Occurrence of the large aquatic snake Palaeophis cf. africanus (Serpentes, Palaeophiidae) in the middle Eocene of the Sabkha El Breij, southwestern Morocco

ABSTRACT

We here report an anterior trunk vertebra of a large snake that we tentatively refer to Palaeophis africanus. The vertebra comes from lower middle Eocene deposits of the El Breij Depression, in the Sahara Desert of southern Morocco. It is principally characterised by weak lateral compression; horizontality of the cotyle-condyle axis; dorsoventrally thick zygosphene; lower pterapophyses with an upper edge that remains lower than that of the zygosphene in lateral view; a rather reduced neural canal; very distinct and prominent interzygapophyseal crests; low position of the diapophyses; and the presence of two hypapophyses. This occurrence adds to the geographic distribution of Palaeophis africanus, which has been formerly identified from Nigeria, Togo, Angola, and South America, and represents an additional Palaeophis species for the Moroccan fossil record.

KEYWORDS:

• Squamata
• Serpentes
• Palaeophis
• Lutetian
• Morocco

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Field research in Morocco was supported by grants 9202–12 and 9765–15 from the National Geographic Society, and by the Museum of Palaeontology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and by Hassan II University of Casablanca, Morocco.GLG acknowledges funding from the research project no. 2023/49/B/ST10/02631 financed by the National Science Center of Poland (Narodowe Centrum Nauki).