319
Views
5
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
SHORT COMMUNICATIONS

First report of a pelvic girdle in the fossil snake Wonambi naracoortensis Smith, 1976, and a revised diagnosis for the genus

, &
Pages 965-969 | Received 16 Jan 2013, Accepted 19 Aug 2013, Published online: 08 Jul 2014

LITERATURE CITED

  • Albino, A.M. 1986. Nuevos Boidae Madtsoiinae en el Cretacico tardio de Patagonia (Formacion Los Alamitos, Rio Negro, Argentina); pp. 15–21 in J.F. Bonaparte (ed.), Simposio Evolucion de los Vertebrados Mesozoicos, IV Congreso Argentino de Paleontología y Bioestratigrafía, Mendoza, 23–27 November 1986. Editorial Inca, Mendoza.
  • Apesteguía, S., and H.A. Zaher. 2006. A Cretaceous terrestrial snake with robust hindlimbs and a sacrum. Nature 440:1037–1040.
  • Barrie, D.J. 1990. Skull elements and associated remains of the Pleistocene boid snake Wonambi naracoortensis. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 28:139–151.
  • Bellairs, A.d’A. 1950. The limbs of snakes, with special reference to the hind limb rudiments of Trachyboa boulengeri. British Journal of Herpetology 1:73–83.
  • Boughner J.C., M. Buchtová, K. Fu, V. Diewert, B. Hallgrímsson, and J.M. Richman. 2007. Embryonic development of Python sebae—I: staging criteria and macroscopic skeletal morphogenesis of the head and limbs. Zoology 110:212–230.
  • Carpenter, C.C., J.B. Murphy, and L.A. Mitchell. 1978. Combat bouts with spur use in the Madagascan boa (Sanzinia madagascariensis). Herpetologica 34:207–212.
  • Essex, R. 1927. Studies in reptilian degeneration. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 97:879–945.
  • Gasc, J.P. 1966. Les rapports anatomiques du membre pelvien vestigial chez les squamates serpentiformes. Bulletin du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris 38:99–110.
  • Haines, R.W. 1935. A consideration of the constancy of muscular nerve supply. Journal of Anatomy 70:33–55.
  • Head, J.J., and P.A. Holroyd. 2008. Assembly and biogeography of North American Paleogene snake faunas based on an expanded fossil record. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28(3, Supplement):90A.
  • Herrel, A., B. Vanhooydonck, J. Porck, and D.J. Irschick. 2008. Anatomical basis of differences in locomotor behavior in Anolis lizards: a comparison between two ectomorphs. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 159:213–238.
  • Hoffstetter, R. 1961. Nouveaux restes d’un serpent boïdé (Madtsoia madagascariensis nov. sp.) dans le Crétacé supérieur de Madagascar. Bulletin du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris 33:152–160.
  • LaDuke, C.T., D.W. Krause, J.D. Scanlon, and N.J. Kley. 2010. A Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) snake assemblage from the Maevarano Formation, Mahajanga Basin, Madagascar. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30:109–138.
  • Lee, M.S. Y., and J.D. Scanlon. 2002. Snake phylogeny based on osteology, soft anatomy and ecology. Biological Reviews 77:333–401.
  • Lee, M.S. Y., A.F. Hugall, R. Lawson, and J.D. Scanlon. 2007. Phylogeny of snakes (Serpentes): combining morphological and molecular data in likelihood, Bayesian and parsimony analyses. Systematics and Biodiversity 5:371–389.
  • Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentius Salvius Holmiae, Stockholm, 824 pp.
  • List, J.C. 1966. Comparative Osteology of the Snake Families Typhlopidae and Leptotyphlopidae. Illinois Biological Monographs 36. University of Illinois Press, Urbana (Illinois) and London, 112 pp.
  • Longrich, N.R., B.-A. S. Bhullar, and J.A. Gauthier. 2012. A transitional snake from the Late Cretaceous period of North America. Nature 488:205–208.
  • Moriarty, K.C., M.T. McCulloch, R.T. Wells, and M.C. McDowell. 2000. Mid-Pleistocene cave fills, megafaunal remains and climate change at Naracoorte, South Australia: towards a predictive model using U-Th dating of speleothems. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 159:113–143.
