Palaeophis sp.
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publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.4202/app.2008.0303 |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03C0B830-5E5E-FFD0-8AED-6EDAFDFFFE88 |
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treatment provided by |
Felipe |
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scientific name |
Palaeophis sp. |
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Fig. 2B View Fig .
Material.—Twenty−two vertebrae: Three trunk (VAS 1001, 1002, 1005) and two caudal (VAS 1003, 1004) vertebrae from the marine beds; fifteen trunk (VAS 1007, 1008, 1024–1031, 1034–1037, 1055) and two caudal (VAS 1032, 1033) vertebrae from the continental beds. All from the early Eocene Cambay Formation, Vastan Lignite Mine, Gujarat, India.
Description and comparisons.—The characters of palaeophiids are clearly apparent: vertebrae more or less compressed laterally; presence of pterapophyses and of a hypapophysis; paradiapophyses located low on the centrum; articular surface of the paradiapophyses simple; prezygapophyseal buttresses compressed, forming a vertical ridge that extends from the dorsal part of the diapophysis to the tip of the articular facet; prezygapophyseal facets small. In addition, the base of the neural spine is clearly separated from the anterior border of the zygosphene, which points to the genus Palaeophis . Strong variation affects the lateral compression; it is difficult to determine whether it represents intracolumnar variation or indicates the presence of more than one species. We suspect that two species are present, belonging to the “primitive” and “advanced” grades of Palaeophis respectively, but this cannot be confirmed based on the specimens at hand.
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