2016 in reptile paleontology

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This list of fossil reptiles described in 2016 is a list of new taxa of fossil reptiles that were described during the year 2016, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to reptile paleontology that occurred in 2016.

Lizards

Research

Twelve specimens of lizards (including stem-gekkotans, crown-agamids, a lacertid, a putative stem-chamaeleonid and squamates of uncertain phylogenetic placement, probably stem-squamates) are described from the Cretaceous (Albian-Cenomanian boundary) amber from Myanmar by Daza et al. (2016);^[1] however, the supposed stem-chamaeleonid is subsequently reinterpreted as an albanerpetontid amphibian by Matsumoto & Evans (2018).^[2]
A study of almost 30 specimens of Polyglyphanodon sternbergi, including almost complete skeletons, is published by Simões et al. (2016), who report the discovery of previously unrecognized ontogenetic series, sexual dimorphism and a complete lower temporal bar in the skull of members of this species.^[3]
New anatomical data on the Late Cretaceous lizard Slavoia darevskii is published by Tałanda (2016), who interprets it as a stem-amphisbaenian.^[4]
A study on the skull anatomy of the Eocene amphisbaenian Spathorhynchus fossorium is published by Müller, Hipsley & Maisano (2016).^[5]
A study on mosasaur tooth implantation and its phylogenetic implications is published by Liu et al. (2016).^[6]
A redescription of the mosasaur Hainosaurus bernardi Dollo (1885) is published by Jimenez-Huidobro & Caldwell (2016), who transfer this species to the genus Tylosaurus and synonymize genera Tylosaurus and Hainosaurus.^[7]
A revision of the species assigned to the mosasaur genus Tylosaurus is published by Jiménez-Huidobro, Simões & Caldwell (2016);^[8] their conclusion that T. kansasensis is a junior synonym of T. nepaeolicus is subsequently rejected by Stewart & Mallon (2018).^[9]
Early Miocene chamaeleonid fossils, including a specimen tentatively attributed to the species Chamaeleo cf. andrusovi Čerňanský (2010), previously known only from the early Miocene of the Czech Republic, are described from the Aliveri locality (Euboea, Greece) by Georgalis, Villa & Delfino (2016).^[10]
Lizard fossils which might be the oldest known chameleon fossils from India are described from the Miocene Nagri Formation by Sankhyan & Čerňanský (2016).^[11]

New taxa

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes
Bagaluus^[12]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Alifanov	Early Cretaceous		Mongolia	A member of Scincomorpha belonging to the family Hodzhakuliidae. The type species is B. primigenius.
Carnoscincus^[12]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Alifanov	Early Cretaceous		Mongolia	A member of Scincomorpha belonging to the family Hodzhakuliidae. The type species is C. eublepharus.
Janosikia^[13]	Gen. et comb. nov	Valid	Čerňanský, Klembara & Smith	Early Miocene		Germany	A member of Lacertidae; a new genus for "Ophisaurus" ulmensis Gerhardt (1903).
Jeddaherdan^[14]	Gen. et sp. nov	Disputed	Apesteguía et al.	Uncertain		Morocco	An iguanian belonging to the group Acrodonta. The type species is J. aleadonta. Originally described as coming from the Cretaceous Kem Kem Group; Vullo et al. (2022) argued that its fossil material is actually Quaternary in age, and considered it to be a fossil material of a member of the genus Uromastyx.^[15]
Ophisauromimus^[16]	Gen. et comb. nov	Valid	Čerňanský, Klembara & Műller	Oligocene		France Germany	A member of Anguidae. A new genus for "Dopasia" coderetensis Augé (2005); genus also includes "Dopasia" frayssensis Augé (2005).
Platynotoides^[12]	Gen. et sp. nov	Junior homonym	Alifanov	Early Cretaceous		Mongolia	A member of Scincomorpha belonging to the family Hodzhakuliidae. The type species is P. altidentatus. The generic name is preoccupied by Platynotoides Kaszab (1975).
Pluridens calabaria^[17]	Sp. nov	Valid	Longrich	Late Cretaceous (late Campanian)	Nkporo Shale	Nigeria	A mosasaur, a species of Pluridens.
Solastella^[18]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Stocker & Kirk	Eocene	Devil's Graveyard Formation	United States ( Texas)	A rhineurid amphisbaenian. The type species is Solastella cookei.

