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Lapparentophis

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Extinct genus of reptiles

Lapparentophis
Temporal range: Early-Late Cretaceous, ?Albian–Cenomanian PreꞒ O S D C P T J K Pg N
MHNM.KK387, the holotype of L. ragei
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Lapparentophiidae
Genus: Lapparentophis
Hoffstetter, 1959
Type species
Lapparentophis defrennei
Hoffstetter, 1959
Other species
  • L. ragei Vullo, 2019

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. Two species are known: the type species, L. defrennei from Algeria, and a second species, L. ragei from Morocco, which is only known from the holotype MHNM.KK387 and the paratype MHNM.KK388, two isolated trunk vertebrae.

Lapparentophis is probably the sister taxon of the slightly younger Pouitella from the Cenomanian of France. Lapparentophis was initially believed to have been a snake, but later studies have found it to fall under Ophidia, the clade which Serpentes also belongs to.

References

  1. ^ Hoffstetter, R. (1959). A terrestrial snake in the Lower Cretaceous of the Sahara . Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France, 7e série 1:897-902
  2. ^ 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.
  3. Rage, J-C. (1988). A primitive snake in the Cenomanian. C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Sér. II. 307, 1027-1032
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