A new fossil species of<i>Boa</i>Linnaeus, 1758 (Squamata, Boidae), from the Pleistocene of Marie-Galante Island (French West Indies)

Bochaton, Corentin; Bailón, Salvador

doi:10.1080/02724634.2018.1462829

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…This taxon was also never recorded in the numerous zooarchaeological assemblages of Guadeloupe (Grouard, 2001(Grouard, , 2007. A fossil Boa did occur on Marie-Galante Island, but was restricted to the Pleistocene period and never identified in any Holocene natural or archaeological assemblages (Bochaton and Bailon, 2018). The vertebrae recently collected at PGR6 on La Désirade and at BTC on Basse-Terre are thus the first Holocene record of Boa on Guadeloupe.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…The anterior margin of the zygosphene is straight in all vertebrae, but this condition cannot be assessed on the vertebra from La Désirade. This feature is characteristic of continental Boa constrictor, and Boa nebulosa from Dominica, but is absent in the fossil Boa blanchardensis described on Marie-Galante (Bochaton and Bailon, 2018). The vertebra from La Désirade presents a relatively low neural spine similar to those observed in B. nebulosa and B. blanchardensis, but not in continental B. constrictor (Figure 2).…”

Section: Taxonomic Identification and Morphology Of The Remainsmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Investigated remains were analyzed using a binocular microscope NIKON SMZ 445 to observe their surface condition. Taxonomic identification of the remains was performed using the published anatomical criteria of the Boidae family (Hsiou and Albino, 2009;Rage, 2001;Szyndlar and Rage, 2003), the Boa genus (Albino, 2011(Albino, , 2012, and the Lesser Antillean Boa species (Bochaton and Bailon, 2018). The nomenclature used to describe the anatomical structure of the vertebrae follows Hoffstetter and Gasc (1969) and Szyndlar (1984).…”

Section: Study Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Much work is still needed to better understand the diversity of colubrid snakes in the archaeological record of the Lesser Antilles, but the data concerning other snake families and especially boid snakes are even scarcer. Indeed, the rare traces of their past occurrences have only been found on Marie-Galante, where an endemic species was present at least during the Pleistocene (Boa blanchardensis, Bochaton & Bailon, 2018), and Antigua where putative Boa constrictor remains were discovered in two Holocene deposits (Pregill et al, 1988). Boa snakes currently occur on two islands in the Lesser Antilles, St. Lucia and Dominica, where they are represented by two endemic species, Boa orophias Linnaeus, 1758 and Boa nebulosa (Lazell, 1964) (see Henderson and Powell, 2009).…”

Section: Snakes In the Lesser Antillean Archaeological Recordmentioning

confidence: 99%

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First records of modified snake bones in the Pre-Columbian archaeological record of the Lesser Antilles: Cultural and paleoecological implications

Bochaton

2020

The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology

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The past distribution of Boa snakes and their interactions with Pre-Columbian human populations in the Lesser Antilles (Caribbean) remain enigmatic. These snakes currently have a patchy distribution in the islands and are nearly absent from archaeological deposits. This raises questions about whether their absence from Pre-Columbian contexts should be interpreted from a biological or a cultural point of view. In this study, I provide three new references to Boa remains from archaeological and natural deposits on the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, most of which were manufactured into beads.These are the first objects in the Lesser Antilles known to be manufactured using snake bones and all appear to be made from Boa, despite a wider diversity of snakes occurring in this region. Using these new observations and combined pieces of evidence from archaeological, historical, and biological data sources, I propose that the extreme scarcity of Boa in zooarchaeological assemblages reflects their prominent status in Pre-Columbian Amerindian communities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Taxonomic Identification and Morphology Of The Remainsmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Study Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Snakes In the Lesser Antillean Archaeological Recordmentioning

confidence: 99%

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First records of modified snake bones in the Pre-Columbian archaeological record of the Lesser Antilles: Cultural and paleoecological implications