Snakes

Research

Lee et al. (2016) examine the limb anatomy of Tetrapodophis amplectus, which according to the authors is suggestive of aquatic habits.^[19]
A redescription of the Cenomanian snake Simoliophis rochebrunei on the basis of new fossil material from France is published by Rage, Vullo & Néraudeau (2016).^[20]
Smith & Scanferla (2016) describe a juvenile specimen of Palaeopython fischeri from the Eocene Messel pit with preserved stomach contents, including a specimen of the stem-basilisk species Geiseltaliellus maarius, which in turn preserves an unidentified insect in its stomach.^[21]
McNamara et al. (2016) describe pigment cells responsible for coloration and patterning preserved in a fossil skin of a colubrid snake from the Late Miocene Libros Lagerstätte (Teruel, Spain).^[22]
New fossil material of the viperid Laophis crotaloides is described from Greece by Georgalis et al. (2016).^[23]

New taxa

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes
Lunaophis^[24]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Albino, Carrillo-Briceño & Neenan	Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian)	La Luna Formation	Venezuela	A snake of uncertain phylogenetic placement. The type species is L. aquaticus.
Platyspondylophis^[25]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Smith et al.	Eocene (Ypresian)	Cambay Shale Formation	India	A member of Madtsoiidae. The type species is P. tadkeshwarensis.
Rieppelophis^[26]	Gen. et comb. nov	Valid	Scanferla, Smith & Schaal	Eocene	Messel pit	Germany	A member of Boidae. A new genus for "Messelophis" ermannorum Schaal & Baszio (2004).

Ichthyosauromorphs

Research

A study of taxonomic richness, disparity and evolutionary rates of ichthyosaurs throughout the Cretaceous period is published by Fischer et al. (2016).^[27]
A restudy of "Platypterygius" campylodon is published by Fischer (2016), who transfers this species to the genus Pervushovisaurus.^[28]
A revision of the ichthyosaur material of the British Middle and Late Jurassic referable to Ophthalmosaurus icenicus is published by Moon & Kirton (2016).^[29]

New taxa

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes
Cryopterygius kielanae^[30]	Sp. nov	Valid	Tyborowski	Late Jurassic (Tithonian)	Kcynia Formation	Poland	A member of Ophthalmosauridae. Transferred to the genus Undorosaurus by Zverkov & Efimov (2019).^[31]
Ichthyosaurus larkini^[32]	Sp. nov	Valid^[33]	Lomax & Massare	Early Jurassic (Hettangian)		United Kingdom
Ichthyosaurus somersetensis^[32]	Sp. nov	Valid^[33]	Lomax & Massare	Early Jurassic (Hettangian)		United Kingdom
Sclerocormus^[34]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Jiang et al.	Early Triassic (Olenekian)	Nanlinghu Formation	China	A basal member of Ichthyosauriformes. The type species is S. parviceps.
Wahlisaurus^[35]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid^[36]	Lomax	Early Jurassic (Hettangian)		United Kingdom	A member of Leptonectidae. The type species is W. massarae.

Sauropterygians

Research

A study of the histology and microanatomy of the humeri of members of the genus Nothosaurus is published by Klein et al. (2016).^[37]
A reassessment of fossils attributed to the genus Polyptychodon is published by Madzia (2016), who considers the type species of this genus, P. interruptus, to be nomen dubium, and the genus Polyptychodon to be a wastebasket taxon.^[38]
O'Gorman (2016) provides a new diagnosis for Fresnosaurus drescheri and describes additional plesiosaur material from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Moreno Formation (California, USA), which he interprets as representing the first aristonectine plesiosaur reported from the Northern Hemisphere.^[39]
A redescription of the holotype specimen of Brancasaurus brancai and a study on the phylogenetic relationships of the species is published by Sachs, Hornung & Kear (2016), who consider the species Gronausaurus wegneri to be a junior synonym of B. brancai.^[40]

