Oligocene snakes of southern Germany

Sites in the middle Oligocene (Herrlingen 7, Ehrenstein 12) and upper Oligocene (Ehrenstein 7, Herrlingen 8, Eggingen-Mittelhart) of southern Germany have yielded ophidian assemblages consisting of Eoanilius oligocenicus, sp. nov. (Aniliidae), Bransateryx vireti, cf. “Tropidonotus” atavus, cf. Platyspondylia sp., four other unidentified boids (Boidae), and Texasophis bohemiacus (Colubridae). Most forms presumably were fossorial. Based on the caudal vertebrae, Bransateryx cannot be closely related with the extant Eryx and Charina. Texasophis is considered an oriental immigrant, while Eoanilius, cf. Platyspondylia, and perhaps Bransateryx represented an autochthonous European assemblage. Eoanilius, Boinae C, Bransateryx, and Texasophis survived in central Europe at least until the early Miocene.