Nigerophiidae: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Extinct family of reptiles}}

| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Campanian|Late Eocene}}

| authority = [[species:Jean-Claude Rage|Rage]], 1975

'''Nigerophiidae''' is an [[Extinction|extinct]] [[Family (biology)|family]] of marine [[snake]]s known from the [[Late Cretaceous]] to the [[Paleogene]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=PBDB |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicTaxonInfo?taxon_no=53990 |access-date=2024-01-23 |website=paleobiodb.org}}</ref> Species of this family were found throughout much of the former [[Tethys Ocean]] (mainland [[Africa]], [[Madagascar]], [[Europe]], [[Central Asia]] and [[India]]). Their taxonomic identityisuncertain due to their fragmentary remains. The earliest nigerophiid is ''[[Nubianophis]]'' from the [[Campanian]] of [[Sudan]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rage |first=J. |last2=Werner |first2=C. |date=1999 |title=Mid-Cretaceous (Cenomanian) snakes from Wadi Abu Hashim, Sudan: The earliest snake assemblage |journal=Palaeontologia Africana |volume=35 |pages=85–110 |url=https://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/server/api/core/bitstreams/5565d547-9ce9-4922-8e90-29eaa1b3ca53/content }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=PBDB |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicCollectionSearch?collection_no=28491 |access-date=2024-03-19 |website=paleobiodb.org}}</ref>

They are thought to be related to the [[Palaeophiidae]] due to their similar appearance, distribution, and temporal range, although this is questioned.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gower |first=David J. |last2=Zaher |first2=Hussam |date=2022-08-11 |title=The Origin and Early Evolutionary History of Snakes |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/9781108938891.027 |pages=473–476 |doi=10.1017/9781108938891.027}}</ref> Some analyses place both families in the superfamily [[Acrochordoidea]] along with the extant [[Acrochordus|file snakes]], but this is now heavily disputed.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Snetkov |first=P. B. |last2=Bannikov |first2=A. F. |date=2010-11-01 |title=Vertebrae of sea snakes from the Eocene of the Crimea |url=https://doi.org/10.1134/S0031030110060122 |journal=Paleontological Journal |language=en |volume=44 |issue=6 |pages=698–700 |doi=10.1134/S0031030110060122 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Folie |first=Annelise |last2=Mees |first2=Florias |last3=De Putter |first3=Thierry |last4=Smith |first4=Thierry |date=2021-07-01 |title=Presence of the large aquatic snake ''Palaeophis africanus'' in the middle Eocene marine margin of the Congo Basin, Cabinda, Angola |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016699520300954 |journal=Geobios |issue=Proceedings of the PalEurAfrica project international symposium Evolution and Paleoenvironment of Early Modern Vertebrates during the Paleogene |language=en |volume=66-67 |pages=45–54 |doi=10.1016/j.geobios.2020.11.002 }}</ref>

There is some debate over whether ''Indophis'' (and the similar ''Kelyophis'') represent nigerophiids or not.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Laduke |first=Thomas C. |last2=Krause |first2=David W. |last3=Scanlon |first3=John D. |last4=Kley |first4=Nathan J. |date=2010-01-29 |title=A Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) snake assemblage from the Maevarano Formation, Mahajanga Basin, Madagascar |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724630903409188 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |language=en |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=109–138 |doi=10.1080/02724630903409188 }}</ref>

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[[Category:Prehistoric snakes]]

[[Category:Snake families|†]]

[[Category:Campanian first appearances]]

[[Category:Priabonian extinctions]]

[[Category:Taxa described in 1975]]