Evidence of prevalence in subcontinent
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 13: Scientists have reported spotting of the fossil of a Madtsoiidae snake from the molasse deposits of Ladakh Himalaya for the first time indicating their prevalence in the subcontinent for much longer time than previously thought.
An official statement said Madtsoiidae is an extinct group of medium-sized to gigantic snakes, firstly appeared during the late Cretaceous and mostly distributed in the Gondwanan landmasses, although, their Cenozoic record is extremely scarce.
The statement said from the fossil record, the whole group disappeared in the mid-Paleogene across most Gondwanan continents except for Australia where it survived with its last known taxon Wonambi till late Pleistocene.
Dr. Ningthoujam Premjit Singh (corresponding author), Dr. Ramesh Kumar Sehgal, and Abhishek Pratap Singh from Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, India in association with Dr. Rajeev Patnaik and Wasim Abass Wazir from Panjab University Chandigarh; Dr. Navin Kumar and Piyush Uniyal from Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, and Dr. Andrej Èeròanský of Comenius University Slovakia have reported for the first time a Madtsoiidae snake from the late Oligocene ( part of the Tertiary Period in the Cenozoic Era, and lasted from about 33.7 to 23.8 million years ago) of India or the molasse deposits of Ladakh Himalaya.
The occurrence of Madtsoiidae from the Oligocene of Ladakh indicates their continuity at least to the end of the Paleogene (geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period 66 million years ago).
“The research published in Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology showed that the members of this group were successful in this subcontinent for much longer time than previously thought,” the statement said.
It added that the global climatic shifts and the prominent biotic reorganization across the Eocene-Oligocene boundary (which correlates to the European Grande Coupure), did not cause the extinction of this important group of snakes in India.
The newly described specimen is housed in the repository of Wadia Institute, an autonomous institute of Department of Science and Technology.
Madtsoiidae is an extinct family of mostly Gondwanan snakker with a fossil record extending from early Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) to late Pleistocene strata in South America, Africa, India, Australia and Southern Europe.
Madtsoiidae include very primitive snakes, which like extant boas and pythons would likely dispatch their prey by constriction. Genera include Gigantophis, one of the longest snakes known, at an estimated 10.7 meters (35 ft), and the Australian Wonambi and Yurlunggur. As a grouping of basal forms the composition and even the validity of Madtsoiidae is in a state of flux as new pertinent finds are described.
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