Madtsoiidae

Madtsoiidae is an extinct family of mostly Gondwanan snakes with a fossil record extending from early Cenomanian to late Pleistocene strata located in South America, Africa, India, Australia and Southern Europe. Madtsoiidae include very primitive snakes, which like extant boas and pythons would likely dispatch their prey by constriction. Genera include some of the longest snakes known such as Vasuki, measuring at least 11–15 metres (36–49 ft) long, and the Australian Wonambi and Yurlunggur. As a grouping of basal forms the composition and even the validity of Madtsoiidae is in a state of flux as new pertinent finds are described, with more recent evidence suggesting that it is paraphyletic or polyphyletic as previously defined.

Madtsoiidae

Ghedoghedo · Public Domain · 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
SerpentesPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 93 million years on record.

The record covers at least 93.9 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 100.5 Mya to 0 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 0 of 112 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 56 of 112 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 5 of 112 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 17 of 112 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 4 of 112 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 21 of 112 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 112 occurrencesPleistocene — about 9 of 112 occurrences103–99 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences99–96 Mya — about 2 occurrences96–92 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences92–89 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences89–85 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 1 occurrence82–79 Mya — about 2 occurrences79–75 Mya — about 2 occurrences75–72 Mya — about 5 occurrences72–68 Mya — about 24 occurrences68–65 Mya — about 17 occurrences65–62 Mya — about 2 occurrences62–58 Mya — about 1 occurrence58–55 Mya — about 4 occurrences55–51 Mya — about 3 occurrences51–48 Mya — about 3 occurrences48–44 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences44–41 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences41–38 Mya — about 3 occurrences38–34 Mya — about 3 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences31–27 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences27–24 Mya — about 3 occurrences24–21 Mya — about 5 occurrences21–17 Mya — about 9 occurrences17–14 Mya — about 5 occurrences14–10 Mya — about 2 occurrences10–6.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence6.8–3.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.4–0 Mya — about 9 occurrences93.9 Mya129 ka103 Mya0 Mya

112 occurrences of Madtsoiidae on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. 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

112 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

34 formations

Maevarano — 15.90°S, 46.58°EMaevarano — 15.79°S, 46.52°EMaevarano — 15.73°S, 46.60°EMaevarano — 15.98°S, 46.05°ELa Colonia — 42.92°S, 67.47°WLa Colonia — 43.11°S, 67.70°WLos Alamitos — 41.95°S, 66.33°WAllen — 39.78°S, 66.70°WAllen — 40.06°S, 66.80°WVitoria — 42.66°N, 2.63°WSarmiento — 45.50°S, 68.80°WSarmiento — 45.67°S, 68.67°WSarmiento — 45.23°S, 67.49°WCambay Shale — 21.40°N, 73.08°EDensuș-Ciula — 45.60°N, 22.85°EDensuș-Ciula — 45.63°N, 22.90°ESystem B — 19.01°S, 138.67°EChorrillo — 50.49°S, 72.55°WChorrillo — 50.51°S, 72.56°WWadi Milk — 20.00°N, 30.00°EWadi Milk — 16.70°N, 31.14°ELameta — 20.35°N, 79.05°EAoufous — 31.77°N, 5.94°WCarl Creek Limestone — 19.08°S, 138.72°EEl Molino — 17.69°S, 65.94°WSedano — 42.66°N, 2.63°WPanandhro — 23.68°N, 68.74°ECamfield Beds — 17.12°S, 131.52°EPui Beds — 45.49°N, 23.09°EInbeceten — 15.05°N, 6.03°ESanta Lucia — 18.03°S, 65.58°WIdam Unit — 25.71°N, 18.18°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.62°N, 30.69°EJbel Guersif — 31.61°N, 5.66°W

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The named rock units Madtsoiidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 34 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Madtsoiidae and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Madtsoiidae and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

973 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 87 sites for Madtsoiidae, 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

59 references

Each of the 112 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. 47 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 Madtsoiidae

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Madtsoiidae indet. · sama:paleontology:30178A

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

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 itSerpentes through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Hoffstetter 1961)