Palaeophiidae

Palaeophiidae is an extinct family of marine snake within the infraorder Alethinophidia.

Palaeophiidae

Hectonichus · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
SerpentesPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 28 million years on record.

The record covers at least 66 Mya to 37.71 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 83.6 Mya to 33.9 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 3 of 117 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 7 of 117 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 107 of 117 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 117 occurrences85–83 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences83–81 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences81–79 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences79–78 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences78–76 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences76–74 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences73–71 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences71–69 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences69–67 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences67–66 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences62–60 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences60–59 Mya — about 1 occurrence59–57 Mya — about 4 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 6 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 9 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 9 occurrences52–50 Mya — about 8 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 8 occurrences48–47 Mya — about 4 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 4 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 4 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 4 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 13 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 15 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 11 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 10 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 4 occurrences66 Mya37.71 Mya85 Mya33 Mya

117 occurrences of Palaeophiidae on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

117 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

50 formations

Nanjemoy — 37.54°N, 76.49°WNanjemoy — 38.28°N, 77.37°WNanjemoy — 38.41°N, 76.99°WTuscahoma — 32.36°N, 88.70°WPanandhro — 23.68°N, 68.74°ECambay Shale — 21.33°N, 72.98°ECambay Shale — 21.40°N, 73.08°ECambay Shale — 21.35°N, 73.07°EShorym — 44.57°N, 51.65°EShorym — 43.79°N, 51.49°EShorym — 43.80°N, 51.75°EShorym — 43.85°N, 51.95°EYazoo — 31.93°N, 88.46°WYazoo — 31.82°N, 92.33°WYazoo — 32.47°N, 90.29°WYazoo — 31.93°N, 91.94°WTamaguélelt — 17.59°N, 0.25°ETamaguélelt — 17.59°N, 0.25°EKuma — 45.10°N, 34.63°EAridal — 25.09°N, 13.89°WAridal — 25.15°N, 13.32°WAridal — 25.44°N, 13.72°WVincentown — 39.97°N, 74.68°WVincentown — 39.94°N, 74.75°WTwiggs — 32.70°N, 83.63°WLaredo — 27.53°N, 99.43°WBashi — 32.29°N, 88.49°WSelsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WClinchfield — 32.91°N, 83.36°WMoodys Branch — 32.23°N, 92.15°WMoodys Branch — 32.30°N, 90.18°WQasr el-Sagha — 29.66°N, 30.74°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.62°N, 30.69°ELondon Clay — 51.51°N, 0.24°ELondon Clay — 51.40°N, 0.83°EShark River — 40.17°N, 74.15°WShark River — 40.30°N, 74.30°WSamlat — 23.30°N, 16.06°WTupelo Bay — 33.33°N, 79.67°WTupelo Bay — 33.21°N, 80.45°WLandana — 5.22°S, 12.14°EAquia — 36.60°N, 76.47°WLisbon — 31.36°N, 86.52°W

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The named rock units Palaeophiidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 26 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 21 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Palaeophiidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Palaeophiidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

1,706 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 93 sites for Palaeophiidae, 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

72 references

Each of the 117 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. 60 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 content1

Picture of Palaeophiidae

Credit
Hectonichus
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Palaeophiidae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Lydekker 1888