Redescription of the extinct species Callopistes bicuspidatus chani, 1976 (Squamata, Teiidae)

BRIZUELA, SANTIAGO; ALBINO, ADRIANA M.

JOURNAL OF HERPETOLOGY

SOC STUDY AMPHIBIANS REPTILES

Año: 2017 vol. 51 p. 343 - 354

0022-1511

We redescribe the holotype and only known material of the extinct teiid lizard Callopistes bicuspidatus Chani, 1976, from the late Miocene-early Pliocene of the Atlantic coast of Argentina. It would constitute a fossil record of the genus outside the present range of distribution restricted west of the Andes, but the characters used in the original description for the systematic assignation have had little attention and have been questioned in part. In this study, we confirm the generic assignation of these remains (as well as the validity of the species), based on characters different from those used in the original description. We also recognize many characters shared by Callopistes and the rest of the Tupinambinae teiids indicating the affinity of the genus to this subfamily. The paleoenvironmental conditions inferred from the accompanying vertebrate fauna for the late Miocene-early Pliocene of the fossil locality indicate that C. bicuspidatus exploited different environmental conditions than the extant species of the genus, especially regarding humidity and water availability.