A middle Pleistocene herpetofauna from Cudmore Grove, Essex, England, and its paleogeographic and paleoclimatic implications

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Abstract
Freshwater/estuarine organic deposits at Cudmore Grove, Mersea Island, Essex, England, palynologically dated to the Hoxnian Interglacial Substage Ho IIIb, have yielded by far the richest fossil herpetofauna known from the British Pleistocene. Caudates are represented by Triturus cristatus and T. vulgaris; anurans by Hyla sp., Bufo bufo, Rana arvalis, R. “esculenta” or R. ridibunda, and R. lessonae; testudines by Emys orbicularis; saurians by Anguis fragilis and Lacerta sp.; and snakes by Elaphe longissima, Natrix maura or N. tessellata, N. natrix, and Vipera berus. Of these 14 taxa, seven do not occur in Britain today, but are found in continental Europe. The fossil assemblage reflects the former connection of Britain to continental Europe and is consistent with a climate of milder winters and warmer summers than today during the later part of the Hoxnian Interglacial (Substage Ho IIIb).

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