A new evidence for pachyostotic snake from Turonian of Bosnia-Herzegovina

  • Dragana Đurić Natural History Museum, Njegoševa 51, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
  • Dragoslav Radosavljević Natural History Museum, Njegoševa 51, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
  • Dragana Petrović Ljube Stojanovića 34, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
  • Miloš Radonjić University of Belgrade, Faculty of Mining and Geology, Đušina 7, 11000 Belgrade
  • Petar Vojnović Podosoje bb, 89230 Bilećа, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Keywords: hind-limbed snake, pachyostosis, Pachyophis, Turonian, Bileća

Abstract

Records of Cretaceous marine snakes from Bosnia and Herzegovina have been known for nearly a hundred years. This paper presents a new finding of a pachyostotic snake from the local quarry Dubovac, three kilometers northwest of Bileća. The specimen consists of 29 vertebrae, seven of which are detached from the slab. The two best preserved vertebrae are almost square-shaped resembling Simoliophis rochebruneibut neural arches are much more swollen. Vertebrae and ribs are extremely pachyostotic as in Pachyophis woodwardi.  Since  there  are  no  three-dimensional  vertebrae  of  this  species  preserved  from  Bosnia  and Herzegovina, precise identification was limited to a certain extent.

Published
2017-12-18
How to Cite
Đurić, D., Radosavljević, D., Petrović, D., Radonjić, M. and Vojnović, P. (2017) “A new evidence for pachyostotic snake from Turonian of Bosnia-Herzegovina”, Geološki anali Balkanskoga poluostrva, 78(1), pp. 17-21. Available at: https://gabp.rgf.bg.ac.rs/index.php/gabp/article/view/16 (Accessed: 28December2024).
Section
Original Scientific Paper