Parviraptor

Parviraptor is a genus of squamate containing one species, Parviraptor estesi, from the Late Jurassic (Tithonian) or Early Cretaceous (Berriasian) Purbeck Limestone Formation of Dorset, England.[1] A second species, Parviraptor gilmorei, was described from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation of Western North America;[2] it was present in stratigraphic zone 4.[3] However, the second species was subsequently transferred to a separate genus Diablophis.[1] An indeterminate species is known from the Bathonian aged Kirtlington Mammal Bed (Kilmaluag Formation, Scotland).

Parviraptor
Temporal range:
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Genus: †Parviraptor
Evans, 1994
Type species
†Parviraptor estesi
Evans, 1994

Description

The shape, length, and body form of Parviraptor is not currently known. Parviraptor was initially described by Susan E. Evans in 1994, based on disarticulated but associated remains including bones of the skull and vertebrae. It was estimated to be about 150 millimetres (5.9 in) in snout-vent length and assigned to the Anguimorpha.[4] Parviraptor was suggested by Caldwell et al. 2015 to be a stem-snake (Ophidia) based on the morphology of its maxilla, and on the claim that the other skeletal remains attributed to the species were not actually attributable to it.[1] However, Susan E. Evans, the original describer of the genus, has stated that subsequent study of the other remains attributed to the genus indicates that they can confidently assigned to Parviraptor, and are dissimilar to the skeletons of snakes, making its affinity to them doubful.[5]

Phylogeny

Cladogram based in the phylogenetic analysis by Caldwell et al. (2015):[1]

Ophidia

Portugalophis

Parviraptor

 

Eophis

Unnamed sp.

Diablophis

Dinilysia

Madtsoiidae

Najash

Coniophis

Serpentes (Modern snakes)

See also

References
  1. Caldwell, M. W.; Nydam, R. L.; Palci, A.; Apesteguía, S. N. (2015). "The oldest known snakes from the Middle Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous provide insights on snake evolution" (PDF). Nature Communications. 6: 5996. Bibcode:2015NatCo...6.5996C. doi:10.1038/ncomms6996. PMID 25625704.
  2. Foster, J. (2007). "Table 2.1: Fossil Vertebrates of the Morrison Formation." Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World. Indiana University Press. pp. 58-59.
  3. Foster, J. (2007). "Enneabatrachus hechti" Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World. Indiana University Press. p. 137.
  4. S. E. Evans. 1994. A new anguimorph lizard from the Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous of England. Palaeontology 37(1):33-49
  5. Evans, Susan E. (2022-08-11), Gower, David J.; Zaher, Hussam (eds.), "The Origin and Early Diversification of Squamates", The Origin and Early Evolutionary History of Snakes (1 ed.), Cambridge University Press, pp. 7–25, doi:10.1017/9781108938891.004, ISBN 978-1-108-93889-1, retrieved 2023-03-28


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