''Lapparentophis'' (meaning " Lapparent's snake") 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 ...

of terrestrial ophidian known from the

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, ...

of Northwestern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

(

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

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 ...

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

) that was first described by

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 Mad ...

in 1959.Hoffstetter, R. (1959). A terrestrial snake in the Lower Cretaceous of the Sahara

n French N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

''Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France, 7e série'' 1:897-902 Two species are known: the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

, ''L. defrennei'' from

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

, and a second species, ''L. ragei'' from

, 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 The Cenomanian is, in the ICS' geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or the lowest stage of the Upper Cretaceous Series. An age is a unit of geochronology; it is a unit of time; the stage is a unit in the s ...

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, Pac ...

.Rage, J-C. (1988). A primitive snake in the

''C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Sér. II.'' 307, 1027-1032 ''Lapparentophis'' was initially believed to have been a

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 ...

, 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

{{reflist Prehistoric snakes Snake genera Fossil taxa described in 1959