| Madtsoia Temporal range: Maastrichtian–Eocene | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Family: | † Madtsoiidae |
| Genus: | † Madtsoia Simpson, 1933 |
| Type species | |
| † Madtsoia bai Simpson, 1933 | |
| Other species | |
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Madtsoia is an extinct genus of Madtsoiid snake from the Late Cretaceous to the Eocene, and lived in South America, Eurasia, and Madagascar.
Description[]
It is known from the Eocene (Casamayoran and Itaboraian) of Argentina (M. bai), the Paleocene of Brazil (M. camposi), the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) of Spain (M. laurasiae), the Late Cretaceous of India (M. pisdurensis), and the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Madagascar and the Coniacian of Niger (M. madagascariensis). Recovered vertebrae of M. pisdurensis are 1.83 centimetres (0.72 in) long and 4.35 centimetres (1.71 in) tall) and pertain to a snake that was approximately 5 metres (16 ft) long.
Classification[]
As extinct snakes go, Madtsoia is less important as an individual genus than as the eponymous representative of the family of snake ancestors known as madtsoiidae, which had a worldwide distribution from the late Cretaceous period all the way up to the Pleistocene epoch, about two million years ago. However this snake's unusually wide geographic and temporal distribution (its various species span about 90 million years) is notable, along with the fact that it's represented in the fossil record almost exclusively by vertebrae. Paleontologists are far from sorting out the evolutionary relationships of Madtsoia and the madtsoiida and modern snakes. Other madtsoid snakes, at least provisionally, include Gigantophis, Sanajeh and most controversially the two-legged snake ancestor Najash.
In Popular Culture[]
- Madtsoia appeared in Roblox game Dinosaur World Mobile.
- Madtsoia appeared in Prehistoric Planet, where an individual kills a juvenile Masiakasaurus.