Published September 17, 2020 | Version v1
Taxonomic treatment Open

Colubridae Oppel 1811

Description

COLUBRIDAE gen. et sp. indet. A

LOCALITY AND AGE. —Sherullah 9, Khordkabul basin, Afghanistan, late Miocene, late Vallesian-basal Turolian transition, MN10/11.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Two incomplete vertebrae (AFG 1670).

DESCRIPTION AND COMMENTS

The neural arch and zygapophyses of the two specimens are damaged. The centrum is narrow with a convex ventral surface. The subcentral ridges are not prominent, they slightly diverge anteriorly. The haemal keel is thin, blunt, and not very prominent. The centrum is similar to that of snakes belonging to the “colubrine type ” (sensu Szyndlar 1991a).

Today, the Colubridae represent about three-fourth of the snake species. The earliest colubrid was recovered from the late (latest: Benammi et al. 2001) Eocene of Thailand (Rage et al. 1992). Since the early Miocene, colubrids have been the dominant constituents of snake faunas (Rage 1987).

Notes

Published as part of Lapparent, France de, Bailon, Salvador, Augé, Marc Louis & Rage, Jean-Claude, 2020, Amphibians and reptiles from the Neogene of Afghanistan, pp. 409-426 in Geodiversitas 42 (22) on page 420, DOI: 10.5252/geodiversitas2020v42a22, http://zenodo.org/record/4447648

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Linked records

Additional details

Biodiversity

Scientific name authorship
Oppel
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Order
Squamata
Family
Colubridae
Taxon rank
family
Taxonomic concept label
Colubridae Oppel, 1811 sec. Lapparent, Bailon, Augé & Rage, 2020

References

  • SZYNDLAR Z. 1991 a. - A review of Neogene and Quaternary snakes of Central and Eastern Europe. Part I: Scolecophidia, Boidae, Colubrinae. Estudios Geologicos 47: 103 - 126. https: // doi. org / 10.3989 / egeol. 91471 - 2412
  • BENAMMI M., CHAIMANEE Y., JAEGER J. J., SUTEETHORN V. & DUCROCQ S. 2001. - Eocene Krabi Basin (Southern Thailand): Paleontology and magnetostratigraphy. Geological Society of America Bulletin 113: 265 - 273. https: // doi. org / df 3 nrn
  • RAGE J. C., BUFFETAUT E., BUFFETAUT- TONG H., CHAIMANEE Y., DUCROCQ S., JAEGER J. - J. & SUTEETHORN V. 1992. - A colubrid snake in the late Eocene of Thailand: The oldest known Colubridae (Reptilia, Serpentes). Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences, Paris, serie II, 314: 1085 - 1089. https: // gallica. bnf. fr / ark: / 12148 / bpt 6 k 54931689 / f 337. item
  • RAGE J. - C. 1987. - Fossil History, in SEIGEL R. A., COLLINS J. T. & NOVAK S. S. (eds), Snakes: Ecology, and Evolutionary Biology. McGraw-Hill Inc., New York: 51 - 76.