Eophis

Eophis Temporal range: Bathonian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Clade:	Ophidia
Genus:	† Eophis Caldwell et al. 2015
Type species
Eophis underwoodi Caldwell et al. 2015

Eophis is an early genus of stem-snake (clade Ophidia) ^[1] containing one species, Eophis underwoodi, from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) from the Forest Marble Formation of United Kingdom. It is known from a fragmentary dentary from Kirtlington Quarry. It was previously interpreted as an anguimorph lizard. The placement of Eophis as a stem snake was re-affirmed by subsequent analyses. ^[2]

Phylogeny

Cladogram based in the phylogenetic analysis by Caldwell et al. (2015): ^[1]

Ophidia	Portugalophis Parviraptor Eophis Unnamed sp. Diablophis Dinilysia Madtsoiidae Najash Coniophis Serpentes (Modern snakes)

See also

• Paleontology portal

References

1. Caldwell, M. W.; Nydam, R. L.; Palci, A.; Apesteguía, S. N. (2015). "The oldest known snakes from the Middle Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous provide insights on snake evolution". Nature Communications. 6: 5996. Bibcode:2015NatCo...6.5996C. doi: 10.1038/ncomms6996 . hdl: 11336/37995 . PMID   25625704.
2. Harrington, Sean M.; Reeder, Tod W. (2017-02-18). "Phylogenetic inference and divergence dating of snakes using molecules, morphology and fossils: new insights into convergent evolution of feeding morphology and limb reduction". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 121 (2): 379–394. doi: 10.1093/biolinnean/blw039 . ISSN   0024-4066.