The paper reviews the entire fossil record of the Colubridae coming from the European Early Oligocene (MP21) to late Early Pliocene (MN15) localities. Prior to the end of the Early Miocene, European colubrids were rare and dominated by booid snakes. At the end of the Early Miocene (MN4), the archaic ophidian fauna of Europe was literally flooded by eastern immigrants, principally representatives of the colubroid families Colubridae, Elapidae, and Viperidae. Since then, the Colubridae became a dominant group in snake assemblages, both in Europe and elsewhere. The rich colubrid fauna inhabiting the European continent in the Middle Miocene (MN5 to 7+8) was composed exclusively of extinct species, representing mainly fossil genera, although members of living genera were also quite common. At the beginning of the Late Miocene (MN9), almost all fossil genera became extinct, but living genera were represented exclusively by fossil species. In the late Early Pliocene (MN15), almost all European colubrids were living species. The Late Pliocene (MN16) and Pleistocene colubrid snakes did not differ from those inhabiting Europe today.
Laophis crotaloides was described by Richard Owen as a new and very large fossil viperid snake species from Greece. The type material is apparently lost and the taxon was mostly neglected for more than a century. We here describe a new partial viperid vertebra, collected from the same locality and of equivalent size to the type material. This vertebra indicates that at least one of the three morphological characters that could be used to diagnose L. crotaloides is probably an artifact of the lithographer who prepared the illustration supporting the original description. A revised diagnosis of L. crotaloides is provided on the basis of the new specimen. Despite the fragmentary nature of the new vertebra, it confirms the validity of L. crotaloides, although its exact relationships within Viperidae remain unknown. The new find supports the presence of a large viperid snake in the early Pliocene of northern Greece, adding further data to the diversity of giant vipers from Europe.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.