We here describe the first fossil remains of a green lizardof the Lacerta group from the late Miocene (MN 13) of the Solnechnodolsk locality in southern European Russia. This region of Europe is crucial for our understanding of the paleobiogeography and evolution of these middle-sized lizards. Although this clade has a broad geographical distribution across the continent today, its presence in the fossil record has only rarely been reported. In contrast to that, the material described here is abundant, consists of a premaxilla, maxillae, frontals, parietals, jugals, quadrate, pterygoids, dentaries and vertebrae. The comparison of these elements to all extant green lizard species shows that these fossils are indistinguishable from Lacerta trilineata. Thus, they form the first potential evidence of the occurrence of this species in the Miocene. This may be also used as a potential calibration point for further studies. Together with other lizard fossils, Solnechnodolsk shows an interesting combination of survivors and the dawn of modern species. This locality provides important evidence for the transition of an archaic Miocene world to the modern diversity of lizards in Europe. In addition, this article represents a contribution to the knowledge of the comparative osteological anatomy of the selected cranial elements in lacertid. This study gives special emphasis to the green lizards, but new data are also presented for related taxa, e.g., Timon lepidus, Podarcis muralis or Zootoca vivipara. Although the green lizards include several cryptic species for which determination based on isolated osteological material would be expected to be difficult, our comparisons show several important morphological differences.

中文翻译：

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Lacerta的第一个中新世化石。Trilineata（Squamata，Lacertidae）与绿色蜥蜴及其亲属的主要颅骨骨学差异的比较研究

我们在这里描述了俄罗斯南部Solnechnodolsk地区中新世晚期（MN 13）的Lacerta群绿蜥蜴的第一个化石遗迹。欧洲这个地区对于我们了解这些中型蜥蜴的古生物地理和演化至关重要。尽管该进化枝如今在整个大陆上具有广泛的地理分布，但很少有人报告其在化石记录中的存在。与此相反，这里描述的材料丰富，由前颌骨，上颌骨，额叶，顶骨，法律，四方体，翼状，体，齿科和椎骨组成。这些元素与所有现存的绿蜥蜴物种的比较表明，这些化石与三层蜥蜴没有区别。。因此，它们构成了该物种在中新世发生的第一个潜在证据。这也可用作进一步研究的潜在校准点。Solnechnodolsk与其他蜥蜴化石一起，展示了幸存者与现代物种曙光的有趣结合。这个地方为过时的中新世世界向欧洲蜥蜴的现代多样性过渡提供了重要的证据。另外，本文代表了对羊驼毛中所选颅骨要素的比较性骨解剖学知识的贡献。这项研究特别强调了绿蜥蜴，但是还提供了有关相关类群的新数据，例如Timon lepidus，Podarcis muralis或Zootoca vivipara。。尽管绿蜥蜴包括几种隐性物种，但根据隔离的骨科材料很难确定它们，但我们的比较显示出一些重要的形态学差异。