Tauţ (Miocene of Romania)

Also known as Taut, Migieşului Valley, Migiesului

Where: Arad, Romania (46.3° N, 21.9° E: paleocoordinates 45.8° N, 21.6° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

When: Sarmatian (12.7 - 11.6 Ma)

• "[...] Volhynian substage of the Sarmatian, which may correspond to the lower part of the Sarmatian (late middle Miocene) (Grigorescu & Kazár 2006). Based on micromammals, Feru et al. (1980) assigned the Tauţ locality to the MN 8 of the European Neogene Mammal zones system (Mein 1975)."

Environment/lithology: lacustrine; unlithified, tuffaceous, green claystone

• "[...] the outcrop of narrow extent consists from tufaceous green clays enclosing rare shells of Planorbis Müller, 1774 and Helix Linnaeus, 1758."

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Collected by M. Feru, C. Rădulescu, P. Samson in 1979

• "During a survey on the microvertebrate fossils from the collections of the Speleological Institute 'Emil Racoviţă' (ISER), Bucharest, we found a huge amount of herpetological material from Tauţ, collected by M. Feru, C. Rădulescu and P. Samson in 1979. The material has never been mentioned in any papers of the above authors."

Primary reference: M. Venczel and E. Stiuca. 2008. Late middle Miocene amphibians and squamate reptiles from Taut, Romania. Geodiversitas 30(4):731-763 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht/M. Uhen]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 135812: authorized by Johannes Mueller, entered by Torsten Liebrecht on 09.11.2012

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Amphibia
 Salientia - Palaeobatrachidae
Palaeobatrachus cf. hiri frog
3 skull bones (ISER Tt-0380, 0381, 0384), 1 urostyle (Tt-0385), 1 clavicle (Tt-0382), 1 tibiofibula (Tt-0386)
 Salientia - Bufonidae
Bufo cf. viridis Laurenti 1768 European green toad
4 skull bones (ISER Tt-0400-0403), 4 prearticulars (Tt-0404/1-4), 3 vertebrae (Tt-0405, 0406/1+2), 4 urostyles (Tt-407/1-4), 6 longbones (Tt-0408/1-3, 0409/1-3)
 Salientia - Ranidae
Pelophylax sp. Fitzinger 1843 frog
2 premaxillae (ISER Tt-0420/1+2), 2 vertebrae (Tt-0421/1+2), 10 longbones (Tt-0422/1-3, 0423/1-7)
 Salientia - Hylidae
Hyla cf. arborea Linnaeus 1758 tree frog
1 prearticular (ISER Tt-0410), 5 ilia (Tt-0411/1-5)
 Salientia - Pelobatidae
Pelobates sp. Wagler 1830 spadefoot toad
4 skull bones (ISER Tt-0390/1-3, 0391), 1 vertebra (Tt-0392), 1 scapula (Tt-0393), 1 ilium (Tt-0394)
 Salientia -
Latonia gigantea Lartet 1851 frog
15 skull bones (ISER Tt-0370/1+2, 0371/1-8, 372/1-5), 1 vertebra (Tt-0373), 1 coracoid (Tt-0374), 3 longbones (Tt-0375, 0376/1-2)
 Caudata - Urodela
Carpathotriton sp. Venczel 2008 newt
2 skull bones (ISER Tt-0330, 0331), 8 mandibular bones (Tt-0333/1-6, 0332/1+2), 41 vertebrae (Tt-0334/1-6, 0335/1-35), 8 longbones (Tt-0336/1-4, 0337, 0338/1-3)
Triturus cf. marmoratus Latreille 1800 marbled newt
2 skull bones (ISER Tt-0360, 0361), 8 vertebrae (Tt-0362/1-8), 2 longbones (Tt-0363, 0334)
Lissotriton sp. Bell 1839 newt
1 frontal (ISER Tt-0350), 9 vertebrae (Tt-0351, 0352/1-8)
Chelotriton paradoxus Pomel 1853 newt
7 skull bones (ISER Tt- 0300, 0301/1-4, 0302, 0303), 2 dentaries (Tt-0304/1+2), 5 vertebrae (Tt-0306/1-5), 10 longbones (Tt-0307/1-4, 0308, 0309/1-5), 7 ribs (Tt-0310/1-7)
Reptilia
 Squamata -
Scolecophidia indet. Duméril and Bibron 1844 snake
5 fragmentary trunk vertebrae (ISER Tt-0480/1-5)
 Squamata - Crotalidae
"Macrovipera sp." = Vipera (Macrovipera)
"Macrovipera sp." = Vipera (Macrovipera) Reuss 1927 pit viper
1 presacral vertebra (ISER Tt-0504)
 Squamata - Colubridae
Coronella miocaenica Venczel 1998 colubrid snake
4 fragmentary trunk vertebrae (ISER Tt-0490/1-4)
Hierophis cf. hungaricus colubrid snake
1 fragmentary compound bone of mandible (ISER Tt-0500), 35 vertebrae (Tt-0501/1-35)
Natrix cf. rudabanyaensis water snake
1 quadrate (ISER Tt-0502), 30 vertebrae (Tt-0503/1-30)
 Squamata - Lacertidae
Lacertidae indet. Bonaparte 1831 squamates
6 dentaries (ISER Tt-0450/1-6) of "relatively small individuals"
Lacerta sp. Linnaeus 1758 squamates
10 skull bones (ISER Tt-0440, 0441/1+2, 0442/1-7), 4 dentaries (Tr-0443/1-4)
 Squamata - Gekkonidae
Gekkonidae indet. Gray 1825 gecko
2 dentaries (ISER Tt-0430/1-2); spelled "Geckonidae indet." in the reference
 Squamata - Amphisbaenidae
Blanus cf. gracilis Roček 1984 worm lizard
1 premaxilla (ISER Tt-0470), 4 fragmentary dentaries (Tt-0471/1-4), 60 vertebrae (Tt-0472/1-60)
 Squamata - Anguidae
Ophisaurus sp. Daudin 1803 glass lizard
10 vertebrae (ISER Tt-0460/1-10), 14 osteoderms (Tt-0461/1-14)