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Madtsoiidae
Madtsoiidae is an extinct family of mostly Gondwanan snakes with a fossil record extending from early Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) 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 '' Madtsoia'', one of the longest snakes known, at an estimated , 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. Although madtsoiids persisted on Australia until the Pleistocene, they largely went extinct elsewhere during the Eocene. However, some species persisted in South America and India through the Oligocene. Description Madtsoiidae was first classified as a subfamily ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sanajeh
''Sanajeh'' (meaning "ancient gape" in Sanskrit) is a genus of late Cretaceous Madtsoiidae, madtsoiid snake from western India. A fossil described in 2010 in paleontology, 2010 from the Lameta Formation was found coiled around an egg and an adjacent skeleton of a 50 cm (19 in) long sauropod dinosaur hatchling. This suggests that the snake preyed on hatchling sauropods at nesting sites. Description The holotype specimen, known as GSI/GC/2901–2906, consists of a nearly complete skull and lower jaws, and 72 precloacal vertebrae and ribs preserved in five articulated sections. It was found from Maastrichtian-age calcareous sandstones outcropping in the village of Dholi Dungri in Gujarat. ''Sanajeh'' was around in length based on the length of the skull, which is . On the side of the skull there is an opening called the juxtastapedial recess, which is characteristically rectangular. The juxtastapedial recess would have contained cranial nerves associated with the ear, while ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yurlunggur
''Yurlunggur'' is a genus of fossil snake in the extinct family Madtsoiidae. This genus was a part of the extinct megafauna of Australia, and contains the species ''Yurlunggur camfieldensis''. ''Y. camfieldensis'' was a large apex predator that typically reached in length, with one vertebra from the Wyandotte Creek suggesting a maximum length of . It persisted in the region from the Oligocene until the Miocene epoch. It is described as a member of the family Madtsoiidae, that includes the species such as ''Wonambi naracoortensis'', present in Australia until the Pleistocene. The name of the genus is derived from traditional name given by the people of Arnhem Land to the Rainbow serpent. They closely resemble '' Varanus'' (monitors) more than small burrowing lizards. John Scanlon has presented this as evidence of descent from the former, rather than burrowing ancestors that evolved into the elongate and legless snakes. The fossil material described by this species includes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gigantophis
''Gigantophis'' is an extinct genus represented by its sole member ''Gigantophis garstini'', a giant snake. Before the Paleocene constrictor genus ''Titanoboa'' was described from Colombia in 2009, ''Gigantophis garstini'' was regarded as the largest snake ever recorded. It lived about 40 million years ago during the Eocene epoch of the Paleogene Period, in the Paratethys Sea, within the northern Sahara, where Egypt and Algeria are now located. Description Size Jason Head, of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, has compared fossil ''Gigantophis garstini'' vertebrae to those of the largest modern snakes, and concluded that the extinct snake could grow from in length. If , it would have been more than 10% longer than its largest living relatives. Later estimates, based on allometric equations scaled from the articular processes of tail vertebrae referred to ''Gigantophis garstini'', revised the length of ''Gigantophis garstini'' to . Discovery The species is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wonambi
''Wonambi'' is an extinct genus of madtsoiid snakes that lived in late Neogene to late Quaternary Australia. Species of ''Wonambi'' were constrictor snakes unrelated to Australian pythons. Description ''Wonambi'' was a fairly large snake, with the type species (''W. naracoortensis'') exceeding long and the other species (''W. barriei'') reaching less than long. It was a non-venomous, constrictor snake, and may have been an ambush predator that killed its prey by constriction. The head of the animal was small, restricting the size of its prey. Taxonomy and naming ''Wonambi naracoortensis'' was first described from fossils collected at Naracoorte, South Australia, the first extinct snake to be found in Australia. It was given the name Wonambi from the description, by the local Aboriginal people, of a serpent of the Dreamtime. This serpent, a mythological being commonly referred to by both Aboriginal people and Europeans as the Rainbow Serpent, was often held responsible ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Menarana
