![]() The co-existence of monitor lizards and pythons across the fossil record of Africa is thoroughly discussed. These are the first squamates described from this locality, which is otherwise well known for its fossil mammals and has proven pivotal for our understanding of vertebrate biogeography and diversity in the African Miocene ( Andrews, 1899 Andrews, 1900 Fourtau, 1920 Rasmussen, Tilden & Simons, 1989 Miller & Simons, 1998 Miller, 1999 Sanders & Miller, 2002 Miller et al., 2009 Miller et al., 2014 Cook et al., 2010 Pickford, Miller & El-Barkooky, 2010 Smith, 2013 Morlo et al., 2019). The current paper describes new remains attributable to Varanus and Python from the early Miocene (Burdigalian) of the Moghra Formation, Egypt. The rarity and inadequate knowledge of their fossil record is readily highlighted by the fact that although multiple species of both genera are present in the extant African herpetofauna ( Pianka, King & King, 2004 Wallach, Williams & Boundy, 2014), only two extinct species have been named from the continent, one from each genus, i.e., Varanus rusingensis Clos, 1995, from the early Miocene of Kenya and Python maurus Rage, 1976, from the middle Miocene of Morocco ( Rage, 1976 Clos, 1995). Their fossil record on the African continent is, however, rather scarce, being in fact confined to rather few documented occurrences across the Neogene and Quaternary of the continent ( Rage, 1976 Rage, 2003 Rage, 2008 Bailon & Rage, 1994 Clos, 1995 Delfino et al., 2004 Delfino et al., 2018 Head & Müller, 2020). In sub-Saharan Africa, Varanus and Python are widespread faunal elements, co-existing together in multiple different environments and biomes, ranging from open savannah to dense tropical rainforest ( Pianka, King & King, 2004 O’Shea, 2007). Both Varanus and Python form important ecological elements to the environments they reside in there are also significant trophic interactions among the two genera, with documented cases of Varanus preying upon Python and vice versa (e.g., Mash, 1944 Murphy & Henderson, 1997 Chippaux & Jackson, 2019). Varanus comprises the largest extant species of lizards, while certain species of Python rank among the longest and heaviest species of snakes ( Murphy & Henderson, 1997 Pianka, King & King, 2004). They are both almost immediately recognizable even to the general public, commonly known as monitor lizards and pythons respectively. The genera Varanus and Python are among the most iconic squamates. Situated rather close to the so called “Levantine Corridor” and dated at the Burdigalian, practically when Afro-Arabia collided with Eurasia, the Moghra squamate assemblage offers the potential of important insights in the biogeography and dispersal events of vertebrate groups during the early Miocene. The close sympatry of these two genera in the African fossil record is thoroughly analyzed and discussed, a co-existence, which is still widespread in the extant herpetofauna of the continent. On the basis of the new remains, Moghra marks the oldest so far described co-occurrence of Varanus and Python in the African continent. The material pertains to two different genera, the varanid lizard Varanus and the pythonid snake Python and adds to the so far rather poorly known squamate fossil record from Africa. This material comprises the first fossil remains of squamates recovered from the otherwise rich and well known vertebrate assemblage of Moghra. Lizard and snake remains from the early Miocene (Burdigalian) of the Moghra Formation, Egypt, are described herein. ![]() Oldest co-occurrence of Varanus and Python from Africa-first record of squamates from the early Miocene of Moghra Formation, Western Desert, Egypt. Cite this article Georgalis GL, Abdel Gawad MK, Hassan SM, El-Barkooky AN, Hamdan MA. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited. Licence This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. 3 Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef, Egypt DOI 10.7717/peerj.9092 Published Accepted Received Academic Editor Mathew Wedel Subject Areas Biodiversity, Paleontology, Taxonomy, Zoology Keywords Lizards, Snakes, Neogene, Biogeography, Sympatry, Africa Copyright © 2020 Georgalis et al.
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