The Key to Understanding the European Miocene Chalcides (Squamata, Scincidae) Comes from Asia: The Lizards of the East Siberian Tagay Locality (Baikal Lake) in Russia.

The early middle Miocene (MN 5) lizards from the East Siberian Tagay locality (Baikal Lake, Russia) in Asia are described here. The lizard fauna consists of two clades, Lacertidae and Scincidae. The skink material is allocated to Chalcides.

The first Miocene fossils of Lacerta cf. trilineata (Squamata, Lacertidae) with a comparative study of the main cranial osteological differences in green lizards and their relatives.

We here describe the first fossil remains of a green lizard of 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.