The oldest known European Neogene girdled lizard fauna (Squamata, Cordylidae), with comments on Early Miocene immigration of African taxa

This paper reports on the first record of cordylid lizards from the locality of Merkur-North. The fossil history of girdled lizards is very poorly known and this group was rare during the Lower Miocene in Europe. The fossils described herein come from grey calcareous marls at the base of the so-called “Main Brown Coal Seam”. These marls are interpreted as reworked volcanic ash and the sediments are considered as early Miocene in age and are...