This list of fossil reptiles described in 2023 is a list of new taxa of fossil reptiles that were described during the year 2023, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to reptile paleontology that occurred in 2023.
Squamates
Squamate research
Redescription of Palaeogekko risgoviensis is published by Villa (2023), who confirms the validity of this species as a distinct taxon, and interprets it as a non-eublepharid gekkonoid of uncertain affinities. Thorn et al. (2023) describe new fossil material of Aethesia frangens from the Pleistocene of Australia, interpret it as a large-bodied (approximately 2.4 kg) blue-tongued skink, and transfer it to the genus Tiliqua. Lacertid, blanid and anguid fossil material, including one of the oldest records of the genus Blanus reported to date, is described from the Early Miocene localities Montaigu-le-Blin and Crémat (France) by Čerňanský (2023), expanding known spatial and temporal distribution of Blanus cf. gracilis during the Early Miocene. Redescription of Uquiasaurus heptanodonta is published by Scanferla & Díaz-Fernández (2023), who interpret the type series of this species as a fossil bone assemblage composed by more than one species of Liolaemus, extending known fossil record of the latter genus. Loréal et al. (2023) describe new fossil material of Pseudopus pannonicus from the Neogene localities across Moldova, Russia and Ukraine, including fossils from the Turolian localities Gaverdovsky and Volchaya Balka in North Caucasus representing the easternmost or some of the easternmost known occurrences of this species, and revise the diagnostic features of P. pannonicus. Georgalis, Mennecart & Smith (2023) describe two teeth of a probable member of the genus Varanus from the Miocene deposits from the Hüenerbach locality (Switzerland), representing of the oldest occurrences of the genus from Europe. A specimen of the ammonite Mammites nodosoides, preserved with bite traces interpreted as most likely resulting from a lethal attack of a mosasaur directed at the apertural part of the ammonite with the head and arm crown, is described from the Turonian Bílá Hora Formation (Czech Republic) by Mazuch et al. (2023). A humerus of a mosasaurine related to Plotosaurus beninsoni and members of the genus Mosasaurus is described from the Maastrichtian Lopez de Bertodano Formation (Antarctica) by O'Gorman et al. (2023), expanding known diversity of Antarctic mosasaurines. LeBlanc et al. (2023) report that tooth replacement in extant snakes occurs by resorption of dentine by odontoclasts from within the pulp of the tooth, and that this mechanism was already present in Yurlunggur and Portugalophis. A study on the evolution of the snake brain, based on data from extant and fossil taxa, is published by Macrì et al. (2023), who interpret their findings as indicative of a burrowing lifestyle with opportunistic behavior at the origin of the crown group of snakes. A palaeophiid vertebra tentatively referred to the genus Pterosphenus is described from the Eocene Ameki Formation (Nigeria) by Georgalis (2023), expanding known diversity of palaeophiids from Nigeria. Averianov (2023) describes new fossil material of Pterosphenus muruntau from the Eocene (Bartonian) deposits from the Dzheroi 2 locality in the Central Kyzylkum Desert (Uzbekistan), and considers P. muruntau to be a valid species. Alfonso-Rojas et al. (2023) describe new fossil material of Colombophis from the Miocene La Victoria and Villavieja formations (Colombia), and interpret its anatomy as supporting the placement of Colombophis among the alethinophidians. Shi et al. (2023) describe an assemblage of early Pliocene snake fossils entombed with the mammalian fauna from Houxushan (Queshan, Henan, China), and interpret the studied fossils as indicative of a warmer and more humid climate in this region during the early Pliocene. Bolet (2023) describes an assemblage of squamate fossils from the Eocene locality of Mazaterón (Spain), providing evidence of the persistence of glyptosaur and anguine anguids, iguanids and lacertids through most of the Iberian Eocene, and including one of the oldest records of amphisbaenians in Europe after the apparent gap in their European fossil record in the MP11–MP15 interval. Georgalis et al. (2023) describe fossil material of lizards and snakes from the Miocene localities in Anatolia (Turkey), including fossil remains tentatively referred to chameleons, potentially representing the oldest occurrences of chameleons from Asia reported to date.