Tropidophiidae

The Tropidophiidae, common name dwarf boas or thunder snakes, are a family of nonvenomous snakes found from Mexico and the West Indies south to southeastern Brazil. These are small to medium-sized fossorial snakes, some with beautiful and striking color patterns. Currently, two living genera, containing 34 species, are recognized. Two other genera were once considered to be tropidophiids but are now known to be more closely related to the boids, and are classified in the subfamily Ungaliophiinae. There are a relatively large number of fossil snakes that have been described as tropidophiids, but which of these are more closely related to Tropidophis and Trachyboa and which are more closely related to Ungaliophis and Exiliboa is unknown.

Tropidophiidae

Thomas Brown · 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
dwarf boaPBDB
Sits inside
MacrostomataPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 61 million years on record.

The record covers at least 61.66 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 66 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 62 occurrencesPaleocene — about 2 of 62 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 29 of 62 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 20 of 62 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 10 of 62 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 62 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 62 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences61–58 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 2 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 2 occurrences52–49 Mya — about 3 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 3 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 2 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 2 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 2 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 2 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 5 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 5 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 1 occurrence31–29 Mya — about 1 occurrence29–27 Mya — about 2 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 9 occurrences25–22 Mya — about 9 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 1 occurrence18–16 Mya — about 3 occurrences16–13 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences11–9.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.2–0 Mya — about 1 occurrence61.66 Mya11.7 ka67 Mya0 Mya

62 occurrences of Tropidophiidae on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

62 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

16 formations

Lower Headon Beds — 50.63°N, 1.55°WLower Headon Beds — 50.67°N, 1.53°WHeadon Hill — 50.72°N, 1.22°WHeadon Hill — 50.72°N, 1.59°WPerrière — 44.37°N, 1.73°EPerrière — 44.38°N, 1.43°EBridger — 42.42°N, 109.35°WBridger — 42.70°N, 110.10°WLignites de Soissonais — 49.05°N, 4.00°ELignites de Soissonais — 49.08°N, 4.03°EWasatch — 42.37°N, 108.91°WPerriere — 44.35°N, 1.73°ESanta Lucia — 18.03°S, 65.58°WArgiles d'lignite du Soissonnais — 49.33°N, 2.66°EBorgloon — 50.82°N, 4.82°EJbel Guersif — 31.61°N, 5.66°WSilveirinha — 40.01°N, 8.82°WWagon Bed ("Tepee Trail") — 43.20°N, 107.10°WWiesbaden — 50.04°N, 8.27°EBirket Qarun — 29.60°N, 30.60°EVille — 50.90°N, 6.45°E

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The named rock units Tropidophiidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 41 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Tropidophiidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Tropidophiidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

1,094 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 51 sites for Tropidophiidae, 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

35 references

Each of the 62 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. 23 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 content1

Picture of Tropidophiidae

Credit
Thomas Brown
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Tropidophiidae 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 itMacrostomata through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cope 1894