The earliest colubroid-dominated snake fauna from Africa: perspectives from the Late Oligocene Nsungwe Formation of southwestern Tanzania.
The earliest colubroid-dominated snake fauna from Africa: perspectives from the Late Oligocene Nsungwe Formation of southwestern Tanzania.
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DOI：
10.1371/journal.pone.0090415
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发表时间：
2014
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
O'Connor PM
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
McCartney JA;Stevens NJ;O'Connor PM
现存的蛇类动物区系起源于古近纪-新近纪过渡期的动物区系剧变。在北方大陆上，早中新世晚期就已经确立了这种更替。然而，这一转变在南部陆块，特别是非洲大陆，没有晚古近纪陆地蛇组合赤道以南的记录很少。本文描述了在坦桑尼亚鲁夸河裂谷盆地晚渐新世Nsungwe组新发现的蛇动物群。该动物区系较小，但多样性与8个可识别的形态型，包括3个booids和5个colubroids。该动物群包括Rukwanyoka holmani gen.et sp. nov.，非洲大陆最古老的化石它也为非洲眼镜蛇分支Elapidae提供了最古老的化石证据。在动物群中，Colubroids占主导地位，占回收材料的75%以上。这可能与当地的干旱化和/或季节性有关，并反映了后来居住在欧洲和北美新兴草原环境中的蛇类动物群的颠覆模式。在鲁夸河裂谷盆地相对于北方大陆早期出现的游蛇优势表明，导致现存动物群的翻转模式发生在非洲大陆上比以前认识到的更复杂的方式，非洲游蛇在古近纪晚期至少在当地变得重要，无论是之前还是作为游蛇入侵的结果。眼镜蛇在非洲最新渐新世的早期出现表明，该分支在入侵欧洲之前迅速从亚洲传播到非洲，或者起源于非洲。
The extant snake fauna has its roots in faunal upheaval occurring across the Paleogene - Neogene transition. On northern continents, this turnover is well established by the late early Miocene. However, this transition is poorly documented on southern landmasses, particularly on continental Africa, where no late Paleogene terrestrial snake assemblages are documented south of the equator. Here we describe a newly discovered snake fauna from the Late Oligocene Nsungwe Formation in the Rukwa Rift Basin of Tanzania. The fauna is small but diverse with eight identifiable morphotypes, comprised of three booids and five colubroids. This fauna includes Rukwanyoka holmani gen. et sp. nov., the oldest boid known from mainland Africa. It also provides the oldest fossil evidence for the African colubroid clade Elapidae. Colubroids dominate the fauna, comprising more than 75% of the recovered material. This is likely tied to local aridification and/or seasonality and mirrors the pattern of overturn in later snake faunas inhabiting the emerging grassland environments of Europe and North America. The early emergence of colubroid dominance in the Rukwa Rift Basin relative to northern continents suggests that the pattern of overturn that resulted in extant faunas happened in a more complex fashion on continental Africa than was previously realized, with African colubroids becoming at least locally important in the late Paleogene, either ahead of or as a consequence of the invasion of colubrids. The early occurrence of elapid snakes in the latest Oligocene of Africa suggests the clade rapidly spread from Asia to Africa, or arose in Africa, before invading Europe.
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