COLUBRIDAE, Oppel, 1811

Lapparent, France de, Bailon, Salvador, Augé, Marc Louis & Rage, Jean-Claude, 2020, Amphibians and reptiles from the Neogene of Afghanistan, Geodiversitas 42 (22), pp. 409-426 : 420

COLUBRIDAE gen. et sp. indet. A

LOCALITY AND AGE. —Sherullah 9, Khordkabul basin, Afghanistan, late Miocene, late Vallesian-basal Turolian transition, MN10/11.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Two incomplete vertebrae (AFG 1670).

DESCRIPTION AND COMMENTS

The neural arch and zygapophyses of the two specimens are damaged. The centrum is narrow with a convex ventral surface. The subcentral ridges are not prominent, they slightly diverge anteriorly. The haemal keel is thin, blunt, and not very prominent. The centrum is similar to that of snakes belonging to the “colubrine type ” (sensu Szyndlar 1991a).

Today, the Colubridae represent about three-fourth of the snake species. The earliest colubrid was recovered from the late (latest: Benammi et al. 2001) Eocene of Thailand ( Rage et al. 1992). Since the early Miocene, colubrids have been the dominant constituents of snake faunas ( Rage 1987).