Daboia palaestinae
Creators: name: Ma'ayan Lev, Dani Nadel, Mina Weinstein-Evron
name: Reuven Yeshurun
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Reptilia
Squamata
Viperidae
Daboia
Daboia palaestinae

description: Daboia cf. Palaestinae (Werner, 1938)
Vipers are common in the assemblage (NISP = 116, 11%) and were identified solely by vertebrae (Figure 6 (e)). The trunk vertebrae of the Viperidae family are characterised by the presence of straight hypapophyses throughout the precloacal region and posteriorly depressed neural arches (Szyndlar 1991b).
The vertebra is characterised by a large oval cotyle that is slightly ventrodorsally flattened. The condyle is large and oval. In dorsal view the vertebra is longer than wide with a well-marked interzygapophyseal constriction. The neural spine is relatively strong, high and long. The zygosphene is wide, and its anterior border is slightly concave. The prezygapophyseal particular facets are elongated and subtriangular. The prezygapophyses are long and pointed posterolaterally. In ventral view, the centrum has a slightly rounded triangular shape. The paradiapophyses are well-developed and protrude anteriorly from the centrum. The haemal keel is well-defined and expands posteriorly past the condyle and has two small subcentral foramen on each side. In anterior view, the zygophene is wide, slightly convex dorsally and concave ventrally. The neural canal is narrow, and its anterior edge is U-shaped. There are two small paracotylar foramina. The prezygapophyses extend dorsally and the prezygapophyseal accessory process is blunt and project dorsolaterally. In posterior view, the neural canal is wide with a U-shaped posterior edge. The postzygapophyses are laterally tilted. In lateral view, the neural arch starts to rise dorsally on the anterior edge, post the zygophene it is rectangular in shape. The parapophyses protrude anteroventrally past the cotyle.
The specimens most resemble the Daboia palaestinae species, the most common viperid species inhabiting the Mediterranean climate zone of the southern Levant. However, other similar viperids cannot be ruled out. Assuming that we deal with D. palaestinae, the species is mostly common in Mediterranean habitats: Mediterranean maquis, Mediterranean alluvial valleys, the Mediterranean coastal plain and the Mediterranean park forest (supplementary Figure 2i). This species was suggested to be present at two Epipaleolithic sites in Israel: EWT (Lev et al. 2020) and Eynan (Biton et al. 2021).
Intra-site analysis and comparison with EWT
The intra-site comparison was conducted using NISP. The most commonly identified species in the assemblage is the Large Whip Snake (Dolichophis jugularis, 16% of the total assemblage), followed by the European Glass Lizard (Pseudopus apodus, 13%), the Common Viper (Daboia cf. palaestinae, 11%) and the Eastern Montpellier Snake (Malpolon insignitus, 7%). The taxonomic composition displays some intra-site differences (Table 1). Taxonomic diversity varies between the different contexts of the site (Figure 7 (a)), with the highest evenness at the B5 niche (Simpson’s index of 0.8) and the lowest at bedrock basin C-XXIII (Simpson’s index of 0.69). The B5 niche taxonomic richness (NTaxa = 8) is similar to Locus 1, both are higher than Locus 3 (NTaxa = 5) and bedrock basin C-XXIII (NTaxa = 6). The most commonly identified species in the Natufian grave deposits (Loci 1 and 3; both are very similar) are the Large Whip Snake and the European Glass Lizard (Table 1), followed by the viper, the Eastern Montpellier Snake, and the Rough-tail Rock Agama. The two other contexts present a different picture. The European Glass Lizard is by far the most common species in bedrock basin C-XXIII, possibly representing a whole specimen (evident by the representation of almost all body parts). The Glass Lizard is followed by the Eastern Montpellier Snake, the Rough-tail Rock Agama, the Large Whip Snake, and the viper. In contrast, in the B5 Niche, the most common species is the Rough-tail Rock Agama (still only 13% of 65 NISP), followed by a few specimens of the European Glass Lizard, the Large Whip Snake, the Eastern Montpellier Snake and the common viper.
We compare our results to the LN of the contemporaneous record from EWT, 10 km to the west. Similar squamate and amphibian taxa were identified in the EWT assemblage, but their relative abundances differed. The most commonly identified species in the assemblage as a whole was the European Glass Lizard, followed by the Large Whip Snake and the Eastern Montpellier Snake. Unlike the Raqefet assemblage, the viper, the third most common species in Raqefet Cave, is rare in the EWT assemblage (2% of the total assemblage; Lev et al. 2020). Here, too, a sample coming from the least anthropogenic context (Loc. 25) displayed the highest taxonomic evenness (Figure 7 (a)).
There is also a clear body-size difference among contexts, measured by the centrum length of the trunk vertebrae (Figure 7 (b); one-way ANOVA, F = 4.78, p <0.05). The mean centrum length of the vertebrae of B5 Niche is considerably smaller than all other samples (Tukey’s Q p <0.05) and especially compared to Mortar C-XXIII. This pattern is again repeated at EWT where the Loc. 25 sample presents the smallest animals (Figure 7 (b)). Generally, the Raqefet Cave samples contain smaller-bodied squamates compared to the EWT samples, with the exception of Mortar C-XXIII that displays similarly large-bodied reptiles to the domestic contexts of EWT (Inside and Outside the human dwelling and Locus 67) and to the LN.
description: Published as part of Ma'ayan Lev, Dani Nadel, Mina Weinstein-Evron & Reuven Yeshurun, 2022, Squamates and amphibians from the Natufian cemetery of Raqefet Cave, Israel: taphonomy, paleoenvironments and paleoclimate, pp. 2394-2414 in An International Journal of Paleobiology 34 (12) on page 2406, DOI: 10.1080/08912963.2021.2017918, http://zenodo.org/record/7542239