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Anacondas or water boas are a group of large snakes of the genus Eunectes. They are found in tropical South America. Four species are currently recognized.
Colubridae is a family of snakes. With 249 genera, it is the largest snake family. The earliest species of the family date back to the Oligocene epoch. Colubrid snakes are found on every continent except Antarctica.
Palaeophis is an extinct genus of marine snake that is the type genus of the extinct snake family Palaeophiidae.
Dinilysia is an extinct genus of snake from the Late Cretaceous (Coniacian) of South America. The snake reached a length of 6–10 feet and preyed on smaller animals. The shape of the animal's skull does support the suggestion that snakes were burrowers during their ancestry; it is clear that Dinilysia was terrestrial.
Acrodonty is an anatomical placement of the teeth at the summit of the alveolar ridge of the jaw, without sockets, characteristic of bony fish. Functionally, acrodont tooth implantation may be related to strong bite force.
Madtsoiidae is an extinct family of mostly Gondwanan snakes with a fossil record extending from early Cenomanian to late Pleistocene strata located in South America, Africa, India, Australia and Southern Europe. Madtsoiidae include very primitive snakes, which like extant boas and pythons would likely dispatch their prey by constriction. Genera include Gigantophis, one of the longest snakes known, at an estimated 10.7 metres (35 ft), and the Australian Wonambi and Yurlunggur. As a grouping of basal forms the composition and even the validity of Madtsoiidae is in a state of flux as new pertinent finds are described.
Madtsoia is an extinct genus of madtsoiid snakes. It is known from the Eocene of Argentina, the Paleocene of Brazil, the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) of Spain, the Late Cretaceous of India, and the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Madagascar and the Coniacian of Niger. Recovered vertebrae of M. pisdurensis are 1.83 centimetres (0.72 in) long and 4.35 centimetres (1.71 in) tall) and pertain to a snake that was approximately 5 metres (16 ft) long.
Eunectes is a genus of boas found in tropical South America commonly called anacondas. They are a semiaquatic group of snakes and include one of the largest snakes in the world, E. murinus, the green anaconda. Four species are currently recognized.
The South American land mammal ages (SALMA) establish a geologic timescale for prehistoric South American fauna beginning 64.5 Ma during the Paleocene and continuing through to the Late Pleistocene. These periods are referred to as ages, stages, or intervals and were established using geographic place names where fossil materials where obtained.
Boavus is an extinct genus of boa known primarily from Eocene-aged strata of North America. At least three species are known from the Middle Eocene Green River lagerstätte in Wyoming, two species from Eocene strata of Uinta County, and at least one species is known from the middle to late Eocene-aged Sespe Formation of California.
Palaeopython is an extinct genus of snake from the Eocene of Europe. The genus has been used to refer to large Western and Central European snake vertebrae from the Eocene. P. cadurcensis and the tentatively-referred "P." neglectus originate from France; P. ceciliensis originates from Germany; and P. helveticus originates from Switzerland. A species known from multiple well-preserved specimens found in the Messel Pit of Germany, P. fischeri, was named by Stephan Schaal in 2004, but examination of the genus showed that it represented a distinct lineage; it was renamed Eoconstrictor fischeri in 2020 by Agustín Scanferla and Krister T. Smith. Another species from France, P. filholii, was moved to the genus Phosphoroboa in 2021 by Georgalis, Márton Rabi, and Smith. An additional species, P. sardus, was described in 1901 by Alessandro Portis from the Middle Miocene of Monte Albu. However, a reevaluation of the holotype specimen of this species revealed it to actually belong to an indeterminate acanthomorph fish.
Boaedon capensis, the Cape house snake, also known as the brown house snake, is a species of lamprophiid from Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe. They are a non-venomous lamprophiid. This species was previously grouped in the genus Lamprophis but is regrouped with the genus Boaedon.
Didolodontidae is a possibly paraphyletic family of "condylarth" mammals known from the Paleocene to the late Eocene of South America.
Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal, plant, or person, resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and pink eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albino.
Corallus priscus is an extinct species of tree boa which lived during the Early Eocene of Brazil, South America. Fossils of the snake were found in the Itaboraí Formation.
Coniophis is an extinct genus of snakes from the late Cretaceous period. The type species, Coniophis precedes, was about 7 cm long and had snake-like teeth and body form, with a skull and a largely lizard-like bone structure. It probably ate small vertebrates. The fossil remains of Coniophis were first discovered at the end of the 19th century in the Lance Formation of the US state of Wyoming, and were described in 1892 by Othniel Charles Marsh. For the genus Coniophis, a number of other species have been described. Their affiliation is, however, poorly secured, mostly based on vertebrae descriptions from only a few fossils.
Pterosphenus is an extinct genus of marine snake of the Eocene period.
Waincophis is a genus of prehistoric snake known from Paleocene and Eocene deposits of what is now Brazil and Argentina. Three species have been described.
Tremacyllus is an extinct genus of hegetotheriids. It lived from the Late Miocene to the Late Pleistocene and its fossilized remains were discovered in South America.
Martinmiguelia is an extinct genus of Notoungulate, belonging to the family Leontiniidae. It lived during the Middle Eocene, and its fossil remains were found in South America.
References
- ↑ Chubutophis at Fossilworks.org
- 1 2 Albino, Adriana Maria. "Snakes from the Paleocene and Eocene of Patagonia (Argentina): paleoecology and coevolution with mammals." Historical Biology 7.1 (1993): 51-69.
Fossil snakes | |
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| Genera with hindlimbs and a sacrum | |
| Genera with hindlimbs only | |
| Madtsoiidae | |
| Dinilysiidae | |
| Boidae | |
| Pythonidae | |
| Palaeophiidae | |
| Viperidae | |
| Elapidae | |
| Psammophiidae | |
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