Elaphe

Elaphe is a genus of snakes in the family Colubridae. Elaphe is one of the main genera of the rat snakes, which are found in many regions of the northern hemisphere. Elaphe species are medium to large constrictors by nature.

Elaphe

Takahashi · 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
ColubrinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 20.45 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 47 of 170 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 34 of 170 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 86 of 170 occurrencesPleistocene21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 3 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 3 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 3 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 3 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 3 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 2 occurrences10–9.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence9.8–9.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.1–8.4 Mya — about 3 occurrences8.4–7.7 Mya — about 4 occurrences7.7–7.0 Mya — about 5 occurrences7.0–6.3 Mya — about 3 occurrences6.3–5.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences5.6–4.9 Mya — about 5 occurrences4.9–4.2 Mya — about 8 occurrences4.2–3.5 Mya — about 13 occurrences3.5–2.8 Mya — about 7 occurrences2.8–2.1 Mya — about 13 occurrences2.1–1.4 Mya — about 14 occurrences1.4–698 ka Mya — about 16 occurrences698 ka–0 Mya — about 48 occurrences15.98 Mya11.7 ka20.9 Mya0 Mya

170 occurrences of Elaphe on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

170 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

24 formations

Valentine — 42.78°N, 100.03°WValentine — 42.81°N, 100.05°WValentine — 40.02°N, 98.53°WValentine — 42.49°N, 98.11°WRexroad — 37.10°N, 100.90°WRexroad — 37.20°N, 100.30°WRexroad — 37.13°N, 100.48°WKingsdown — 37.20°N, 100.30°WKingsdown — 37.04°N, 100.50°WAsh Hollow — 41.30°N, 101.89°WAsh Hollow — 42.63°N, 100.05°WSajovolgyi — 47.97°N, 19.69°EOgallala — 39.08°N, 99.75°WOgallala — 39.80°N, 99.40°WLong Pine — 42.38°N, 98.23°WFleming — 30.70°N, 94.70°WFleming — 30.80°N, 94.30°WRingold — 47.00°N, 118.50°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WFort Randall — 43.53°N, 99.13°WMost — 50.42°N, 13.36°EGrund — 48.63°N, 16.06°EAlachua — 29.55°N, 82.52°WTomori — 24.79°N, 125.29°ESilver Bluff — 32.56°N, 80.29°WWicomico — 29.42°N, 82.22°WBallard — 37.20°N, 100.30°WCrooked Creek — 37.20°N, 100.30°WVanheim — 37.18°N, 100.28°WUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.66°N, 10.23°EWood Mountain — 49.17°N, 105.99°WUnterer Travertin — 50.95°N, 11.38°EChoremi — 37.38°N, 22.09°E

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The named rock units Elaphe has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 130 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Elaphe and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Elaphe and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

2,044 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 137 sites for Elaphe, 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

76 references

Each of the 170 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. 64 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 Elaphe

Credit
Takahashi
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

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 itColubrinae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Wagler 1833