New taxa

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes
Alexandronectes^[41]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Otero et al.	Late Cretaceous (early Maastrichtian)	Conway Formation	New Zealand	An aristonectine elasmosaurid plesiosaur. The type species is Alexandronectes zealandiensis.
Dawazisaurus^[42]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Cheng et al.	Middle Triassic (Anisian)	Guanling Formation	China	A non-pistosauroid eosauropterygian of uncertain phylogenetic placement. The type species is Dawazisaurus brevis.
Kawanectes^[43]	Gen. et comb. nov	Valid	O'Gorman	Late Cretaceous (late Campanian–early Maastrichtian)	Allen Formation La Colonia Formation^[44]	Argentina	An elasmosaurid plesiosaur. The type species is "Trinacromerum" lafquenianum Gasparini & Goñi (1985).
Lariosaurus sanxiaensis^[45]^[46]	Sp. nov	Valid	Cheng in Chen et al.	Early Triassic	Jialingjiang Formation	China
Lariosaurus vosseveldensis^[47]	Sp. nov	Valid	Klein et al.	Middle Triassic (Anisian)		Netherlands
Polycotylus sopozkoi^[48]	Sp. nov	Valid	Efimov, Meleshin & Nikiforov	Late Cretaceous		Russia
Stenorhynchosaurus^[49]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Páramo et al..	Early Cretaceous (late Barremian)	Paja Formation	Colombia	A pliosaurid plesiosaur. The type species is Stenorhynchosaurus munozi.

Turtles

Research

A study on the latitudinal gradients in species diversity of Mesozoic non-marine turtles is published by Nicholson et al. (2016).^[50]
A study on the morphological diversity of the skulls of the fossil and recent turtles through time is published by Foth & Joyce (2016).^[51]
A study of the bone shell histology of Condorchelys antiqua and its implications for the lifestyle of the species is published by Cerda, Sterli & Scheyer (2016).^[52]
A study of the bone histology of shell elements of the Late Cretaceous—Paleocene chelid Yaminuechelys is published by Jannello, Cerda & de la Fuente (2016).^[53]
A review of the fossil record, taxonomy and diagnostic features of the fossil species belonging to the genus Chelus is published by Ferreira et al. (2016).^[54]
Fossils of Plesiochelys etalloni and Tropidemys langii, otherwise known from the Kimmeridgian of the Swiss and French Jura Mountains, are described from the British Kimmeridge Clay by Anquetin & Chapman (2016).^[55]
An emended diagnosis of Testudo catalaunica and a study of phylogeny of extinct members of the genus Testudo is published by Luján et al. (2016).^[56]
Giant tortoise fossils collected from the late Miocene-early Pliocene Mehrten Formation (California, USA) are identified as belonging to members of the species Hesperotestudo orthopygia by Biewer et al. (2016).^[57]