  • O’Shea, M. 2007. Boas and Pythons of the World. Princeton University Press, Princeton (New Jersey) and Oxford, 165 pp.
  • Oppel, M. 1811. Die Ordnungen, Familien, und Gattungen der Reptilien als Prodrom einer Naturgeschichte Derselben. Akademie der Wissenschaften, Munich, 88 pp.
  • Palci, A., M.W. Caldwell, and A.M. Albino. 2013. Emended diagnosis and phylogenetic relationships of the Upper Cretaceous fossil snake Najash rionegrina Apesteguía and Zaher, 2006. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 33:131–140.
  • Rage, J.C. 1984. Handbüch der Palaoherpetologie. Part 11: Serpentes. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart, 80 pp.
  • Rage, J.C. 1998. Fossil snakes from the Paleocene of São José de Itaboraí, Brazil. Part I. Madtsoiidae, Aniliidae. Palaeovertebrata 27:109–144.
  • Rage, J.C., and C. Werner 1999. Mid-Cretaceous (Cenomanian) snakes from Wadi Abu Hashim, Sudan: the earliest snake assemblage. Palaeontologia africana 35:85–110.
  • Reed, E.H., and S.J. Bourne. 2000. Pleistocene fossil vertebrate sites of the South East region of South Australia. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 124:61–90.
  • Rieppel, O., A.G. Kluge, and H. Zaher. 2002. Testing the phylogenetic relationships of the Pleistocene snake Wonambi naracoortensis Smith. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22:812–829.
  • Russell, A.P., and A.M. Bauer. 2008. The appendicular locomotor apparatus of Sphenodon and normal-limbed squamates; pp. 1–465 in C. Gans, A.S. Gaunt, and K. Adler (eds.) Biology of the Reptilia: The Skull and Appendicular Locomotor Apparatus of Lepidosauria, Volume 21, Morphology I. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Ithaca, New York.
  • Scanlon, J.D. 2003. The basicranial morphology of madtsoiid snakes (Squamata, Ophidia) and the earliest Alethinophidia (Serpentes). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 23:971–976.
  • Scanlon, J.D. 2004. First known axis vertebra of a madtsoiid snake (Yurlunggur camfieldensis) and remarks on the neck of snakes. The Beagle: Records of the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory 20:207–215.
  • Scanlon, J.D. 2005. Cranial morphology of the Plio−Pleistocene giant madtsoiid snake Wonambi naracoortensis. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 50:139–180.
  • Scanlon, J.D. 2006. Skull of the large non-macrostomatan snake Yurlunggur from the Australian Oligo-Miocene. Nature 439:839–842.
  • Scanlon, J.D., and M.S. Y. Lee. 2000. The Pleistocene serpent Wonambi and the early evolution of snakes. Nature 403:416–420.
  • Smith, M.J. 1976. Small fossil vertebrates from Victoria Cave, Naracoorte, South Australia. IV. Reptiles. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 100:39–51.
  • Snyder, R.C. 1954. The anatomy and function of the pelvic girdle and hindlimb in lizard locomotion. The American Journal of Anatomy 95:1–45.
  • Stephenson, N.G. 1962. The comparative morphology of the head skeleton, girdles and hind limbs in the Pygopodidae. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 44:627–644.
  • Stokely, P.S. 1947. Limblessness and correlated changes in the girdles of a comparative morphological series of lizards. American Midland Naturalist 38:725–754.
  • Wilson, J.A., D.M. Mohabey, S.E. Peters, and J.J. Head. 2010. Predation upon hatchling dinosaurs by a new snake from the Late Cretaceous of India. PLoS Biology 8:e1000322.
  • Witmer, L.M. 1995. The extant phylogenetic bracket and the importance of reconstructing soft tissues in fossils; pp. 19–33 in J.J. Thompson (ed.), Functional Morphology in Vertebrate Paleontology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K.
  • Zaher, H., and C.A. Scanferla. 2012. The skull of the Upper Cretaceous snake Dinilysia patagonica Smith-Woodward, 1901, and its phylogenetic position revisited. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 164:194–238.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.