| Python europaeus Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Pythonidae |
| Genus: | Python |
| Species: | †P. europaeus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Python europaeus Szyndlar & Rage, 2003 | |
Python europaeus is an extinct python species. It lived during the early/middle miocene. The holotype is a single trunk vertebra found in France. [1]
Fossilized remains of Python europaeus were first reported in 1958 by French herpetologist Robert Hoffstetter, decades before the species was named, who published that python fossils had been found in the localities of Pontlevoy, La Grive-Saint-Alban and Mont Ceindre (now known as Vieux Collonges) in France. [2] The material from Vieux Collonges would be mentioned in later works published in during the 1970s and 1980s, which refer to the material as an unnamed species of Python . [3] [4] [5] [6] In 2001, the Vieux Collonges material, consisting of over 300 vertebrae and a palatine bone, was illustrated and redescribed in detail by Martin Ivanov, though he believed the incompleteness of the skull made it impossible to identify this material to the species level, and identified it only as a member of the genus Python. [7]
In 2003, a study reanalysed the python fossils first reported by Hoffstetter and determined that they represent a new species, distinguished from others by its lower neural spines. This species was given the name Python europaeus, the specific name referring to Europe, the continent from which its remains originate. A single trunk vertebra from Vieux Collonges (MNHN, VCO 29) was designated as the holotype specimen of this species, with an additional 379 vertebrae and one palatine bone being referred to it. The referred material originates from Vieux Collonges and La Grive-Saint-Alban, however no python remains could be traced from Pontlevoy, leading the authors to suggest that the supposed python fossils from Pontlevoy reported by Hoffstetter are actually remains of Botrophis gaudryi . [8]
Lexovisaurus is a genus of stegosaur from mid-to-Late Jurassic Europe, 165.7-164.7 mya. Fossils of limb bones and armor fragments have been found in middle to late Jurassic-aged strata of England and France.
Streptospondylus is a genus of tetanuran theropod dinosaur known from the Late Jurassic period of France, 161 million years ago. It was a medium-sized predator with an estimated length of 6 meters (19.5 ft) and a weight of 500 kg (1,100 lbs).
Palaeophis is an extinct genus of marine snake that is the type genus of the extinct snake family Palaeophiidae.
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 some of the longest snakes known such as Vasuki, measuring at least 11–15 metres (36–49 ft) long, 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, with more recent evidence suggesting that it is paraphyletic as previously defined.
Albanerpeton is an extinct genus of salamander-like albanerpetontid amphibian found in North America, Europe and Asia first appearing in Cretaceous-aged strata. There are eight described members of the genus, and one undiagnosed species from the Paskapoo Formation, making it by far the most speciose genus in the family. Members of the genus had a robust head and neck which likely allowed them to actively burrow, characteristic of fossorial species, and they lived in a wide range of environments. This genus of amphibian was the last of its order, surviving until into the Early Pleistocene (Gelasian) of northern Italy, and possibly northern Spain, until around 2 million years ago. It likely became extinct when the region developed its present Mediterranean-type climate, having preferred one that was cold and humid. The monophyly of Albanerpeton has recently been questioned, with some authors regarding the genus as paraphyletic.
Lazarussuchus is an extinct genus of amphibious reptile, known from the Cenozoic of Europe. It is the youngest known member of Choristodera, an extinct order of aquatic reptiles that first appeared in the Middle Jurassic. Fossils have been found in Late Paleocene, Late Oligocene, Early Miocene and possibly Late Miocene deposits in France, Germany, and the Czech Republic. Two species have been named: the type species L. inexpectatus ("unexpected") from the late Oligocene of France. and L. dvoraki from the early Miocene of the Czech Republic. It was not a large animal; with the total preserved body and tail length of L. inexpectatus being just over 30 centimetres. A complete specimen of Lazarussuchus with preserved soft tissue was found from the Late Paleocene of France, but has not been assigned to a species.
The Bluff Downs giant python is an extinct species of snake from Queensland, Australia, that lived during the Early Pliocene. Named in 2002, Liasis dubudingala was likely the biggest snake found in Australia, with a total length of up to 9 m (30 ft). This length rivals the largest extant snake species, the reticulated python from Asia and the green anaconda from South America. It may have fed on larger prey such as juvenile diprotodontids, but it is also possible that it was a skilled climber capable of catching birds and arboreal marsupials.
The Albanerpetontidae are an extinct family of small amphibians, native to the Northern Hemisphere during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. The only members of the order Allocaudata, they are thought to be allied with living amphibians belonging to Lissamphibia. Despite a superficially salamander-like bodyform, their anatomy is strongly divergent from modern amphibians in numerous aspects. The fossil record of albanerpetontids spans over 160 million years from the Middle Jurassic to the beginning of the Pleistocene, about 2.13–2 million years ago.
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.
Veratalpa lugdunensiana is a fossil mammal from the Miocene of France. Known from a single astragalus, the species was assigned to its own genus, Veratalpa, by Florentino Ameghino in 1905. He placed it in Talpidae, the family of the moles, but in 1974, John Howard Hutchison argued that the astragalus was not talpid and more likely came from a rodent. The astragalus is about 4.5 mm long, broad for a talpid, and has the head oriented farther from the axis of the foot than in talpids.
Colombophis 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. These vertebrae are characterized by a low neural spine, and subdivided paradiapophysis and thin zygosphene. The vertebrae are medium to large, so the snake would measure about 1.77 metres long, similar in size to the current Boa constrictor.
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.
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.
Lapparentophis is an extinct genus of terrestrial ophidian known from the Kem Kem Beds of Northwestern Africa that was first described by Robert Hoffstetter in 1959. Two species are known: the type species, L. defrennei from Algeria, and a second species, L. ragei from Morocco, which is only known from the holotype MHNM.KK387 and the paratype MHNM.KK388, two isolated trunk vertebrae.
La Grive-Saint-Alban is a geomorphological karstic site located on the territory of the French commune of Saint-Alban-de-Roche, in the Isère department. This area, long exploited for its red clay, is known since the 19th century for the richness of its fossil deposits, distributed from the Bathonian stage to the Miocene.
Plesiotypotherium is an extinct genus of Notoungulate, belonging to the suborder Typotheria. It lived from the Middle to the Late Miocene, and its fossilized remains were discovered in South America.
Naja romani is an extinct species of cobra from the Miocene of Europe. Its remains have been found from France to Russia and suggest a continued growth to larger sizes throughout its range in time. While successful during the early and middle stages of the Miocene, the species disappeared from the fossil record of Central Europe during the late Miocene with the last known specimen being recovered from a site in the modern Caucasus, inferred to have been a refuge for reptiles. Estimates suggest that Naja romani may have reached a length of over 2 m.
Micrurus gallicus is an extinct species of coral snake that lived in France and Germany from 20 to 11.1 million years ago. The remains of this snake consist of some vertebrae. The locality in which it was found was an MN 7 + 8 fissure fill in France called La Grive M, dating from the late Middle Miocene.
La Grive M is a fissure fill site in France known for the fossils of snakes and other organisms found there. The location is described as "near Saint-Alban-de-Roche, about 20 km SE of Lyon." The deposits range in age from the late Early to the late Middle Miocene.
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