FOSSIL SNAKES FROM THE NEOGENE OF VENEZUELA (FALCóN STATE)

Abstract

The first fossil snakes from Venezuela are described from three different Formations: Colombophis cf. C. portai and Boinae indet. from the Middle Miocene Socorro Formation, Boinae indet. from the Late Miocene Urumaco Formation and Viperidae indet. from the Pleistocene gravels at Cucuruchu. Although the Socorro and Urumaco Formations Boinae cannot be unambiguously referred to any particular taxa, the Venezuelan record, combined with the fauna from La Venta in Colombia, demonstrate that Boinae had achieved much of its more Northern distributions by the middle-late Miocene. The occurrence of a viperid in the Pleistocene gravels at Cucuruchu is consistent with a geologically young record of the lineage in South America. © The Natural History Museum.