Elapidae

Elapidae is a family of snakes characterized by their permanently erect fangs at the front of the mouth. Most elapids are venomous, with the exception of the genus Emydocephalus. Many members of this family exhibit a threat display of rearing upwards while spreading out a neck flap. Elapids are endemic to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, with terrestrial forms in Asia, Australia, Africa, and the Americas and marine forms in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Members of the family have a wide range of sizes, from the 18 cm (7.1 in) white-lipped snake to the 5.85 m king cobra. Most species have neurotoxic venom that is channeled by their hollow fangs, and some may contain other toxic components in varying proportions. The family includes 55 genera with around 360 species and over 170 subspecies.

Elapidae

Hari Prasad · CC BY-SA 2.0 · 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
Sits inside
ColubroideaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 48 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 106 occurrencesEocene — about 1 of 106 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 106 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 66 of 106 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 9 of 106 occurrencesPleistocene — about 26 of 106 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 1 occurrence21–19 Mya — about 2 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 3 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 13 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 13 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 14 occurrences11–9.5 Mya — about 10 occurrences9.5–7.6 Mya — about 5 occurrences7.6–5.7 Mya — about 3 occurrences5.7–3.8 Mya — about 5 occurrences3.8–1.9 Mya — about 9 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 24 occurrences48.07 Mya11.7 ka57 Mya0 Mya

106 occurrences of Elapidae 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

106 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

22 formations

Upper Freshwater Molasse — 48.44°N, 11.04°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.63°N, 11.80°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°EVogel River Series — 3.25°S, 35.20°EVogel River Series — 3.13°S, 35.13°ECórcoles — 40.47°N, 2.68°WNsungwe — 8.93°S, 33.20°EEdelény — 48.39°N, 20.64°ELondon Clay — 51.85°N, 1.27°EDam — 25.98°N, 49.39°EMost — 50.42°N, 13.36°EUttarbaini — 32.71°N, 74.85°EGrund — 48.63°N, 16.06°EWicomico — 29.42°N, 82.22°WValentine — 40.02°N, 98.53°WRüssingen — 49.86°N, 8.35°ELefkon — 41.17°N, 23.50°EWyandotte — 18.77°S, 144.85°ENea Messimvria — 40.77°N, 22.79°EVille — 50.90°N, 6.45°EGuga — 26.65°N, 127.96°EAllingham — 19.72°S, 145.60°EMesa — 9.85°N, 63.33°WSpilia — 41.15°N, 23.48°E

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The named rock units Elapidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 76 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Elapidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Elapidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,512 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 82 sites for Elapidae, and this reads all 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

67 references

Each of the 106 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. 55 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 Elapidae

Credit
Hari Prasad
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

XRay scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Elapidae indet. · SAMA:Herpetology:R56858

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

What may have been alongside itColubroidea through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Boié 1827)