Colombophis portai Hoffstetter & Rage, 1977

(Figs 3-5)

Colombophis portai Hoffstetter & Rage, 1977: 174 .

REVISED DIAGNOSIS. — Fossil snake with pre-cloacal vertebrae medium to large in size (cl = c. 5-11 mm); the neural arch is depressed, with a shallow median notch in the posterior border; neural spine is reduced to a small tubercle with a circular or triangular outline from dorsal view, and is restricted to the posterior end of the neural arch; prezygapophyses are anterolaterally oriented and highly inclined above the horizontal plane, reaching the level of the zygosphene roof; prezygapophyzeal process is short; presence of paracotylar and parazygantral foramina is variable; synapophyses are undivided; haemal keel is broad with a single or divergent apophysis in the posterior end; subcentral foramina are usually placed close to the sagittal plane, usually small but can be enlarged or absent; the centrum length is longer than the neural arch width (cl> naw); the neural arch is longer than width (pr-po> naw) and the length is proportional to its high (pr-po = c. h).

REFERRED MATERIAL. — VPPLT-0067, an anterior-trunk vertebra (Fig. 3C); VPPLT-0068 (Fig. 3D), an anterior-trunk vertebra; VPPLT-0070, a posterior-trunk vertebra; VPPLT-0430, a mid-trunk vertebra; VPPLT-0799, a mid-trunk vertebra; VPPLT-0845, a fragmentary mid-trunk vertebra; VPPLT-0869, a posterior-trunk vertebra; VPPLT-0871, a fragmentary mid-trunk vertebra; VPPLT-1006, a mid-trunk vertebra (Fig. 3A, B); VPPLT-1160, a fragmentary posterior-trunk vertebra; VPPLT-1166, a posterior-trunk vertebra; VPPLT-1253, a posterior-trunk vertebra; VPPLT-1551, two associated mid-trunk vertebrae; VPPLT-1564, nine pre-cloacal articulated vertebrae together with seven associated and badly preserved fragments of rock matrix with ribs and vertebral fragments embedded (Fig. 5); VPPLT-1731, a fragmentary mid-trunk vertebra; VPPLT-1734, a mid-trunk vertebra; VPPLT-1735, four mid-trunk vertebrae fragments associated with a posterior-trunk vertebra (Fig. 3F); VPPLT-1738, a mid-trunk vertebra; VPPLT-1739, an anterior-trunk vertebra (Fig. 3E); VPPLT-1740, five mid-trunk vertebrae fragments associated with a posterior-trunk vertebrae and a post-cloacal vertebrae (Fig. 4).