Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia, 44(1) 2001

Issue:

VOL 44(1) 2001

Keywords:

Oligocene, boid, colubroid, snakes, USA

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Early Oligocene (Whitneyan) snakes from Florida (USA): remaining boids, indeterminate colubroids, summary and discussion of the I-75 Local Fauna snakes

• J. Alan HOLMAN
• David L. HARRISON

Abstract:

In the third and final report on the snakes of the Early Oligocene (Whitneyan) I-75 Local Fauna near Gainesville, Florida, the remaining unstudied boids and colubroids are detailed and a summary and discussion of the entire snake fauna is given. The boid (subfamily undetermined) Totlandophis americanus sp. nov. is only the second named species of Totlandophis, a genus previously known only from the Upper Eocene of England. Two extinct erycine boids have North American Great Plains affinities. These are Calamagras platyspondyla HOLMAN and Geringophis robustus sp. nov. Three indeterminate fragmentary colubroid vertebrae exhibit characterises at least superficially resembling those of the subfamily Natricinae of the Colubridae or the Elapidae, groups that are not known until the Miocene. A summary of the I-75 Local Fauna snake assemblage first presents a taxonomic checklist and then points out ( 1 ) the high taxonomic diversity of this assemblage compared to other North American Oligocene snake faunas, (2) the two endemic genera that are present, (3) a boid snake taxon with a possible Eurasian origin, (4) boid and colubrid taxa with North American Great Plains affinities, (5) the small size and probable secretive or fossorial nature of the I-75 Local Fauna snakes, and (6) the possibile taxonomic affinities of the indeterminate colubroids.