Python sebae

The Central African rock python is a species of large constrictor snake in the family Pythonidae. The species is native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of ten living species in the genus Python.

Python sebae

Ray in Manila · CC BY 2.0 · 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
rock pythonPBDB
Sits inside
PythonPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Boidae
Life habit
solitaryPBDB, for Booidea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
freshwater,terrestrialPBDB, for Boidae

Time the record covers

At least 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 11.63 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 11 occurrencesMiocene — about 5 of 11 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 2 of 11 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 2 of 11 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.4–1.6 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 0.8 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 2 occurrences11.63 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

11 occurrences of Python sebae 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

11 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

2 formations

Vogel River Series — 3.21°S, 35.20°EVogel River Series — 3.13°S, 35.13°ENkondo — 1.50°N, 31.00°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Python sebae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 7 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Python sebae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Python sebae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

254 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 11 sites for Python sebae, 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

8 references

Each of the 11 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 content2

Picture of Python sebae

Credit
Ray in Manila
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs
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 itPython through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gmelin 1789