Colombophis

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Colombophis
Temporal range: Mid-Late Miocene (Friasian-Huayquerian)
~15.97–7.25  Ma
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Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Infraorder: Alethinophidia
Genus: Colombophis
Hoffstetter & Rage 1977
Species
  • C. portaiHoffstetter & Rage 1977 (type)
  • C. spinosusHsiou et al. 2010

Colombophis ("snake of Colombia" in Greek) is an extinct genus of snakes of the clade Alethinophidia, a group of "primitive" snakes. The genus was first recognized in the Villavieja Formation in the town of Los Mangos, part of the known fossil fauna of La Venta in the department of Huila (Colombia), in the middle Miocene. With the remains of a fossil snake was erected the species Colombophis portai in 1977, based on forty fragmentary vertebrae. [1] These vertebrae are characterized by a low neural spine, and subdivided paradiapophysis and thin zygosphen. The vertebrae are medium to large, so the snake would measure about 1.77 metres (5 ft 10 in) long, similar in size to the current Boa constrictor. [2]

Contents

Taxonomy

Remains found in the Brazilian Solimões Formation in the Purus River area (Late Miocene), with vertebrae shorter than wide, thick zygosphen and high neural thorn, were classified as a new species, Colombophis spinosus; [3] fossil remains found in Venezuela (Urumaco area) and Colombia (La Venta) also seem to belong to this new species rather than C. portai. [3] Traditionally, Colombophis was taken as a representative of the family primitive Aniliidae, fossorial and primitive snakes that still retained some traces of lizard as Anilius , the false coral. However, retention of primitive traits that identify Colombophis and other members of the superfamily Anilioidea (including features already found in the Cretaceous snake Dinilysia patagonica) indicate that this group is paraphyletic and that for now, Colombophis remains as an Alethinophidia of uncertain classification. [3] Moreover, their remains indicate that the ecosystems of South America from the mid-Miocene were humid tropical environments as reinforces the finding of other reptile faunas of Urumaco, La Venta and Solimões as Paradracaena and Eunectes stirtoni ; Colombophis, like Dinilysia, must be adapted to move and feed in semi-aquatic environments. [3] Fossils were also found in the Socorro Formation of Venezuela.

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<i>Langstonia</i> South American terrestrial crocodylomorph

Langstonia is an extinct genus of notosuchian crocodylomorph of the family Sebecidae. It lived in the middle Miocene, in the "Monkey Beds" of the Colombian Villavieja Formation. Langstonia was named in 2007 by Alfredo Paolillo and Omar Linares for fossils originally described by Langston in 1965 as Sebecus huilensis. Thus, the type species is L. huilensis.(Paolillo & Linares 2007)

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<i>Gryposuchus</i> Extinct genus of gavialoid crocodilian

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Hesperogavialis is an extinct genus of gryposuchine gavialid. Fossils have been found from Venezuela and Brazil that date back to the Middle to Late Miocene. Although Hesperogavialis is one of the best known gavialoids from South America, the posterior portion of the skull is still unknown, making any attempts at classification within the family somewhat more difficult than other gavialoids in which much of the skull is present. The genus possibly comprises three species. The type species, H. cruxenti, has been found in the Urumaco Formation in Venezuela. A second possible species, named H. bocquentini, has been described from the Solimões Formation in Acre, Brazil and can be distinguished from H. cruxenti by the asymmetry seen in the anterior portion of the nasals and the small distance between alveoli. A third species can be recognized from the same locality in Acre, although a formal name has yet to be given to it.

Ikanogavialis is an extinct genus of gryposuchine gavialoid crocodilian. Fossils have been found in the Urumaco Formation in Urumaco, Venezuela and the Solimões Formation of Brazil. The strata from which remains are found are late Miocene in age, rather than Pliocene as was once thought. A possible member of this genus survived into the Late Holocene in the Solomon Islands.

Prepotherium is an extinct genus of Prepotheriina ground sloths that lived during the Miocene period. Fossils of Prepotherium have been found in the Collón Curá and Santa Cruz Formations of Argentina.

<i>Piscogavialis</i> genus of reptiles

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<i>Anachlysictis</i> genus of mammals

Anachlysictis gracilis is an extinct carnivorous mammal belonging to the group Sparassodonta, which were metatherians that inhabited South America during the Cenozoic. Unlike other remains assigned to the family Thylacosmilidae that had been found previously, Anachlysictis is the first record of such borhyaenoids in northern South America, and also most primitive and ancient in the family. This species was found in the Villavieja Formation in the area of La Venta in Colombia, a famous fossil deposit in the Middle Miocene, based on fragments that include a front portion of the lower jaw, with an incipient molar tooth and a piece of carnassial from the front of the maxilla.

<i>Xenastrapotherium</i> genus of mammals (fossil)

Xenastrapotherium is an extinct genus of astrapothere, a type of hoofed herbivorous mammal, native to South America, which lived in the Middle to Late Miocene period, typically during the Laventan stage. It is a member of the family Astrapotheriidae in the subfamily Uruguaytheriinae, large astrapotheres, equipped with a trunk-like nose and protruding teeth, similar to the elephants, but their tusks were the canine teeth, not the incisors. Xenastrapotherium was a genus widely distributed in northern South America, in contrast to other species of astrapotheres which lived in the area of the Southern Cone of the continent. It differed from other astrapotheres by having two lower incisors on each side of the jaw and the tusks have a pronounced longitudinal curvature, although their general shape and size are probably very similar to Astrapotherium, whose weight would be 900 to 1,500 kilograms, comparable to the current black rhino.

Nuciruptor is an extinct genus of New World monkeys from the Middle Miocene. Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Colombia. The type species is N. rubricae.

Eunectes stirtoni is an extinct species of anaconda that lived during the Middle Miocene (Laventan) in the area of the present-day Tatacoa Desert. Fossils of the species have been found in the Honda Group at La Venta, Colombia. The validity of this species has been called into question.

<i>Boreostemma</i> genus of mammals (fossil)

Boreostemma is an extinct genus of glyptodonts from northern South America. Fossils assigned to the genus were first described as belonging to Asterostemma from southern South America, but have been placed in the new genus Boreostemma by Carlini et al. in 2008. The type species is B. pliocena. Fossils of Boreostemma have been found in the Honda Group of Colombia, in Peru and Venezuela.

<i>Miocochilius</i> genus of mammals

Miocochilius is an extinct genus of small notoungulate mammals native to South America. The genus lived during the Middle Miocene epoch. The genus contains two described species, the type species M. anomopodus described in 1953 by Ruben Arthur Stirton and M. federicoi, described and included in the genus by Darin A. Croft.

Dracaena colombiana is an extinct species of caiman lizards from northern South America. Fossils of Dracaena colombiana have been found in the Honda Group of Colombia. The species was described as a member of the tegus; Tupinambis huilensis by Estes in 1961.

References

  1. Hoffstetter, R. and Rage, J.C. 1977. Le gisement de vertébrés miocènes de La Venta (Colombie) et sa faune de serpents. Annales de Paléontologie (Vertébrés) 63: 161–190.
  2. Hecht, M.K. and LaDuke, T.C. 1997. Limbless tetrapods. In: R.F. Kay, R.H. Madden, R.L. Cifelli, and J.J. Flynn (eds.), Vertebrate Paleontology in the Neotropics: The Miocene Fauna of La Venta, Colombia, 95–99. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Hsiou, A.S., Albino, A.M., and Ferigolo, J. 2010. Reappraisal of the South American Miocene snakes of the genus Colombophis, with description of a new species. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 55 (3): 365–379