Lapparentophis
| Lapparentophis Temporal range: Early-Late Cretaceous, ?
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| MHNM.KK387, the holotype of L. ragei | |
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| Genus: | †Lapparentophis Hoffstetter, 1959
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| Type species | |
| †Lapparentophis defrennei Hoffstetter, 1959
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Lapparentophis (meaning "Lapparent's snake") is an extinct genus of terrestrial ophidian known from the Kem Kem Beds of Northwestern Africa (Algeria, Morocco & Sudan) that was first described by Robert Hoffstetter in 1959.[1] Two species are known: the type species, L. defrennei from Algeria,[1] and a second species, L. ragei from Morocco, which is only known from the holotype MHNM.KK387 and the paratype MHNM.KK388, two isloated trunk vertebrae.[2]
Lapparentophis was probably the sister taxon of the slightly younger Pouitella from the Cenomanian of France.[2][3] Lapparentophis was initially believed to have been a snake, but later studies have found it to fall under Ophidia,[2] the clade which Serpentes also belongs to.
References
- ^ a b Hoffstetter, R. (1959). A terrestrial snake in the Lower Cretaceous of the Sahara [in French]. Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France, 7e série 1:897-902
- ^ a b c Romain Vullo (2019). "A new species of Lapparentophis from the mid-Cretaceous Kem Kem beds, Morocco, with remarks on the distribution of lapparentophiid snakes". Comptes Rendus Palevol. 18 (7): 765–770. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2019.08.004. S2CID 210297438.
- ^ Rage, J-C. (1988). A primitive snake in the Cenomanian. [in French] C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Sér. II. 307, 1027-1032