NUEVOS APORTES AL CONOCIMIENTO DE LA HERPETOFAUNA DE LA FORMACIÓN CERRO AZUL (MIOCENO SUPERIOR), PROVINCIA DE LA PAMPA, ARGENTINA

Abstract

New fossil specimens of amphibians and reptiles found in several localities of the Cerro Azul Formation (Upper Miocene) from La Pampa province are described. The new records include a fragmentary skull remain assigned to the frog genus Ceratophrys, carapace fragments of the tortoise genus Chelonoidis, vertebrae referred to the lizard Tupinambis, and a trunk vertebra of a colubroid snake compared with the living colubroid genus Philodryas. Previous Tertiary records of genera of amphibians and reptiles, as well as the studied assemblage from the Upper Miocene of La Pampa, indicate that almost the modern genera that conform the Neotropical herpetofauna were well in progress by the Miocene, a similar pattern observed in other parts of the world.