Additional anatomical information on the Eocene minute boas Messelophis variatus and Rieppelophis ermannorum (Messel Formation, Germany)

Title: Additional anatomical information on the Eocene minute boas Messelophis variatus and Rieppelophis ermannorum (Messel Formation, Germany)

Creators: Agustín Scanferla, Krister T. Smith

Submitted August 26, 2020.
Accepted October 15, 2020.
Published online at www.senckenberg.de/vertebrate-zoology on October 28, 2020.
Published in print Q4/2020.

DOI: 10.26049/VZ70-4-2020-06
PDF/A 20 MB

Published by Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung

Date (Publication Year): 2020

Resource Type (General): TEXT

Resource Type (optional): Vertebrate Zoology, Scientific Article

Description (en): The minute fossil boas Messelophis variatus and Rieppelophis ermannorum are the most abundant snakes recovered from the early-middle Eocene paleolake of Messel (Germany). This work describes several additional specimens referable to these taxa from the same deposit. Novel anatomical information gathered here provides further support for their phylogenetic affinity with the small North–Central American boas of the family Charinidae.

Key words: Booidea, Eocene, Messel, Messelophis variatus, osteology, Rieppelophis ermannorum.

Citation: Scanferla, A., Smith, K. T. (2020). Additional anatomical information on the Eocene minute boas Messelophis variatus and Rieppelophis ermannorum (Messel Formation, Germany). Vertebrate Zoology, 70(4): 615-620. https://doi.org/10.26049/VZ70-4-2020-06