New taxa

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes
Algorachelus^[58]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Pérez-García^[59]	Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian)	Arenas de Utrillas Formation	Portugal^[60] Spain	A member of Bothremydidae. The type species is A. peregrinus.
Anhuichelys doumuensis^[61]	Sp. nov	Valid	Tong et al.	Middle Paleocene	Doumu Formation	China	A stem-tortoise, a species of Anhuichelys.
Clemmys hutchensorum^[62]	Sp. nov	Valid	Bourque	Early Pleistocene (late Blancan)		United States ( Florida)	A species of Clemmys.
Fontainechelon^[63]	Gen. et comb. nov	Valid	Pérez-García, Ortega & Jiménez Fuentes	Early Eocene		France	A tortoise; a new genus for "Achilemys" cassouleti Claude & Tong (2004).
Inaechelys^[64]	Gen. et sp. nov	Disputed	Carvalho, Ghilardi & Barreto	Paleocene (Danian)	Maria Farinha Formation	Brazil	A member of Bothremydidae. The type species is I. pernambucensis. Its status as a valid taxon was challenged by Romano (2016), who considered the genus Inaechelys to be a junior synonym of the genus Rosasia and the species I. pernambucensis/Rosasia pernambucensis to be a nomen dubium.^[65]
Keuperotesta^[66]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Szczygielski & Sulej	Late Triassic		Germany	A member of Proterochersidae. The type species is Keuperotesta limendorsa. The genus Keuperotesta was considered to be a junior synonym of the genus Proterochersis by Joyce (2017), though the author maintained K. limendorsa as a distinct species within the latter genus.^[67]
Kinosternon notolophus^[68]	Sp. nov	Valid	Bourque	Miocene (Clarendonian)	Alachua Formation Statenville Formation	United States ( Florida)	A mud turtle.
Kinosternon pannekollops^[68]	Sp. nov	Valid	Bourque	Miocene (Clarendonian)	Ogallala Formation	United States ( Texas)	A mud turtle.
Kinosternon rincon^[68]	Sp. nov	Valid	Bourque	Miocene (late Barstovian)	Cerro Conejo Formation	United States ( New Mexico)	A mud turtle.
Kinosternon wakeeniense^[68]	Sp. nov	Valid	Bourque	Miocene (Clarendonian)	Ash Hollow Formation Ogallala Formation	United States ( Kansas, Nebraska)	A mud turtle.
Neurankylus notos^[69]	Sp. nov	Valid	Lichtig & Lucas	Late Cretaceous (Coniacian-Santonian)	Crevasse Canyon Formation	United States ( New Mexico)	A member of Baenidae.
Neurankylus torrejonensis^[70]	Sp. nov	Valid	Lyson et al.	Paleocene (Torrejonian)	Nacimiento Formation	United States ( New Mexico)	A member of Baenidae.
Notoemys tlaxiacoensis^[71]	Sp. nov	Valid^[72]	López-Conde et al.	Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian)	Sabinal Formation	Mexico	A member of Platychelyidae.
Paiutemys^[73]	Gen. et sp. nov	Disputed	Joyce, Lyson & Kirkland	Late Cretaceous (late Cenomanian)	Naturita Formation	United States ( Utah)	A member of Bothremydidae. The type species is P. tibert. Pérez-García (2018) considered the genus Paiutemys to be a junior synonym of the genus Algorachelus, and transferred the species P. tibert to the latter genus.^[74]
Palaeoamyda^[75]	Gen. et comb. nov	Disputed	Cadena	Eocene		Germany	A relative of trionychids; a new genus for "Trionyx" messelianus Reinach (1900). However, Karl (2018) considered Palaeoamyda to be a junior synonym of the genus Rafetoides, and transferred "Trionyx" messelianus to the latter genus.^[76]
Pelorochelon^[63]	Gen. et sp. et comb. nov	Valid	Pérez-García, Ortega & Jiménez Fuentes	Middle Eocene		Germany Spain	A tortoise. The type species is P. soriana; genus also includes Pelorochelon eocaenica (Hummel, 1935).
Proterochersis porebensis^[66]	Sp. nov	Valid	Szczygielski & Sulej	Late Triassic		Poland	A member of Proterochersidae.
Sichuanchelys palatodentata^[77]	Sp. nov	Valid	Joyce et al.	Late Jurassic (Oxfordian)	Shishugou Formation	China	A basal member of Testudinata.
Tartaruscola^[78]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Pérez-García	Eocene (Ypresian)		France	A member of Bothremydidae belonging to the group Foxemydina. The type species is T. teodorii.
Yelmochelys^[79]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Brinkman et al.	Late Cretaceous (late Campanian and early Maastrichtian)	Cañon del Tule Formation Cerro del Pueblo Formation	Mexico	A stem-kinosternid. The type species is Yelmochelys rosarioae.

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes
Brasinorhynchus^[89]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Schultz, Langer & Montefeltro	Middle Triassic (Ladinian)	Santa Maria Formation	Brazil	A rhynchosaur belonging to the group Stenaulorhynchinae. The type species is Brasinorhynchus mariantensis.
Colobomycter vaughni^[90]	Sp. nov	Valid	MacDougall, Modesto & Reisz	Early Permian		United States ( Oklahoma)	A member of Lanthanosuchoidea.
Euconcordia^[91]	Nom. nov	Valid	Reisz, Haridy & Müller	Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian)	Calhouns Shale	United States ( Kansas)	A member of Captorhinidae; a replacement name for Concordia Müller & Reisz (2005).
Langeronyx^[92]	Gen. et comb. nov	Valid	Ezcurra, Montefeltro & Butler	Middle Triassic (Anisian)	Bromsgrove Sandstone Formation	United Kingdom	A rhynchosaur; a new genus for "Rhynchosaurus" brodiei Benton (1990).
Ozimek^[93]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Dzik & Sulej	Late Triassic (probably late Carnian)		Poland	A relative of Sharovipteryx. The type species is O. volans.
Teyujagua^[94]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Pinheiro et al.	Early Triassic (Induan to early Olenekian)	Sanga do Cabral Formation	Brazil	A member of Archosauromorpha closely related to Archosauriformes. The type species is Teyujagua paradoxa.
Xinpusaurus xingyiensis^[95]	Sp. nov	Valid	Li et al.	Middle Triassic (Ladinian)		China	A thalattosaur.

2016 in reptile paleontology

Lizards

Research

New taxa

Snakes

Research

New taxa

Ichthyosauromorphs

Research

New taxa

Sauropterygians

Research

New taxa

Turtles

Research

New taxa

Archosauriformes

Other reptiles

Research

New taxa

References

Related Articles

Related Articles

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