The Status of the Middle Eocene Geiseltal Limbless Anguid Lizards

Kühn in 1940 was the first to describe the limbless anguids from middle Eocene of Geiseltal, German Democratic Republic. He referred these forms to a new genus with two species Parapseudopus hallensis and P. minor. The Geiseltal limbless forms show great structural similarity to the modern genus Ophisaurus and are regarded here as members of that genus. Also Kühn's two species appear to represent only a single form and are referred here to Ophisaurus hallensis. O. hallensis, in tooth count and parietal morphology, resembles more some of the recent Old World ophisaurs than the New World members of the genus. O. hallensis is the earliest known representative of the genus in the fossil record, followed by several early Miocene records from Europe and by a single late Miocene record from North America (O. canadensis; Holman, 1970).