Prehistoric Models: Snakes
Snakes are an ancient lineage of diapsid reptiles that have been on this Earth since the time of the dinosaurs. The first snakes did have legs in the Jurassic Period and lost them by the late Cretaceous. The ancestors to snakes have been identified in the Jurassic period with limbs. To see my snake fossils click here.
Kingdom: Animalia – Phylum: Chordata – Superclass: Tetrapoda – Class: Reptilia – Clade: Diapsida – Order: Squamata – Clade: Ophidia – Suborder: Serpentes
(Snakes)
Late Cretaceous to Holocene
Genera: Naja
Common name: Cobra
Classification: Family: Elapidae (with some exceptions)
Range: Africa and Asia
Time: Miocene to Holocene
Diet: Carnivore
Genus and species: Oxyuranus microlepidotus
Common name: Taipan
Classification: Family: Elapidae – Subfamily Hydrophiinae
Range: Australia
Time: Holocene
Diet: Carnivore
Genera: Crotalinae and Sistrurus
Common name: Rattle snake
Classification: Family: Viperidae – Subfamily Crotalinae
Range: North America
Time: Holocene
Diet: Carnivore
Genus and species: Agkistrodon piscivorus
Common name: Cottonmouth, Water Moccasin, Swamp Moccasin, Black Moccasin, and Viper
Classification: Family: Viperidae
Range: Southeast United States
Time: Holocene
Diet: Carnivore
Genus, species, and subspecies: Nerodia sipedon insularum
Common name: Lake Erie Water Snake
Classification: Family: Colubridae
Range: Small islands on the west coast of Lake Erie, North America
Time: Holocene
Diet: Carnivore