Palaeopython

Palaeopython is an extinct genus of snake from the Eocene of Europe. The genus has been used to refer to large Western and Central European snake vertebrae from the Eocene. P. cadurcensis and the tentatively-referred "P." neglectus originate from France; P. ceciliensis originates from Germany; and P. helveticus originates from Switzerland. A species known from multiple well-preserved specimens found in the Messel Pit of Germany, P. fischeri, was named by Stephan Schaal in 2004, but examination of the genus showed that it represented a distinct lineage; it was renamed Eoconstrictor fischeri in 2020 by Agustín Scanferla and Krister T. Smith. Another species from France, P. filholii, was moved to the genus Phosphoroboa in 2021 by Georgalis, Márton Rabi, and Smith. An additional species, P. sardus, was described in 1901 by Alessandro Portis from the Middle Miocene of Monte Albu. However, a reevaluation of the holotype specimen of this species revealed it to actually belong to an indeterminate acanthomorph fish. A new species, P. schaali, based on two complete skeletons from the Eocene of Messel, Germany, was described in 2022 by Smith and Scanferla.

Palaeopython

Ghedoghedo · 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
Sits inside
BoinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Boinae
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Boinae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
freshwater,terrestrialPBDB, for Boinae

Time the record covers

At least 3.3 million years on record.

The record covers at least 41.03 Mya to 37.71 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 48.07 Mya to 15.98 Mya.

Eocene — about 21 of 23 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 23 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 1 of 23 occurrencesMiocene49–48 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 1 occurrence40–39 Mya — about 1 occurrence39–38 Mya — about 2 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 4 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 4 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 4 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 1 occurrence33–32 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences28–26 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 0.2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences41.03 Mya – 37.71 Mya48.7 Mya15.3 Mya

23 occurrences of Palaeopython 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

23 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

5 formations

Quercy Phosphorites — 44.27°N, 1.63°EPerrière — 44.37°N, 1.73°EPerrière — 44.38°N, 1.43°EPerriere — 44.35°N, 1.73°EHeadon Beds — 50.72°N, 1.59°WHeadon Hill — 50.72°N, 1.59°W

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The named rock units Palaeopython has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 15 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Palaeopython and its relatives

Eocene

Where Palaeopython and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

391 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 16 sites for Palaeopython, 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

9 references

Each of the 23 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. 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 Palaeopython

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

No 3D scan of Palaeopython 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 itBoinae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Rochebrune 1880