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Lapparentophis
''Lapparentophis'' (meaning " Lapparent's snake") is an extinct genus of terrestrial ophidian known from the Kem Kem Beds of Northwestern Africa (Algeria, Morocco & Sudan) that was first described by Robert Hoffstetter in 1959.Hoffstetter, R. (1959). A terrestrial snake in the Lower Cretaceous of the Sahara n French ''Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France, 7e série'' 1:897-902 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 isloated trunk vertebrae. ''Lapparentophis'' was probably the sister taxon of the slightly younger '' Pouitella'' from the Cenomanian of France.Rage, J-C. (1988). A primitive snake in the Cenomanian. n French''C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Sér. II.'' 307, 1027-1032 ''Lapparentophis'' was initially believed to have been a snake, but later studies have found it to fall under Ophidia, the clade A c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lapparentophiidae
Lapparentophiidae (meaning " Lapparent's snakes") are an extinct family of basal terrestrial ophidians known from Early-Late Cretaceous (?Albian-Cenomanian)-aged fossil remains discovered in Algeria, France, Morocco and Sudan. Two genera are known: the type species, '' Lapparentophis'' and the poorly represented genus '' Pouitella''.Rage, J-C. (1988). A primitive snake in the Cenomanian. n French''C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Sér. II.'' 307, 1027-1032 They were initially believed to have been snakes, but later studied have found Lapparentophiidae to fall under Ophidia, the clade which Serpentes Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints ... also belongs to. References {{Taxonbar, from= Q108427342 Prehistoric reptile families Albian first appearances Squamata ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kem Kem Beds
The Kem Kem Group (commonly known as the Kem Kem beds) is a geological group in the Kem Kem region of eastern Morocco, whose strata date back to the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. Its strata are subdivided into two geological formations, the lower Gara Sbaa Formation and the upper Douira Formation. It is exposed on an escarpment along the Algeria–Morocco border. The unit unconformably overlies Paleozoic marine units of Cambrian, Silurian and Devonian age, and is itself capped by limestone platform rock of Cenomanian-Turonian age. It primarily consists of deltaic deposits. The lower Gara Sbaa Formation primarily consists of fine and medium grained sandstone, while the Douira Formation consists of fining-upwards, coarse-to-fine grained sandstones intercalated with siltstones, variegated mudstones, and occasional thin gypsiferous evaporites. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the group.Weishampel, David B; ''et al.'' (2004). "Dinosau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pouitella
''Pouitella'' is an extinct genus of terrestrial ophidian known from the Cenomanian of Brézé and Lussant, France and was first described by J-C. Rage in 1988.Rage, J-C. (1988). A primitive snake in the Cenomanian. n French''C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Sér. II.'' 307, 1027-1032 Only the type species, ''P. pervetus'' is known and the holotype ( Univ. Paris-VI, no. BRZ 1) consists only of middle trunk vertebrae. ''Pouitella'' was probably the sister taxon of the slightly older ''Lapparentophis'' from the ? Albian-Cenomanian of Algeria, Morocco and Sudan. ''Pouitella'' was initially believed to have been a snake, but later studies have found it to fall under Ophidia, the clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ... which Serpentes also belongs to. References {{Taxo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ophidia
__FORCETOC__ Ophidia (also known as Pan-Serpentes) is a group of squamate reptiles including modern snakes and reptiles more closely related to snakes than to other living groups of lizards. Ophidia was defined as the "most recent common ancestor of ''Pachyrhachis'' and Serpentes (modern snakes), and all its descendants" by Lee and Caldwell (1998: 1551). The latter author has used Ophidia in a manner inconsistent with this definition, using it to incorporate other more basal stem-snakes, such as the Late Cretaceous ''Najash rioegrina'' or the Jurassic ''Diablophis'' and ''Portugalophis''. The clade name Ophidia derives from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "small snake". Evolution Modern snakes are thought to have evolved from either burrowing or aquatic lizards during the mid-Cretaceous period, and the earliest known fossils date to around 112 Ma ago. However, the relationship between modern snake and more primitive snake ancestors, many of which retained hind limbs, is l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ophidia
__FORCETOC__ Ophidia (also known as Pan-Serpentes) is a group of squamate reptiles including modern snakes and reptiles more closely related to snakes than to other living groups of lizards. Ophidia was defined as the "most recent common ancestor of ''Pachyrhachis'' and Serpentes (modern snakes), and all its descendants" by Lee and Caldwell (1998: 1551). The latter author has used Ophidia in a manner inconsistent with this definition, using it to incorporate other more basal stem-snakes, such as the Late Cretaceous ''Najash rioegrina'' or the Jurassic ''Diablophis'' and ''Portugalophis''. The clade name Ophidia derives from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "small snake". Evolution Modern snakes are thought to have evolved from either burrowing or aquatic lizards