Chelotriton Pomel, 1853

Vianey-Liaud, Monique, Comte, Bernard, Marandat, Bernard, Peigné, Stéphane, Rage, Jean-Claude & Sudre, Jean, 2014, A new early Late Oligocene (MP 26) continental vertebrate fauna from Saint-Privat-des-Vieux (Alès Basin, Gard, Southern France), Geodiversitas 36 (4), pp. 565-622 : 568

cf. Chelotriton Pomel, 1853

TYPE SPECIES. — Chelotriton paradoxus Pomel, 1853 by monotypy.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — One incomplete trunk vertebra ( SPV 710).

DESCRIPTION

Ŋe vertebra preserves the centrum, incomplete prezygapophyses and the right rib-bearer. Ŋe centrum is opisthocoelous, its condyle being well-ossified. Ŋe rib-bearer is bicipital; the two processes are clearly, although not widely, divergent and connected by a bony lamina up to their tips. Ŋe anterior zygapophyseal crest is not horizontal; it extends posteroventrally to join the lamina that unites the rib-bearers. Ŋe surface of the bone shows an ornamention comprising pits and ridges.

DISCUSSION

Although the specimen is incomplete, the available characters permit identification below family level. Ŋe connection of the anterior zygapophyseal crest to the lamina of the rib-bearer is characteristic of a small assemblage of extinct and living Salamandridae . Among them is Chelotriton ( Bailon et al. 2011) , the only genus of this assemblage that occurs in the Oligocene of Europe. Ŋe overall morphology of the fossil is consistent with Chelotriton ; however, the ornamentation of the bone surface appears to be more marked than in the known remains of this genus. Ŋerefore, the referral to Chelotriton cannot be accepted without reservation. Chelotriton was reported only in Europe, from the Middle Eocene (MP 11) to the Late Pliocene (MN 16) ( Bailon 1989). It occurs more frequently in the Oligocene and Miocene than in the other levels.