''Menarana'' is an extinct genus of madtsoiid snake which existed in Madagascar during the Late Cretaceous. The type species is ''Menarana nosymena''. Several vertebrae and rib fragments as well as part of the basicranium have been found from the Maastrichtian-age Maevarano Formation in the Mahajanga Basin. Paleobiology ''Menarana'' was around long and was probably fossorial, burrowing with its head. Evidence of a fossorial lifestyle can be found in its braincase, as the bones of the basicranium are highly fused to withstand stresses from burrowing. This degree of fusion is otherwise only seen in caecilians, amphisbaenians, and uropeltid snakes, all of which are highly specialized burrowers. The vertebrae are depressed and have very low neural spines similar to those of living burrowing snakes. The atlas, which is the first vertebra of the spine closest to the head, may show adaptations toward structural integrity under loads that would be encountered during tunnel excavation. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Powellophis
''Powellophis'' is a genus of extinct Madtsoiid snake from the Mealla Formation of Argentina, dating back to the Paleocene. It is a monospecific genus, with the only species being ''P. andina''. The genus name means " Jaime Powell's Snake". The name is contructed from the words Powell and ophis, the first in honor of the scientist who recovered the specimen, the late Dr. Jaime Powell, and the second meaning snake in Greek. The species name andina is named for the Andes region of Northwestern Argentina, where the fossil remains of the animal were discovered. The holotype of ''Powellophis'', specimen PVL 4714, preserves a nearly complete and articulated skeleton in nine continuous siltstone blocks. However, only blocks 4714-2 to 4714-9 were available for study. This means that other blocks from the holotype specimen are not included in the paper naming the genus. The animal shares some features of its vertebral morphology with other mid to large sized madtsoiids. ''Powellophis'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madtsoia Bai
''Madtsoia'' is an extinct genus of madtsoiid snakes. It is known from the Eocene of Argentina (''M. bai''), the Paleocene of Brazil (''M. camposi''), the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of India (''M. pisdurensis''), and the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Madagascar (''M. madagascariensis''). The type species (''M. bai'') was the largest with an estimated length of , and the other three species were smaller. A long ''M. madagascariensis'' would have weighed , but an isolated specimen suggests that this species reached in maximum length. Distribution Fossils of ''Madtsoia'' have been found in:''Madtsoia'' at .org ;Coniacian * |
Robert Hoffstetter
Robert Julien Hoffstetter (11 June 1908 in Fargniers – 29 December 1999 in Gennevilliers) was a French taxonomist and herpetologist who was influential in categorizing reptiles. He described the snake families Bolyeriidae and Madtsoiidae Madtsoiidae is an extinct family of mostly Gondwanan snakes with a fossil record extending from early Cenomanian ( Upper Cretaceous) to late Pleistocene strata located in South America, Africa, India, Australia and Southern Europe. Madts .... Selected bibliography *''Faune du gisement précolombien d'Anse-Belleville: Reptiles'', 1946 *''Les mammifères pléistocènes de la république de l'Equateur'', 1952 *''Notice sur les titres et travaux scientifiques'', 1955 *''Contribution à l'étude des Orophodontoidea, gravigrades cuirassés de la Patagonie'', 1956 *''Le gisement de ternifine'', 1963 *''Historique et géologie'', 1963 *''Révision des Artiodactyles de l'Eocène moyen de Lissieu (Rhône)'', 1972 *''Rongeurs caviomorphes de l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alamitophis
''Alamitophis'' is a genus of fossil snakes in the extinct family of Madtsoiidae. Its length is estimated at and it probably fed on frogs, lizards, and small mammals. It is found in Australia (Tingamarra Fauna, after which ''A. tingamarra'' is named) and Argentina (Allen, La Colonia and Los Alamitos Formations, after which the genus is named).''Alamitophis'' at Fossilworks
Fossilworks is a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database
The Paleobiology Database is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals ... .org
Referen ...
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Madtsoia
''Madtsoia'' is an extinct genus of madtsoiid snakes. It is known from the Eocene of Argentina (''M. bai''), the Paleocene of Brazil (''M. camposi''), the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of India (''M. pisdurensis''), and the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Madagascar (''M. madagascariensis''). The type species (''M. bai'') was the largest with an estimated length of , and the other three species were smaller. A long ''M. madagascariensis'' would have weighed , but an isolated specimen suggests that this species reached in maximum length. Distribution Fossils of ''Madtsoia'' have been found in:''Madtsoia'' at .org ;Coniacian * |
Snakes
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, D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nidophis
''Nidophis'' is an extinct genus of Madtsoiid snake that inhabited on Hațeg island in what is now Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S .... References Fossil taxa described in 2013 Monotypic snake genera Fossils of Romania Cretaceous Romania Maastrichtian genus extinctions Prehistoric snakes {{Snake-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
