The anurans and squamates assemblage from Final Natufian Eynan (Ain Mallaha, Israel) with an emphasis on snake-human interactions

A new, rare, small-ranged, and endangered mountain snake of the genus Elaphe from the Southern Levant

The genus Elaphe Fitzinger, 1833 includes 17 species of charismatic, large-sized, non-venomous, Eurasian snakes. In the Western Palearctic, the genus is represented by three species from the Elaphe quatuorlineata group ranging from the Apennine peninsula to Central Asia. The southernmost population of this group is distributed in the mountains of the Southern Levant, with more than 400 km gap to other Elaphe populations. This population has been known to science for only 50 years and is virtually unstudied due to its extreme rarity. We studied these snakes' morphological and genetic variation from the three countries where they are known to occur, i.e., Israel (Hermon, the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights), Lebanon, and Syria. We used nine mitochondrial and nuclear genes, complete mitogenome sequences, and a comprehensive morphological examination including published data, our own field observations, and museum specimens, to study its relationship to other species in the group. The three currently recognized species of the group (E. quatuorlineata, E. sauromates, E. urartica), and the Levant population, form four deeply divergent, strongly supported clades. Three of these clades correspond to the abovementioned species while the Southern Levant clade, which is genetically and morphologically distinct from all named congeners, is described here as a new species, Elaphe druzei sp. nov. The basal divergence of this group is estimated to be the Late Miocene with subsequent radiation from 5.1 to 3.9 Mya. The revealed biogeography of the E. quatuorlineata group supports the importance of the Levant as a major center of endemism and diversity of biota in Eurasia. The new species is large-sized and is one of the rarest snakes in the Western Palearctic. Because of its small mountain distribution range, in an area affected by land use and climate change, the new Elaphe urgently needs strict protection. Despite political issues, we hope this will be based on the cooperation of all countries where the new species occurs.

Contextual, Taphonomic, and Paleoecological Insights from Anurans on Tiwanaku Sites in Southern Peru

We examine the processes that resulted in the deposition of bones of at least three anuran genera on four archaeological sites associated with the Tiwanaku culture occupied between 700–1100 CE in the Moquegua Valley of far southern Peru. We review archaeological data and ethnographic accounts of Andean peoples using frogs and toads for food and in rain-quest rituals. Anuran bones are common in prehispanic cemeteries, but far less common in habitational and ceremonial sites. The quantity of anuran remains in certain cemeteries is anomalous in comparison to other archaeological sites in the valley and to Tiwanaku sites in other geographic settings. We conclude that anurans are most common where abandoned below-ground rock-covered tombs are likely to have been reused by nesting owls, and propose that most anuran remains in archaeological contexts in Moquegua are the result of predation. We consider environmental, cultural and taphonomic explanations and posit that the abundance of anuran remains relates to the 14th-century Miraflores ENSO event. This event generated increased rainfall in the desert, creating conditions favorable for frogs and toads, and predation by owls. We also advocate for the use of fine-screening to recover small-sized animal remains, such as anurans, that can be used to understand taphonomic processes and paleoenvironmental conditions.

First occurrence of Psammophis (Serpentes) from Europe witnesses another Messinian herpetofaunal dispersal from Africa - biogeographic implications and a discussion of the vertebral morphology of psammophiid snakes

We here describe abundant new snake material from the late Miocene (MN 13) of Salobreña, Spain. Vertebral morphology suggests a referral of the specimens to the extant psammophiid Psammophis, documenting the first occurrence of this genus in Europe. The diversity and disparity across the vertebral morphology of different psammophiid genera is discussed. We identify vertebral features that could diagnose Psammophis and therefore enable the recognition of the genus in the fossil record. A comparison of the new Spanish form with other taxa is conducted. We provide a detailed review of the psammophiid fossil record. Material previously described from the middle Miocene of Beni Mellal, Morocco is here tentatively referred to as? Psammophis sp., an action that renders that occurrence as the oldest (probable) record of the genus and Psammophiidae as a whole, providing thus a potential calibration point. On the other hand, Eastern European Pliocene material that had been previously supposedly referred to Psammophis is here discarded as being rather fragmentary, not affording any more precise determination. The two psammophiid genera Psammophis and Malpolon appear almost simultaneously in the European fossil record (MN 13), with the former achieving only a short-lived and apparently geographically limited distribution in the continent, while the latter still exists in its modern herpetofauna. We assess biogeographic implications of the new find, suggesting a direct dispersal event from northwestern Africa to the Iberian Peninsula during the late Miocene, facilitated by the Messinian Salinity Crisis. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.