Bochaton

2020

The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology

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“…These files were opened with MeshLab (Cignoni et al, 2008) and SPIERS (Sutton, Garwood, Siveter, & Siveter, 2012), after having been converted in tiff format using Infran View (Skiljan, 2013). The osteological analysis was performed following mainly the anatomical descriptions and terminology of Szyndlar (1984), Dullemeijer (1956), Ivanov (1999), Rieppel (2007), Ivanov and Čerňanský (2017), Hill (2019), Strong, Simões, Caldwell, and Doschak (2019), Auen and Langebartel (1977), Bochaton and Bailon (2018), Myers and McDowell (2014), di Pietro, Alcalde, and Williams (2014), Olori and Bell (2012) and Rieppel (2007), with some modifications (see supplementary online material S1,1). The description of the skull follows the sequence of individual bones as used in Evans (2008).…”

Section: Institutional Abbreviationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Skull osteology of Vipera walser (Squamata, Viperidae): Description, variability, ontogeny, and diagnostic characters in comparison to other Italian vipers

Seghetti

Villa

Tschopp

et al. 2020

Journal of Morphology

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Vipera walser is the most recently recognized European viper. This rare species is endemic to a small area in the Piedmont Alps of Italy, but its closest relatives are found among the Caucasian viper species. In order to provide a starting point for a phylogenetic and biogeographic investigation based on osteology, and including fossils remains, we analyzed four specimens of V. walser and compared them with specimens of the four other Italian viper species. Based on these specimens, we improved the diagnosis of V. walser and provided a first evaluation of intraspecific variability and ontogenetic variation. The skull of V. walser is subject to significant variation, most likely related to ontogeny in some cases (i.e., development of the parietal crest, development of the basioccipital process, shape of the posterior margin of the parabasisphenoid, shape of the quadrate). Based on the studied material, it is possible to distinguish V. walser from the other Italian vipers by the shape of the occipital crest of the supraoccipital, which is posteriorly directed, whereas it is laterally directed in the other species. The osteological diagnosibility provides further support for the validity of V. walser as a distinct species from Vipera berus.

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A new species of Palaeopython (Serpentes) and other extinct squamates from the Eocene of Dielsdorf (Zurich, Switzerland)

Georgalis

Scheyer

2019

Swiss J Geosci

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The lizard and snake fauna from the late middle-late Eocene (MP 16-MP 20) of Dielsdorf, near Zurich, Switzerland, is described comprehensively in this paper. Detailed comparisons of the Dielsdorf material with other extinct taxa allow us to establish a new species of the large ''booid'' genus Palaeopython, i.e., Palaeopython helveticus sp. nov., characterized by a unique combination of vertebral features, most prominently a highly vaulted neural arch. Other squamates of the Dielsdorf assemblage comprise the large lizard Palaeovaranus sp. and as many as three other taxa of snakes, i.e., Palaeopython cf. fischeri, Palaeopython sp. (morphotype 3), and ''Booidea'' indet. We conducted micro-CT scanning in the Palaeovaranus dentary, which confirmed the presence of plicidentine in this lizard genus. Micro-CT scanning was also conducted in differently sized snake vertebrae from our sample, revealing that the respective anatomical differences were probably due to ontogenetic variation. This is the first time that micro-CT scanning is applied in Palaeovaranus and Palaeopython. The importance of this method for potentially clarifying the taxonomy and precise affinities of extinct snakes is addressed. We also provide digital 3D model reconstructions of the Palaeovaranus dentary and Palaeopython vertebrae (including that of the holotype of Palaeopython helveticus sp. nov.) for the first time. The palaeobiogeographic significance of the Dielsdorf lizards and snakes is discussed and the sympatric occurrences of the genera Palaeovaranus and Palaeopython throughout the Eocene of Europe are presented in detail.

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A new fossil species ofBoaLinnaeus, 1758 (Squamata, Boidae), from the Pleistocene of Marie-Galante Island (French West Indies)

Cited by 8 publications

References 52 publications

First records of modified snake bones in the Pre-Columbian archaeological record of the Lesser Antilles: Cultural and paleoecological implications

First records of modified snake bones in the Pre-Columbian archaeological record of the Lesser Antilles: Cultural and paleoecological implications

Skull osteology of Vipera walser (Squamata, Viperidae): Description, variability, ontogeny, and diagnostic characters in comparison to other Italian vipers

A new species of Palaeopython (Serpentes) and other extinct squamates from the Eocene of Dielsdorf (Zurich, Switzerland)

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