Exposures of the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian)
Bahariya Formation in the Bahariya Oasis of the
Western Desert of Egypt preserves a diverse
vertebrate fauna, including non-avian dinosaurs,
fishes, plesiosaurs, turtles, crocodyliforms, and
pterosaurs. Also known from this locality are fossils
referred to the early aquatic simoliophiid snake
Simoliophis. Among simoliophiids, Simoliophis is
poorly known, with specimens mainly consisting of
vertebrae and only sparse cranial elements and ribs.
Simoliophis has a Tethyan distribution and is known
from two species, S. rochebrunei of Western Europe
and S. libycus of North Africa. Specimens of the
genus from the Bahariya Formation were originally
attributed to S. rochebrunei; however, this
identification has more recently been questioned.
Here we describe new vertebral specimens from the
Bahariya Formation and discuss their affinities with
the other known species of the genus. The collection
includes anterior and posterior trunk vertebrae in
various states of preservation. The Egyptian fossils
differ from the European and other North African
species in several features, including aspects of the
neural spines, cotyle-condyle complex, and ventral
surface of the centrum, among others. Regional
variation in the vertebrae of Simoliophis is unusual in
comparison with other snakes, but some aspects can
be identified in the material, including changes in the
morphology of the synapophyses, neural spine, and
overall vertebral aspect ratio. The preserved material
supports identification of a third species of
Simoliophis in the Late Cretaceous and expands the relatively high diversity of Simoliophiidae in the
Tethys Sea. |
