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Boavus

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Extinct genus of snakes

Boavus
Temporal range: Eocene - ?Miocene
Cast of B. idelmani holotype (AMNH 3850), American Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Boidae
Genus: †Boavus
Marsh, 1871
Type species
Boavus occidentalis
Marsh, 1871
Species
  • ?B. agilis Marsh, 1871
  • B. brevis Marsh, 1871
  • B. occidentalis Marsh, 1871
  • B. idelmani Gilmore, 1938
  • B. affinis Brattstrom, 1955

Boavus is an extinct genus of boa known primarily from Eocene-aged strata of North America. At least three species (B. occidentalis, B. idelmani, and possibly B. agilis) are known from the Middle Eocene Green River lagerstätte in Wyoming, two species from Eocene strata of Uinta County (B. occidentalis again, B. brevis), and at least one species is known from the middle to late Eocene-aged Sespe Formation of California (B. affinis). Boavus was a small snake measuring between 1 and 2 metres (3.3 and 6.6 ft) long.

Post-Eocene specimens

Three vertebrae very similar in form, if not identical to those of B. occidentalis were found in early Oligocene-aged strata of South Dakota. Remains of what may be B. affinis are found in Late Miocene (Early Barstovian-aged) strata of Trinity River in Texas.

References

  1. ^ Holman, J. Alan (2000). Fossil Snakes of North America: Origin, Evolution, Distribution, Paleoecology. Indiana University Press. pp. 357 (pp40-49). ISBN 9780253337214.
  2. Silvio Onary; Annie S. Hsiou; Michael S. Y. Lee; Alessandro Palci (2022). "Redescription, taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships of Boavus Marsh, 1871 (Serpentes:Booidea) from the early–middle Eocene of the USA". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 19 (23): 1601–1622. doi:10.1080/14772019.2022.2068386. S2CID 249484060.
Fossil snakes
Genera with hindlimbs and a sacrum
Simoliophiidae
Madtsoiidae
Dinilysiidae
Boidae
Pythonidae
Palaeophiidae
Viperidae
Elapidae
Psammophiidae


Taxon identifiers
Boavus


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