Large palaeophiid and nigerophiid snakes from Paleogene Trans-Saharan Seaway deposits of Mali
| Autor: | Eric M. Roberts, Jacob A. McCartney, O`leary, Leif Tapanila |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
010506 paleontology Tamaguelelt Formation Body size Mali 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Marine species Paleontology lcsh:GN282-286.7 lcsh:Fossil man. Human paleontology lcsh:QE701-760 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Tilemsi Valley Serpentes biology Tropics biology.organism_classification Geography Teberemt Formation lcsh:Paleontology body size Palaeophis Paleogene Large size Gao Trench |
| Zdroj: | Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, Vol 63, Iss 2, Pp 207-220 (2018) |
| ISSN: | 1732-2421 0567-7920 |
| Popis: | The Paleogene was a time of high diversity for snakes, and was characterized by some of the largest species known to have existed. Among these snakes were pan-Tethyan marine species of Nigerophiidae and Palaeophiidae. The latter family included the largest sea snake, Palaeophis colossaeus, known from the Trans-Saharan Seaway of Mali during the Eocene. This paper describes new material collected from Malian Trans-Saharan Seaway deposits, including additional material of Palaeophis colossaeus, a new, large species of nigerophiid, Amananulam sanogoi gen. et sp. nov., and a medium-sized snake of indeterminate affinities. The material provides new information on the intracolumnar variation of the vertebral column in Palaeophis colossaeus. We estimate the total length of each species by regression of vertebral measurements on body size. Both Palaeophis colossaeus and Amananulam sanogoi gen. et sp. nov. are the largest or among the largest members of their respective clades. The large size of Tethyan snakes may be indicative of higher temperatures in the tropics than are present today. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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