Viperinae

Viperinae, or viperines, are a subfamily of vipers endemic to Europe, Asia and Africa. They are distinguished by their lack of the heat-sensing pit organs that characterize their sister group, the subfamily Crotalinae. Currently, 13 genera are recognized. Most are tropical and subtropical, although one species, Vipera berus, even occurs within the Arctic Circle. Like all vipers, they are venomous.

Viperinae

Uncredited · 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
CrotalidaePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 22 million years on record.

The record covers at least 22.4 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 193 occurrencesMiocene — about 94 of 193 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 38 of 193 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 60 of 193 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 1 occurrence23–22 Mya — about 2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 2 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 2 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 6 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 7 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 5 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 5 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 4 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 4 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 7 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 6 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 5 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 5 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 4 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 4 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 5 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 5 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 8 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 11 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 13 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 12 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 12 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 10 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 35 occurrences22.4 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

193 occurrences of Viperinae 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

193 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

Upper Freshwater Molasse — 48.44°N, 11.04°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.63°N, 11.80°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 47.67°N, 8.93°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.09°N, 10.03°EVogel River Series — 3.22°S, 35.21°EVogel River Series — 3.25°S, 35.20°EVogel River Series — 3.13°S, 35.13°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°EOlduvai — 2.99°S, 35.34°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.25°EAkzhar — 48.02°N, 85.38°EEdelény — 48.39°N, 20.64°EVille — 50.90°N, 6.45°Efacies à Congeria — 45.05°N, 7.93°EColombacci — 44.22°N, 11.77°EMost — 50.42°N, 13.36°EBrackwater Molasse — 48.48°N, 10.10°EKhalagai — 53.15°N, 110.20°ECórcoles — 40.47°N, 2.68°WLefkon — 41.17°N, 23.50°EAgenais Limestone — 44.31°N, 0.61°EStudienka — 48.20°N, 17.98°EPerfugas — 40.72°N, 9.10°EWiesbaden — 50.04°N, 8.27°ECigarron — 37.92°N, 1.16°WUnterer Travertin — 50.97°N, 11.35°EChoremi — 37.38°N, 22.09°EDetritic-Carbonated Unit of Subirats — 41.42°N, 1.81°ECapo Mannu dune complex — 40.03°N, 8.40°ESpilia — 41.15°N, 23.48°E

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The named rock units Viperinae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 152 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Viperinae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Viperinae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,780 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 155 sites for Viperinae, 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

82 references

Each of the 193 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. 70 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 Viperinae

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

No 3D scan of Viperinae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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 itCrotalidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Oppel 1811)