Diversity in a greenhouse world: herpetofauna from the late Eocene (MP 17A) of La Bouffie, Quercy Phosphorites (Lot, SW France)

Abstract The Quercy Phosphorites area (Southwestern France) provides more than 200 fossiliferous localities, ranging from the early Eocene to the Early Miocene. These localities document a rich and diverse continental fauna and highlight a massive turnover in vertebrates around the Eocene–Oligocene transition. Among them, the locality of La Bouffie, from the early late Eocene (MP 17A) has yielded a diverse herpetofauna, including rare taxa for Europe (e.g., Tupinambinae). Unfortunately, most of the herpetofauna has never been described nor illustrated, leaving uncertainties regarding its true diversity. We here describe “forgotten” and undescribed specimens from La Bouffie, that pertain to pyxicephalid anurans, and gekkotan, lacertid, amphisbaenian, pleurodontan, glyptosaurid, anguine, helodermatid and palaeovaranid lizards. Among them, five taxa are identified for the first time in La Bouffie, including two new genera and species: Phosphoriguana peritechne gen. et sp. nov. (?Pleurodonta) and Cadurcopanoplos vaylatsensis gen. et sp. nov. (Glyptosauridae). Phosphoriguana peritechne gen. et sp. nov. represents the fourth pleurodontan genus from the late Eocene of Europe, highlighting the diversity of the clade on the continent prior to the “Grande Coupure”. The glyptosaurine glyptosaurid Cadurcopanoplos vaylatsensis gen. et sp. nov. represents only the second late Eocene glyptosaurine from Europe, differing from Placosaurus in having a cranial osteoderm pattern reminiscent of early Eocene glyptosaurines, like Sullivanosaurus; it therefore suggests a higher diversity of this group in the late Eocene. A review of the herpetofauna of La Bouffie identifies at least 18 illustrated and formally described taxa, while other 8 need to be properly reassessed, as the latter have only been so far briefly mentioned. This renders La Bouffie one of the most diverse late Eocene localities in Europe.