e.g., formed a land bridge between North America and Asia for a Gilmore 1943; Alifanov 1993, 2009, 2012; Wu et al. 1996; long period during the Cenozoic, although affected by climatic Gao & Dashzeveg 1999; Van Itterbeeck et al. 2007; Dong et al. conditions that limited migration of land animals at certain 2016). Except for a possible arretosaurid described by Alifanov times (see McKenna 1983; Janis 1993; Beard 2008) or favored (2012) and a potential dibamid described by Čerňanský (2019), such dispersal during other periods, like the Paleocene/Eocene the evolution of lizards remains largely unknown during the boundary. With respect to Europe, the Turgai Strait became Oligocene and Miocene in Mongolia (it should be noted that dry land during the early Oligocene (Rögl 1999; Hou et al. Crythiosaurus mongoliensis Gilmore, 1943, described by Gilmore 2011), and this formed a terrestrial connection with Asia. This [1943] from the lower Oligocene of the Hsanda Gol locality as opened a dispersal corridor for land-dwelling animals between an amphisbaenian, is interpreted by several authors as a snake these two continents (Haq et al. 1987) and allowed to migrate [see
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