Pleistocene Amphibians and Reptiles in Britain and Europe (Oxford Monographs on Geology and Geophysics)

265 Pages·1998·11.94 MB·English

by  J. Alan Holman

OXFORD MONOGRAPHS ON GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS
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38. J. Alan Holman: Pleistocene Amphibians and Reptiles in Britain and Europe
PLEISTOCENE AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES
IN BRITAIN AND EUROPE
J. Alan Holman
New York • Oxford
Oxford University Press
1998
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Copyright © 1998 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Holman, J. Alan, 1931-
Pleistocene amphibians and reptiles in Britain and Europe /
J. Alan Holman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-19-511232-6
1. Amphibians, Fossil—Europe. 2. Reptiles, Fossil—Europe.
3. Amphibians, Fossil—Great Britain. 4. Reptiles, Fossil—Great
Britain. 5. Paleontology—Pleistocene. I. Title.
QE867.H63 1998
567'.S'094— dc21 97-30058
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 42
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
PREFACE
The Pleistocene epoch, or Ice Age, an extended period of advancing and re-
treating continental ice sheets, is characterized by striking climatic oscillations
and sea level fluctuations. This age saw the rise and spread of humans and a
great extinction of large mammals by the end of the epoch. In fact, the world
today is essentially the product of dramatic changes that took place in the Pleis-
tocene. Major works have dealt with Pleistocene mammals in North America
and Europe and the "why" of the worldwide mammalian extinction. Moreover,
a recent book (Holman, 1995c) has dealt with North American Ice Age am-
phibians and reptiles. Yet no comparable work deals with British and European
Pleistocene hcrpetofaunas. This book attempts to address this situation by fo-
cusing on the Pleistocene amphibians arid reptiles in Britain and the European
continent eastward through Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Yugoslavia,
and Greece.
The book begins with an overview of the Pleistocene epoch and its signifi-
cance, followed by a general discussion of the Pleistocene in Britain and Europe
in Chapter 2, with emphasis on regional terms used to define Pleistocene chron-
ological events. Chapter 3 looks at the pre-Pleistocene herpetofauna of the study
area to set the stage for a discussion of the Pleistocene herpetofauna. A large
portion of the book consists of a "Bestiary" (Chapter 4), a series of annotated
taxonomic accounts of Pleistocene herpetological taxa from the region. Illustra-
tions of bones that are especially useful in the identification of Pleistocene her-
petological species arc included in many of these accounts, along with a
discussion of important characters used in the identification of Pleistocene spe-
cies. A list of locality numbers for each taxon in the Bestiary correlates with
those of localities detailed in Chapter 5. These accounts contain lists of herpe-
tological species, literature references, and. when appropriate, remarks about the
site.
Following this is the interpretive section. It begins with a discussion of her-
petological species as paleoenvironmental indicators in Chapter 6. Next, Chapter
7 analyzes herpetological population adjustments to Pleistocene events in Britain
and Europe. Chapter 8 follows with a discussion of extinction patterns in the
vi PREFACE
region, including a dialogue about the apparent evolutionary stasis of the Pleis-
tocene herpetofauna compared with avian and mammalian populations. Finally,
Chapter 9 discusses the differences and similarities between Pleistocene herpe-
tological events in Britain and Europe and North America.
This book is meant to be a college-level introduction to the study of Pleis-
tocene amphibians and reptiles of Britain and Europe and a companion volume
to Pleistocene Amphibians and Reptiles in North America (Holman, 1995c). It
does not pretend to be a definitive taxonomic revision of Pleistocene herpeto-
logical taxa or claim to cite every reference for each Pleistocene herpetological
species found in the vast area covered by the book. It should, however, be a
standard reference for anyone interested in Pleistocene flora or fauna as well as
Pleistocene events in general. It should be especially useful for modern herpe-
tologists, ecologists, and evolutionary biologists. I have tried to keep the ap-
proach to the subject simple and direct and have purposely tried not to get
involved in esoteric and convoluted arguments about Pleistocene events and
patterns.
East Lansing, Mich. J.A.H.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I gratefully acknowledge the persons who have been especially helpful in the
preparation of this book. Many have been hosts for my field and museum stud-
ies, and others have loaned herpetological fossils or modern comparative skel-
etons. All have supplied technical correspondence and/or publications: N.
Ashton (London), W. Auffenberg (Gainesville), S. Balcon (Tunbridge-Wells),
M. Benton (Bristol), G. Bohme (Berlin), S. Chapman (London), J. Clayden (East
Runton-Cromer), J. Clack (Cambridge), A. Currant (London), R. Estes (San
Diego), E. Fritz (Dresden), D. Harrison (Seven Oaks), M. Ivanov (Brno), T.
Kemp (Oxford), T. v. Kolfschoten (Leiden), L. Kordos (Budapest), A. Milner
(London), M. Mlynarski (Krakow), S. Parfitt (London), M. Paunovic (Zagreb),
J. C. Rage (Paris), M. Roberts (London), Z. Rocek (Prague), B. Sanchiz (Ma-
drid), A. Stuart (Norwich), Z. Szyndlar (Krakow), and M. Warren (Cromer).
Diane Baclawski of the Geological Sciences Library at Michigan State Uni-
versity helped gather Pleistocene herpetological literature.
I thank Joyce Berry, Nancy Hoagland, Jessica A. Ryan, and the other editorial
staff of Oxford University Press, New York, for their efforts in the production
of this book. The National Geographic Society provided recent grants for field-
work and museum studies for this work. I especially thank Teresa Petersen for
the preparation of figures. Other artists are acknowledged in the figure legends.
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CONTENTS
1 Introduction 3
2 The Pleistocene in Britain and Europe 6
3 The European Herpetofauna: Paleocene Through Pliocene 10
4 A Bestiary—Annotated Taxonomic Accounts 20
5 Pleistocene Herpetological Localities 130
6 Herpetological Species as Paleoenvironmental Indicators 201
7 Herpetological Population Adjustments in the Pleistocene of Britain and
Europe 207
8 Extinction Patterns in the Herpetofauna of the Pleistocene of Britain and
Europe 217
9 Pleistocene Events in the Herpetofaunas of Britain and Europe, and North
America Compared 224
References 228
General Index 249
Taxonomic Index 251
Site Index 252