Boidae

The Boidae, commonly known as boas or boids, are a family of nonvenomous snakes primarily found in the Americas, as well as Africa, Europe, Asia, and some Pacific islands. Boas include some of the world's largest snakes, with the green anaconda of South America being the heaviest and second-longest snake known; in general, adults are medium to large in size, with females usually larger than the males. Six subfamilies comprising 14-15 genera and 54-67 species are currently recognized.

Boidae

Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
boaPBDB
Sits inside
BooideaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
solitaryPBDB, for Booidea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
freshwater,terrestrialPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 72 million years on record.

The record covers at least 72.2 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 83.6 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 7 of 472 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 15 of 472 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 144 of 472 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 59 of 472 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 168 of 472 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 24 of 472 occurrencesPleistocene — about 38 of 472 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences82–80 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences80–77 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences77–74 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences74–71 Mya — about 1 occurrence71–68 Mya — about 2 occurrences68–65 Mya — about 3 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 4 occurrences63–60 Mya — about 2 occurrences60–57 Mya — about 6 occurrences57–54 Mya — about 11 occurrences54–51 Mya — about 13 occurrences51–48 Mya — about 13 occurrences48–45 Mya — about 11 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 12 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 13 occurrences40–37 Mya — about 21 occurrences37–34 Mya — about 47 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 19 occurrences31–28 Mya — about 10 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 14 occurrences26–23 Mya — about 23 occurrences23–20 Mya — about 21 occurrences20–17 Mya — about 40 occurrences17–14 Mya — about 43 occurrences14–11 Mya — about 26 occurrences11–8.5 Mya — about 18 occurrences8.5–5.7 Mya — about 16 occurrences5.7–2.8 Mya — about 23 occurrences2.8–0 Mya — about 58 occurrences72.2 Mya11.7 ka85 Mya0 Mya

472 occurrences of Boidae on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

472 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

111 formations

Perrière — 44.37°N, 1.73°EPerrière — 44.38°N, 1.43°EHeadon Hill — 50.72°N, 1.59°WHeadon Hill — 50.72°N, 1.22°WBrule — 42.88°N, 103.58°WBrule — 40.74°N, 103.19°WBrule — 42.40°N, 103.80°WBrule — 45.50°N, 103.10°WBrule — 40.93°N, 103.32°WTudela — 42.06°N, 1.55°WTudela — 42.07°N, 1.61°WSarmiento — 45.40°S, 67.72°WSarmiento — 43.28°S, 65.48°WSarmiento — 44.35°S, 69.78°WSarmiento — 45.67°S, 68.67°WSarmiento — 45.78°S, 68.47°WHeadon Beds — 50.72°N, 1.59°WElisabeth Bay — 26.97°S, 15.33°EElisabeth Bay — 26.91°S, 15.21°EValentine — 42.78°N, 100.03°WValentine — 42.80°N, 100.80°WValentine — 42.81°N, 100.05°WValentine — 40.02°N, 98.53°WHarrison — 42.40°N, 103.60°WHarrison — 42.80°N, 100.80°WHarrison — 42.40°N, 103.80°WMonroe Creek — 41.73°N, 104.08°WOlduvai — 2.99°S, 35.33°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°EAlachua — 29.70°N, 82.60°WDam — 25.98°N, 49.39°EPerriere — 44.35°N, 1.73°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.44°N, 11.04°ESespe — 34.30°N, 119.00°WSespe — 33.83°N, 117.71°WQuercy Phosphorites — 44.27°N, 1.63°EFleming — 31.00°N, 93.40°WFleming — 30.70°N, 94.70°WFleming — 30.63°N, 95.01°WAsh Hollow — 41.30°N, 101.89°WAsh Hollow — 42.63°N, 100.05°WBridger — 42.42°N, 109.35°WBridger — 41.80°N, 110.70°WBridger — 41.20°N, 110.50°WGering — 41.70°N, 103.10°WArikaree — 43.20°N, 108.20°WArikaree — 43.20°N, 107.10°WVogel River Series — 3.21°S, 35.20°EVogel River Series — 3.13°S, 35.13°ENkondo — 1.50°N, 31.00°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Boidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 87 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 218 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Boidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Boidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

4,182 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 312 sites for Boidae, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

224 references

Each of the 472 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 212 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Boidae

Credit
Charles J. Sharp
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Photogrammetry

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Boidae indet. · UCM:Paleontology:UCM:FossilVert:38218

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

Everything alive alongside itBooidea through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1825