A large viper from the early Vallesian (MN 9) of Moldova (Eastern Romania) with notes on the palaeobiogeography of late Miocene “Oriental vipers”

Early Miocene squamate assemblage from the Mokrá-Western Quarry (Czech Republic) and its palaeobiogeographical and palaeoenvironmental implications

“…The maxilla of Viperinae ('Oriental vipers' group) differs from that of extinct Macrovipera gedulyi (Bolkay, 1913) (for current generic allocation see Cordea et al 2017) in the medially strongly inclined ascending process. However, the presence of a sharp ridge situated on the rostromedial margin of the process, as well as the single orifice of the dental canal being located close to the distal termination of the process typically occur in this extinct species (Szyndlar & Rage 2002;Cordea et al 2017). A study at the late Miocene (MN 13) Polgárdi site in Hungary shows that maxilla morphology is highly variable in M. gedulyi (Szyndlar & Rage 2002: 421, fig.…”

Fossil amphibians and reptiles from the Neogene locality of Maramena (Greece), the most diverse European herpetofauna at the Miocene/Pliocene transition boundary

“…On the contrary, as fossils usually do not preserve external morphological or molecular data, palaeontologists have mostly used vertebral structural characteristics to refer large-sized viperid specimens to the "Oriental Vipers" complex, considering that it is not currently possible to precisely distinguish them at the genus level (Szyndlar, 1984(Szyndlar, , 1991bRage, 1999, 2002;Georgalis et al, 2016a). On the other hand, Codrea et al (2017a) recently stated that it could be possible to differentiate fossil vertebrae of Macrovipera from Montivipera. However, these authors provided no characters for Montivipera, except for the fact that its vertebrae are usually smaller than Macrovipera, whereas the vertebral characters they provided for Macrovipera were in fact mostly rather generalized features for viperids (Codrea et al, 2017a).…”

“…On the other hand, Codrea et al (2017a) recently stated that it could be possible to differentiate fossil vertebrae of Macrovipera from Montivipera. However, these authors provided no characters for Montivipera, except for the fact that its vertebrae are usually smaller than Macrovipera, whereas the vertebral characters they provided for Macrovipera were in fact mostly rather generalized features for viperids (Codrea et al, 2017a). In any case, distinctive features among vertebrae of Macrovipera and Montivipera seem to do indeed exist (GLG, pers.…”