''Coniophis'' is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

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. Ma ...

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 th ...

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 pro ...

'', 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, the ...

and a largely

lizard Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia alt ...

-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, ...

s. 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 Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, 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 south ...

, 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 Formations, 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 The Wadi Milk Formation is a geological formation in Sudan whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous. Originally, the formation was thought to be Albian to Cenomanian, later research has provided dating to the Campanian to Maastrichtian. Dinosa ...

, Sudan * United States ** Hell Creek Formation, Montana ** Fruitland Formation, New Mexico ** Naturita, Cedar Mountain, Straight Cliffs, Kaiparowits and Wahweap Formations, Utah ** Lance Formation, 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 form ...

( Tiupampan), 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 list of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Brazil, fossiliferous geologic Formation (geology), formation and LagerstätteKellner & Campos, 1999, p.399 of the Itaboraí Basin in Rio ...

, Brazil * France * Aït Ouarhitane Formation, Morocco * United States ** Chadron Formation, North Dakota ** Bridger, Wagon Bed and Wasatch Formations, Wyoming

References

* Adriana María Albino: ' In: ''Ameghiniana'' 27, 1991. S. 337–342. * Sebastián Apesteguía, Hussam Zaher: ' In: ' 440, 2006. , S. 1037–1040. * Judy Gail Armstrong-Ziegler: ' In: ' 52 (2), 1978. S. 480–483. * Marc Augé, Jean-Claude Rage: ' In: ' 92, 2006. , S. 235–253. * Richard Estes: 'In: ' 50, 1976. S. 500–520. * Richard C. Fox: ' In: ' 12, 1975. S. 1557–1563. * James D. Gardner, Richard L. Cifelli: ' In: David M. Unwin: ' 60, 1999. S. 87–100. * Robert Hoffstetter: ' In: Jean Piveteau: ' 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

Fossil distribution

References

Further reading