during the mid-Cretaceous period, and the earliest known fossils date to around 112 Ma ago. However, the relationship between modern snake and more primitive snake ancestors, many of which retained hind limbs, is l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Early Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma. Geology Proposals for the exact age of the Barremian-Aptian boundary ranged from 126 to 117 Ma until recently (as of 2019), but based on drillholes in Svalbard the defining early Aptian Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a (OAE1a) was carbon isotope dated to 123.1±0.3 Ma, limiting the possible range for the boundary to c. 122–121 Ma. There is a possible link between this anoxic event and a series of Early Cretaceous large igneous provinces (LIP). The Ontong Java-Manihiki-Hikurangi large igneous province, emplaced in the South Pacific at c. 120 Ma, is by far the largest LIP in Earth's history. The Ontong Java Plateau today covers an area of 1,860,000 km2. In the Indian Ocean another LIP began to form at c. 120 Ma, the Kerguelen P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to the east, and the disputed territory of Western Sahara to the south. Mauritania lies to the south of Western Sahara. Morocco also claims the Spanish exclaves of Ceuta, Melilla and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, and several small Spanish-controlled islands off its coast. It spans an area of or , with a population of roughly 37 million. Its official and predominant religion is Islam, and the official languages are Arabic and Berber; the Moroccan dialect of Arabic and French are also widely spoken. Moroccan identity and culture is a mix of Arab, Berber, and European cultures. Its capital is Rabat, while its largest city is Casablanca. In a region inhabited since the Paleolithic Era over 300,000 years ago, the first Moroccan s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prehistoric Snakes
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of symbols, marks, and images appears very early among humans, but the earliest known writing systems appeared 5000 years ago. It took thousands of years for writing systems to be widely adopted, with writing spreading to almost all cultures by the 19th century. The end of prehistory therefore came at very different times in different places, and the term is less often used in discussing societies where prehistory ended relatively recently. In the early Bronze Age, Sumer in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley Civilisation, and ancient Egypt were the first civilizations to develop their own scripts and to keep historical records, with their neighbors following. Most other civilizations reached the end of prehistory during the following Iron Age. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Serpentes
Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads (cranial kinesis). To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most have only one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca. Lizards have evolved elongate bodies without limbs or with greatly reduced limbs about twenty-five times independently via convergent evolution, leading to many lineages of legless lizards. These resemble snakes, but several common groups of legless lizards have eyelids and external ears, which snakes lack, although this rule is not universal (see Amphisbaenia, Dibamida ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clade
A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, the equivalent Latin term ''cladus'' (plural ''cladi'') is often used in taxonomical literature. The common ancestor may be an individual, a population, or a species (extinct or extant). Clades are nested, one in another, as each branch in turn splits into smaller branches. These splits reflect evolutionary history as populations diverged and evolved independently. Clades are termed monophyletic (Greek: "one clan") groups. Over the last few decades, the cladistic approach has revolutionized biological classification and revealed surprising evolutionary relationships among organisms. Increasingly, taxonomists try to avoid naming taxa that are not clades; that is, taxa that are not monophyletic. Some of the relationships between organisms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snake
Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads (cranial kinesis). To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most have only one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca. Lizards have evolved elongate bodies without limbs or with greatly reduced limbs about twenty-five times independently via convergent evolution, leading to many lineages of legless lizards. These resemble snakes, but several common groups of legless lizards have eyelids and external ears, which snakes lack, altho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its Metropolitan France, metropolitan area extends from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea; overseas territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the North Atlantic, the French West Indies, and many islands in Oceania and the Indian Ocean. Due to its several coastal territories, France has the largest exclusive economic zone in the world. France borders Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Monaco, Italy, Andorra, and Spain in continental Europe, as well as the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Netherlands, Suriname, and Brazil in the Americas via its overseas territories in French Guiana and Saint Martin (island), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
