The reptiles from the Lavergne locality of Phosphorites du Quercy in France show a high taxonomic diversity at the end of the middle Eocene (MP 16)

Reptile faunas from the late middle Eocene of Europe are rare. Here, we report on lizards, snakes, turtles and crocodiles from the Lavergne locality in the Quercy Region (France). Reptiles here are diverse, represented by (at least) 16 taxa. Lizard assemblage consists of Gekkota, Pleurodonta, Scincidae, Lacertidae, Glyptosauridae, Anguidae and Palaeovaranidae. Snakes are represented by the enigmatic alethinophidian Platyspondylia sudrei, the ?tropidophiid Cadurceryx filholi, the pythonoid Palaeopython cadurcensis, the booids ?Eoconstrictor sp. and Dunnophis cadurcensis, an indeterminate potential russellophiid, whereas several remains are only identified as indeterminate alethinophidians. Besides squamates, Testudinoidea and Crocodylia are also present; because of the extreme rareness of the latter group in the Quercy area, we also describe here some additional crocodylian specimens from the “old collections” of Quercy. Scincids are firstly reported from Lavergne, including a new taxon, Lavergnesaurus lamarcki gen. et sp. nov. The fauna indicates a relatively warm temperature as demonstrated by thermophilic taxa. Lavergne yields a relatively similar (not identical) herpetofauna as Le Bretou (France) and Mazaterón (Spain). However, Lavergne and Le Bretou appear to be, based on current knowledge, more similar to each other when lizards and snakes are considered. Overall, the European MP 16 squamate fauna does not seem to be highly different from those of MP 14 or MP 17 and no faunal reorganisation or any significant extinction event can be recognised at the middle – late Eocene boundary in Europe. In fact, larger faunal changes are recognisable when early Eocene herpetofaunas are considered.