Author: Charles W. Gilmore
From the original introduction: In 1868 Cope described Palaeophis littoralis, the first fossil snake named from North America. Since then 24 species pertaining to 13 genera have been described by various authorities, although Cope and Marsh were the principal contributors to our knowledge of the extinct Serpentes of this continent. Such information as has accumulated concerning the extinct snakes of North America is the result of spasmodic and uncorrelated studies, a research that was made difficult by the extreme rarity and the usually fragmentary state of the available specimens. The scarcity of snake remains in the fossil record, aside from their small size, may perhaps be attributed to the fact that with comparatively few exceptions they are terrestrial in habit, and for that reason their skeletons were less apt to be preserved as fossils. The present study was made possible through the cooperation of the author’s colleagues who upon request, without exception, generously turned over their serpent materials for his use. Thus he was enabled to bring together in the United States National Museum practically all the ophidian specimens known from North America, consisting of all the original types, except Coluber acuminatus (Cope), Ogmophis oregonensis Cope, and Palaeophis littoralis Cope, which appear to be lost, as well as all unstudied material. Of the latter, however, it was disappointing to find so few specimens among the accumulations of many years of explorations. The very fragmentary character of the original types, consisting at best of a few vertebrae, makes their study very specialized and difficult. The study of extinct serpents is rendered still more arduous because of the dearth of adequate description of the osteological anatomy of the living forms, aside from the crania, which are seldom found in the fossil state. The characterization of genera and species in modern Serpentes has, as in the Sauria, been largely based on the arrangement, and number, of the head and body scales, together with other features of the soft anatomy, all characters which are useless for the purposes of the paleontologist. However, in a few instances, through the discovery of better and more fully preserved specimens the author has been enabled to establish certain described forms and to demonstrate their relationships to living members of the suborder.
Published: 5/14/1938
ISBN Number: 9780813720098
Pages: 104
Product Category: EBooks