''Coniophis'' is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

snake 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 j ...

s from the late

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

period. The type species, ''

Coniophis precedes ''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 pr ...

'', was about 7 cm long and had snake-like teeth and body form, with a

skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, th ...

and a largely lizard-like bone structure. It probably ate small

vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () (chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, with c ...

s. The fossil remains of ''Coniophis'' were first discovered at the end of the 19th century in the

Lance Formation The Lance (Creek) Formation is a division of Late Cretaceous (dating to about 69 - 66 Ma) rocks in the western United States. Named after Lance Creek, Wyoming, the microvertebrate fossils and dinosaurs represent important components of the late ...

of the US state of

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

, 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.

Fossil distribution

Fossils of ''Coniophis'' have been found in: ;Cretaceous * Milk River and

Frenchman Formation The Frenchman Formation is stratigraphic unit of Late Cretaceous (late Maastrichtian) age in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. It is present in southern Saskatchewan and the Cypress Hills of southeastern Alberta. The formation was defined b ...

s, Canada (Alberta, Saskatchewan) *

Intertrappean Beds The Intertrappean Beds are a Late Cretaceous geologic formation in India. The beds are found as interbeds between Deccan Traps layers. Indeterminate theropod and pterosaur remains have been recovered from the formation, as well as dinosaur eggs ...

, India * Wadi Milk Formation, Sudan * United States **

Hell Creek Formation The Hell Creek Formation is an intensively studied division of mostly Upper Cretaceous and some lower Paleocene rocks in North America, named for exposures studied along Hell Creek, near Jordan, Montana. The formation stretches over portions of ...

, Montana **

Fruitland Formation The Fruitland Formation is a geologic formation found in the San Juan Basin in the states of New Mexico and Colorado, in the United States of America. It contains fossils dating it to the Campanian age of the late Cretaceous.

, New Mexico ** Naturita, Cedar Mountain, Straight Cliffs,

Kaiparowits The Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah is a federally recognized tribe of Southern Paiute and Ute Indians in southwestern Utah. Reservation The Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah (PITU) has a reservation composed of ten separate parcels of land, located in fo ...

and

Wahweap Formation The Wahweap Formation of the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument is a geological formation in southern Utah and northern Arizona, around the Lake Powell region, whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous (Campanian stage). Dinosaur r ...

s, Utah **

, Wyoming ;Paleocene *

Santa Lucía Formation The Santa Lucía Formation is a Maastrichtian to Paleocene (Danian) geologic formation in Bolivia. Fossil ornithopod tracks have been reported from the Cretaceous lower part of the formation.Weishampel, et al., 2004, pp.517-607 It is the type fo ...

(

Tiupampan The Tiupampan ( es, Tiupampense) age is a period of geologic time (64.5–62.5 Ma) within the Paleocene epoch of the Paleogene used more specifically with South American land mammal ages (SALMA). It is the oldest SALMA age and precedes the Peligr ...

), Bolivia * Jbel Guersif Formation, Morocco *

Fort Union Formation The Fort Union Formation is a geologic unit containing sandstones, shales, and coal beds in Wyoming, Montana, and parts of adjacent states. In the Powder River Basin, it contains important economic deposits of coal, uranium, and coalbed methane. ...

, Montana, United States ;Eocene *

Itaboraí Formation The Itaboraí Formation ( pt, Formação Itaboraí) is a highly fossiliferous geologic formation and LagerstätteKellner & Campos, 1999, p.399 of the Itaboraí Basin in Rio de Janeiro, southeastern Brazil. The formation reaching a thickness of i ...

, Brazil * France * Aït Ouarhitane Formation, Morocco * United States **

Chadron Formation Chadron Formation is a rock formation in North Dakota, South Dakota, northwestern Nebraska, and eastern Wyoming. It is named after the town of Chadron, Nebraska Chadron ( ) is a city and the county seat of Dawes County, in the state of Nebras ...

, North Dakota ** Bridger, Wagon Bed and

Wasatch Formation The Wasatch Formation (Tw)Shroba & Scott, 2001, p.3 is an extensive highly fossiliferous geologic formation stretching across several basins in Idaho, Montana Wyoming, Utah and western Colorado.Jean Piveteau Jean Piveteau (23 September 1899 – 7 March 1991) was a distinguished French vertebrate paleontologist. He was elected to the French Academy of Sciences in 1956 and served as the institute's president in 1973. References External links Membe ...

: ' Masson, Paris 1955. S. 606–662 * J. Alan Holman: ' Indiana University Press, Bloomington 2000. . * Nicholas R. Longrich, Bhart-Anjan S. Bhullar, Jacques A. Gauthier: ' In: ''Nature'', 2012. , S. 1–4. * Nicholas R. Longrich, Bhart-Anjan S. Bhullar, Jacques A. Gauthier: ' In: ''Nature'', 2012. , S. 1–10. * Othniel Charles Marsh: ' In: ' 43, 1892. S. 449–453. * Paul Orman McGrew, Max K. Hecht, John M. Hummel, George Gaylord Simpson, Albert Elmer Wood: ' In: ' 117, 1959. S. 117–176.
Volltext
* Jean-Claude Rage: ' In: ''Palaeontographica Abteilung A'' 25, 1988. S. 3–27. * Jean-Claude Rage, C. Werner: ' In: ''Palaeontologia Africana'' 35, 1999. S. 85–110. * Jean-Claude Rage, Guntupalli V.R. Prasad, Sunil Bajpai: ' In: ' 25, 2004. , S. 425–434. * Jean-Claude Rage, Marc Augé: ' In: ''Geobios'' 42, 2010. , 253–268. {{Taxonbar, from=Q1126074 Cretaceous snakes Eocene snakes Turonian genus first appearances Priabonian extinctions Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary Late Cretaceous reptiles of Africa Late Cretaceous reptiles of Asia Fossils of India Late Cretaceous reptiles of North America Cretaceous Canada Cretaceous United States Fossils of Canada Fossils of the United States Eocene reptiles of Africa Fossils of Morocco Eocene reptiles of Europe Eocene France Fossils of France Paleocene reptiles of North America Paleogene United States Paleocene reptiles of South America Paleocene Bolivia Fossils of Bolivia Tiupampan Eocene Brazil Fossils of Brazil Itaboraian Fossil taxa described in 1892 Taxa named by Othniel Charles Marsh Paleocene reptiles of Africa Eocene reptiles of North America Eocene reptiles of South America Paleocene snakes Cretaceous India Cretaceous Sudan