The oldest known snakes from the Middle Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous provide insights on snake evolution

Caldwell, Michael W.; Nydam, Randall L.; Palci, Alessandro; Apesteguı́a, Sebastián

doi:10.1038/ncomms6996

Cited by 116 publications

(121 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The origination time for Serpentes (snakes) is contentious, with some fossil evidence suggesting either the Middle-Late Jurassic (Caldwell et al, 2015) or Early Cretaceous (Martill, Tischlinger & Longrich, 2015), but molecular evidence indicates a younger, early Late Cretaceous age (Head, 2015). The first occurrences of Lacertoidea are in the Berriasian of Western Europe (Evans, Jones & Matsumoto, 2012), before radiating into North America (Nydam & Cifelli, 2002) and Asia (Gao & Cheng, 1999) in the Barremian-Albian.…”

Section: (H) Lepidosauriansmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biotic and environmental dynamics through the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous transition: evidence for protracted faunal and ecological turnover

et al. 2016

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The Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous interval represents a time of environmental upheaval and cataclysmic events, combined with disruptions to terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Historically, the Jurassic/Cretaceous (J/K) boundary was classified as one of eight mass extinctions. However, more recent research has largely overturned this view, revealing a much more complex pattern of biotic and abiotic dynamics than has previously been appreciated. Here, we present a synthesis of our current knowledge of Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous events, focusing particularly on events closest to the J/K boundary. We find evidence for a combination of short-term catastrophic events, large-scale tectonic processes and environmental perturbations, and major clade interactions that led to a seemingly dramatic faunal and ecological turnover in both the marine and terrestrial realms. This is coupled with a great reduction in global biodiversity which might in part be explained by poor sampling. Very few groups appear to have been entirely resilient to this J/K boundary 'event', which hints at a 'cascade model' of ecosystem changes driving faunal dynamics. Within terrestrial ecosystems, larger, more-specialised organisms, such as saurischian dinosaurs, appear to have suffered the most. Medium-sized tetanuran theropods declined, and were replaced by larger-bodied groups, and basal eusauropods were replaced by neosauropod faunas. The ascent of paravian theropods is emphasised by escalated competition with contemporary pterosaur groups, culminating in the explosive radiation of birds, although the timing of this is obfuscated by biases in sampling. Smaller, more ecologically diverse terrestrial non-archosaurs, such as lissamphibians and mammaliaforms, were comparatively resilient to extinctions, instead documenting the origination of many extant groups around the J/K boundary. In the marine realm, extinctions were focused on low-latitude, shallow marine shelf-dwelling faunas, corresponding to a significant eustatic sea-level fall in the latest Jurassic. More mobile and ecologically plastic marine groups, such as ichthyosaurs, survived the boundary relatively unscathed. High rates of extinction and turnover in other macropredaceous marine groups, including plesiosaurs, are accompanied by the origin of most major lineages of extant sharks. Groups which occupied both marine and terrestrial ecosystems, including crocodylomorphs, document a selective extinction in shallow marine forms, whereas turtles appear to have diversified. These patterns suggest that different extinction selectivity and ecological processes were operating between marine and terrestrial ecosystems, which were ultimately important in determining the fates of many key groups, as well as the origins of many major extant lineages. We identify a series of potential abiotic candidates for driving these patterns, including multiple bolide impacts, several episodes of flood basalt eruptions, dramatic climate change, and major disruptions to oceanic systems. The J/K t...

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Section: (H) Lepidosauriansmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biotic and environmental dynamics through the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous transition: evidence for protracted faunal and ecological turnover

et al. 2016

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“…Los recientes estudios sobre especímenes del Jurásico de Estados Unidos de Norte América, Portugal y Reino Unido indican que la diversificación y radiación geográfica más antigua de las serpientes habría ocurrido al menos desde el Jurásico medio (Caldwell et al, 2015). Los fósiles de este clado son comunes y diversos en depósitos de América del Sur desde el Cretácico, incluyendo algunas de las formas más primitivas de serpientes terrestres como Najash rionegrina, Dinilysia patagonica, los extintos Madtsoiidae con Alamitophis, Patagoniophis y Rionegrophis y el probable "anilioideo" Australophis anilioides (Albino, 1986(Albino, , 1994(Albino, , 1996a(Albino, , 2000(Albino, , 2007(Albino, , 2011Martinelli y Forasiepi, 2004;Apesteguía y Zaher, 2006;Gómez et al, 2008;Zaher et al, 2009;Albino y Brizuela, 2014a).…”

Section: Las Serpientesunclassified

Avances en El Conocimiento De Los Reptiles Escamosos Fósiles Continentales De América Del Sur

Albino¹,

Brizuela²

2015

PEAPA

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“…Attainment of macrostomatan condition of derived alethinophidians represented a major step in the diversification of snakes, by allowing the ingestion of very large prey, contrary to small-gaped fossorial scolecophidians and fossorial alethinophidians Vidal and Hedges, 2009). Although the emergence of the most major squamatan crowngroups, including snakes, was considered to have taken place in the Cretaceous (Jones et al, 2013) as an adaptive response to circumstances of major continental breakup and drift, warm global climate, and rapid diversification of terrestrial biotas (e.g., Lloyd et al, 2008;Meredith et al, 2011), new discoveries suggest snakes separated from lizards earlier in time, before or during the Middle Jurassic (Caldwell et al, 2015). Nevertheless, the reconstruction of the early history of alethinophidian snakes is obscured by the scantiness of their fossil record throughout the Late Cretaceous.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Late Cretaceous madtsoiid snake from Romania associated with a megaloolithid egg nest – Paleoecological inferences

Venczel¹,

Vasile²,

Csiki-Sava³

2015

Cretaceous Research

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The oldest known snakes from the Middle Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous provide insights on snake evolution

Cited by 116 publications

References 26 publications

Biotic and environmental dynamics through the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous transition: evidence for protracted faunal and ecological turnover

Biotic and environmental dynamics through the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous transition: evidence for protracted faunal and ecological turnover

Avances en El Conocimiento De Los Reptiles Escamosos Fósiles Continentales De América Del Sur

A Late Cretaceous madtsoiid snake from Romania associated with a megaloolithid egg nest – Paleoecological inferences

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