A new peculiar early diverging caenophidian snake (Serpentes) from the late Eocene of Hordle Cliff, England

This dataset contains the digitized treatments in Plazi based on the original journal article Georgalis, Georgios L., Jones, Marc E. H. (2025): A new peculiar early diverging caenophidian snake (Serpentes) from the late Eocene of Hordle Cliff, England. Comptes Rendus Palevol 24 (25): 505-530, DOI: 10.5852/cr-palevol2025v24a25, URL: doi.org/10.5852/cr-palevol2025v24a25 ABSTRACT We here describe a new genus and species of snake, based on several trunk and caudal vertebrae, originating from the late Eocene (MP 17a) of Hordle Cliff, England.

We investigated the fossil material via both visual microscopy and micro-computed tomography (µCT) scanning, focused on its intracolumnar variation, and extensively compared it with other Paleogene snake taxa from England and continental Europe. The new small taxon is characterized by an array of bizarre and distinctive vertebral features that can differentiate it from all other snakes. Its morphology is similar to that of russellophiids; however, some anatomical features differ drastically from those observed in the latter group and therefore, defy such family-level placement.