Viperidae

Vipers are snakes in the family Viperidae, found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, Ireland, and various other isolated islands. All vipers are venomous, and have long, hinged fangs that permit deep envenomation of their prey. Three subfamilies are currently recognized. They are also known as viperids. The name "viper" is derived from the Latin word vipera, -ae, also meaning viper, possibly from vivus ("living") and parere, referring to the trait viviparity common in vipers like most of the species of Boidae. The earliest known vipers are believed to have diverged from the rest of the clade Caenophidia in the early Eocene.

Viperidae

MathKnight · 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
viperPBDB
Sits inside
ColubroideaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 23 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 27.3 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 1 of 56 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 35 of 56 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 8 of 56 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 11 of 56 occurrencesPleistocene28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 1 occurrence21–20 Mya — about 1 occurrence20–19 Mya — about 2 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 2 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 4 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 3 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 2 occurrences10–9.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.3–8.4 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences8.4–7.4 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences7.4–6.5 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences6.5–5.6 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences5.6–4.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.6–3.7 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.7–2.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.8–1.9 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.9–928 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences928 ka–0 Mya — about 6 occurrences23.04 Mya11.7 ka27.8 Mya0 Mya

56 occurrences of Viperidae 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

56 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

17 formations

Upper Freshwater Molasse — 48.66°N, 10.23°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.17°N, 10.10°EFleming — 30.50°N, 95.00°WFleming — 30.68°N, 95.05°WMonte Hermoso — 38.97°S, 61.70°WOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°EValentine — 42.78°N, 100.03°WDam — 25.98°N, 49.39°EHarrison — 42.80°N, 100.80°WRüssingen — 49.86°N, 8.35°EKhalagai — 53.15°N, 110.20°EElisabeth Bay — 26.98°S, 15.27°EGuadix — 37.42°N, 3.17°WAsh Hollow — 42.30°N, 98.00°WLower Freshwater Molasse — 46.88°N, 7.11°EGuga — 26.65°N, 127.96°EDetritic-Carbonated Unit of Subirats — 41.42°N, 1.81°EKanapoi — 2.37°N, 36.08°EMesa — 9.85°N, 63.33°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Viperidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 35 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Viperidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Viperidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,374 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 53 sites for Viperidae, 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

46 references

Each of the 56 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. 34 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 Viperidae

Credit
MathKnight
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itColubroidea through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Oppel 1811