A single middle trunk vertebra from the Sakurado Facies of the Yamanouchi Member of the Akeyo Formation (late Early Miocene), Mizunami City, central Japan, is identified as cf.Trimeresurus (a living crotaline genus) based on the very close morphological similarity of the fossil to the modern and Pleistocene species Trimeresurus flavoviridis (HALLOWELL, 1861) and on zoogeographic grounds. This is the oldest record of the Crotalinae from Asia. Additional fossil material of this crotaline is needed in order to make a more specific identification.
The first discoveries of European pit vipers (Crotalinae gen. et sp. indet. A and B) are reported from the Ukrainian Miocene (MN 9a) locality of Gritsev. Based on perfectly preserved maxillaries, two species closely related to pit vipers of the 'Agkistrodon' complex are represented at the site. It is suggested that the European fossil representatives of the 'Agkistrodon' complex are Asiatic immigrants. Pit vipers probably never expanded into the broader areas of Europe during their geological history.
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