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Palaeophiidae
Palaeophiidae is an extinct family of marine snake within the infraorder Alethinophidia. Species within this family lived from the Late Cretaceous to the Late Eocene, approximately from 70.6 to 33.9 million years ago.Palaeophiidae at .org Phylogenetic analysis has proposed them as being related to the extant file snakes (family ), although these results have been disputed since and new analysis show this relationship as poorly supported. Fossil records provide evidence sugg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palaeophis
''Palaeophis'' ('ancient snake') is an extinct genus of marine snake that is the type genus of the extinct snake family Palaeophiidae. Described species within this genus lived in the Eocene epoch, with some unnamed or questionable records from Cenomanian and Maastrichtian. Fossils of species within this genus have been found in England, France, Denmark, Morocco and Mali. Remains have also been found in North America, including Maryland and Virginia (from the early Eocene Nanjemoy Formation),Blake, S. F. "Note on a vertebra of Palaeophis from the Eocene of Maryland." Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 31.12 (1941): 501-503. GeorgiaParmley, Dennis, and Harold W. Reed. "Size and age class estimates of North American Eocene palaeopheid snakes." Georgia Journal of Science 61.4 (2003): 220. and Mississippi.Holman, J. Alan. "Palaeophis casei, new species, a tiny palaeophid snake from the early Eocene of Mississippi." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 2.2 (1982): 163-166. D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pterosphenus
''Pterosphenus'' is an extinct genus of marine snake of the Eocene period. Classification ''Pterosphenus'' belong to the Alethinophidia snakes, a clade which includes all snakes outside of Scolecophidia, blind and Leptotyphlopidae, thread snakes, and more specifically to the extinct Palaeophiidae. Its closest relative is ''Palaeophis'', of which both belong to the subfamily Palaeophiinae. Five species are known, ''P. schucherti'' from North America, ''P. sheppardi'' from South America, ''P. schweinfurthi'' from northern Africa and ''P. biswasi'', and ''P. kutchensis'' from Asia. Description While only known from partial remains, enough has been found of ''Pterosphenus'' to suggest it was a large reptile. Based on the regression model used to estimate the length of Boidae, boids, the most reliable length estimate lies between ; the largest vertebra may have belonged to an individual reaching in length. Its body was strongly laterally compressed as an adaptation to pelagic li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archaeophis
''Archaeophis proavus'' is an extinct species of marine palaeophiid snake from the Eocene of Monte Bolca, Italy. It had the highest vertebral count known among snakes, with 565 vertebrae. Massalongo also described a second species in the genus, ''A. bolcensis'', but this was subsequently placed in the new genus '' Anomalophis.'' Another species, ''A. turkmenicus'' from Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ..., is also thought to most likely belong to a distinct, currently undescribed genus. References Eocene snakes Fossils of Italy Fossil taxa described in 1859 {{snake-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alethinophidia
:''Common names: advanced snakes.'' The Alethinophidia are an infraorder of snakes that includes all snakes other than blind snakes and thread snakes. Snakes have long been grouped into families within Alethinophidia based on their morphology, especially that of their teeth. More modern phylogenetic hypotheses using genetic data support the recognition of 19 extant families (see below), although the taxonomy of alethinophidian snakes has long been debated, and ultimately the decision whether to assign a particular clade to a particular Linnaean rank (such as a superfamily, family, or subfamily) is arbitrary. Etymology The infraorder name Alethinophidia derives from the two Ancient Greek words (), meaning "truthful, genuine", and (), meaning "snake". Fossil record Fossils of alethinophidians were found in Cenomanian (Middle Cretaceous) sites of Wadi Milk Formation in Wadi Abu Hashim, Sudan. '' Coniophis'' presents the vertebral morphology similar to modern-day Aniliidae. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ninth and longest geological period of the entire Phanerozoic. The name is derived from the Latin , 'chalk', which is abundant in the latter half of the period. It is usually abbreviated K, for its German translation . The Cretaceous was a period with a relatively warm climate, resulting in high Sea level#Local and eustatic, eustatic sea levels that created numerous shallow Inland sea (geology), inland seas. These oceans and seas were populated with now-extinct marine reptiles, ammonites, and rudists, while dinosaurs continued to dominate on land. The world was largely ice-free, although there is some evidence of brief periods of glaciation during the cooler first half, and forests extended to the poles. Many of the dominant taxonomic gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eocene Extinctions
The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''Ēṓs'', 'Dawn') and (''kainós'', "new") and refers to the "dawn" of modern ('new') fauna that appeared during the epoch.See: *Letter from William Whewell to Charles Lyell dated 31 January 1831 in: * From p. 55: "The period next antecedent we shall call Eocene, from ήως, aurora, and χαινος, recens, because the extremely small proportion of living species contained in these strata, indicates what may be considered the first commencement, or ''dawn'', of the existing state of the animate creation." The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Paleocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the Eocene is marked by a brief period in which the concentration of the carbon isotope 13C in the atmosphere was exceptionally low in co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cretaceous First Appearances
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ninth and longest geological period of the entire Phanerozoic. The name is derived from the Latin , 'chalk', which is abundant in the latter half of the period. It is usually abbreviated K, for its German translation . The Cretaceous was a period with a relatively warm climate, resulting in high eustatic sea levels that created numerous shallow inland seas. These oceans and seas were populated with now-extinct marine reptiles, ammonites, and rudists, while dinosaurs continued to dominate on land. The world was largely ice-free, although there is some evidence of brief periods of glaciation during the cooler first half, and forests extended to the poles. Many of the dominant taxonomic groups present in modern times can be ultimately traced back to origins in the C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snake Families
This is an overview of the suborder Serpentes, its two infraorders (subdivisions) and the families they contain. This is the group of reptiles commonly known as snakes. Taxonomy There are two infraorders of living snakes: Alethinophidia and Scolecophidia. This separation is based primarily on morphological characteristics between family groups; however, more recently, the comparison of mitochondrial DNA has played its part. As with most taxonomic classifications, there are many different interpretations of the evolutionary relationships. This had resulted in families being moved to different infraorders, the merging or splitting of infraorders and families. For instance, many sources classify Boidae and Pythonidae as the same family, or keep others, such as Elapidae and Hydrophiidae, separate for practical reasons despite their extremely close relationship. See also * List of snakes—Overview of all snake families and genera. * List of Lacertilia families, lizards. * Li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prehistoric Snakes
Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of symbols, marks, and images appears very early among humans, but the earliest known writing systems appeared years ago. It took thousands of years for writing systems to be widely adopted, with writing having spread to almost all cultures by the 19th century. The end of prehistory therefore came at different times in different places, and the term is less often used in discussing societies where prehistory ended relatively recently. It is based on an old conception of history that without written records there could be no history. The most common conception today is that history is based on evidence, however the concept of prehistory hasn't been completely discarded. In the early Bronze Age, Sumer in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley Civilis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''Ēṓs'', 'Eos, Dawn') and (''kainós'', "new") and refers to the "dawn" of modern ('new') fauna that appeared during the epoch.See: *Letter from William Whewell to Charles Lyell dated 31 January 1831 in: * From p. 55: "The period next antecedent we shall call Eocene, from ήως, aurora, and χαινος, recens, because the extremely small proportion of living species contained in these strata, indicates what may be considered the first commencement, or ''dawn'', of the existing state of the animate creation." The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Paleocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the Eocene is marked by a brief period in which the concentration of the carbon isoto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
