Titanoboa

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Titanoboa Fossil range: Paleocene 60–58 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Titanoboa vertebrae (top & middle), Anaconda vertebrae (bottom).
Scientific classification
Subkingdom:	Eumetazoa
Class:	Reptilia
Subclass:	Diapsida
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Boidae
Subfamily:	Boinae
Genus:	Titanoboa Head, 2009
Species:	T. cerrejonensis (type)

"It’s the biggest snake the world has ever known,"

- Jason Head, um paleontólogo da Universidade de Toronto Mississauga e parte de uma equipe internacional que descobriu e identificou os ossos cobra fossilizados.

Titanoboa, que significa "boa titânica" [1], é um gênero extinto de serpente que viveu aproximadamente 60 a 58 milhões de anos atrás, durante o Paleoceno (aproximadamente 60-58 milhões de anos atrás) [2] a 10 milhões de anos período imediatamente posterior ao evento de extinção do Cretáceo-Terciário que dizimou a maioria da vida terrestre, incluindo os dinossauros. 

Após o evento de extinção em massa, Titanoboa foi, para a maioria da época do Paleoceno, o maior vertebrado não marinho. [3] [2] A única espécie conhecida é a Titanoboa cerrejonensis, a maior cobra já descoberta com aproximadamente 43 metros de comprimento. [2] Até o momento, os cientistas identificaram cerca de 180 ossos diferentes, principalmente vértebras e costelas, pertencentes a 28 espécimes individuais de um esconderijo de fósseis escavados da mina de carvão El Cerrejon, no norte da Colômbia.

 

The prepped fossils were later revealed in early 2007 at the University of Florida's Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, Florida. However, this is not the first occurence of large snake fossils that have been discovered in South America before. An example would be Madtsoia bai, a huge constrictor known from fossils discovered in Argentina in the mid 1930s. This particular species was believed to be up to 12 meters long, huge by modern snake standards but still 20% smaller than Titanoboa.

The find not only sheds new light on snake evolution; it also provides telling insights on climate. Because Titanoboa cerrejonensis was cold-blooded, the tropical climate that it lived in had to be 6 to 8 degrees warmer than it is today for a snake that large to survive. Along with the discovery of Titanoboa, the fossilized remains of turtles and crocodiles that the team excavated were probably the giant snake's primary diet.

Contents

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DiscoveryEdit

Various vertebrate from T. cerrejonensis

Jonathan Bloch (center) UF vertebrate paleontologist compares the vertebrae.

Os fósseis foram originalmente descobertos na Mina de Carvão de Cerrejon, no norte da Colômbia, a partir da Formação Cerrejon, e dezenas de espécimes foram desenterrados desde então. A expedição original foi co-organizada por Carlos Jaramillo, cientista do Instituto de Pesquisa Tropical Smithsonian no Panamá e Jonathan Bloch, curador de paleontologia de vertebrados no Museu de História Natural da Universidade da Flórida. A caça de fósseis é geralmente difícil nos trópicos cobertos pela floresta devido à falta de rochas expostas.

FossilsEdit

Approximately 180 vertebrate and rib fossils that came from about two dozen individual Titanoboa Cerrejonensis snakes have been uncovered. No fossils of the skull have been found yet.
The ten centimeter vertebrae are about twice the width of the largest modern snake, taken from a 19.5ft (6m) anaconda.

SizeEdit

Vertebrate of a modern anaconda (white), compared to the vertebrate of Titanoboa.

Jason Head, a paleontologist at the University of Toronto in Mississauga, worked with David Polly, a paleontologist at the University of Indiana, to estimate the snake’s length and mass by determining the relationship between body size and vertebral size in living snakes and using that relationship to figure out body size of the fossil snake based on its vertebrae.

By comparing the sizes and shapes of its fossilized vertebrae to those of extant snakes, researchers estimated that the T. cerrejonensis reached a maximum length of 13 to 14 meters (42 to 45 ft),^[4] weighed about weighed about 1,135 kilograms,^[1] and measured about 1 meter (40 in) in diameter at the thickest part of the body.^[5][6]

Previously, the largest known snake was Gigantophis, which lived about 39 million years ago in Egypt and was at least 40 feet long.[1]

Size comparisonEdit

The largest eight of the 28 T. cerrejonensis snakes found were between 13 and 14 metres (43 and 46 ft) in length. In comparison, the largest extant snakes are the Python reticulatus, which measures about 9 metres (30 ft) long, and the anaconda, which measures about 11 metres (36 ft) long^[4] and is considered the heaviest snake on Earth. At the other end of the scale, the smallest extant snake is Leptotyphlops carlae with a length of about 10 centimeters (4 in).^[7]

LocationEdit

In 2009, the fossils of 28 individual T. cerrejonensis were announced to have been found in the coal mines of Cerrejón in La Guajira, Colombia.^[2][1] Prior to this discovery, few fossils of Paleocene-epoch vertebrates had been found in ancient tropical environments of South America.^[8]The snake was discovered on an expedition by a team of international scientists led by Jonathan Bloch, a University of Florida vertebrate paleontologist, and Carlos Jaramillo, a paleobotanist from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama.^[9]

ClimateEdit

Artist's rendering of Titanoboa cerrejonensis that demonstrates the great snake's size.

Because snakes are Ectotherm|ectothermic, the discovery implies that the tropics, the creature's habitat, must have been warmer than previously thought. By comparing this animal's size to that of modern tropical snakes, and extrapolating from a measured curve of size to mean annual temperature, paleontologists were able to calculate that the average ambient temperature approximated 90 °F (30 °C).^[10][11] If the temperature had been less than that, the snake would not have been able to survive.^{[10][12][2][1]} The warmer climate of the Earth during the time of T. cerrejonensis allowed cold-blooded snakes to attain much larger sizes than modern snakes.^[13] For example, of ectothermic animals today, larger ones are found in the tropics where it is hottest, and smaller ones are found farther from the equator.^[3]

DietEdit

Along with the over two dozen individual Titanoboa specimens that were uncovered in the El Cerrejon coal mine were the fossilized remains of turtles and crocodilians, which were most likely preyed upon by Titanoboa.

See AlsoEdit

Prehistoric snakes

ReferencesEdit

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Head, Jason J.; Jonathan I. Bloch, Alexander K. Hastings, Jason R. Bourque, Edwin A. Cadena, Fabiany A. Herrera, P. David Polly, and Carlos A. Jaramillo. "Giant boid snake from the paleocene neotropics reveals hotter past equatorial temperatures.". 'Nature' 457: 715–718. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v457/n7230/abs/nature07671.html. Retrieved on 2009-02-05.
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} Kwok, Roberta (4 February 2009). "Scientists find world's biggest snake". Nature. http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090204/full/news.2009.80.html. Retrieved on 2009-02-04.
3. ^ ^{a b} "Science Daily: At 2,500 Pounds And 43 Feet, Prehistoric Snake Is Largest On Record". ScienceDaily. 2009-02-04. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090204112217.htm. Retrieved on 2009-02-06.
4. ^ ^{a b} "CTV.ca | Ancient, gargantuan snakes ate crocs for breakfast". http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090204/snake_biggest_090204/20090204?hub=SciTech. Retrieved on 2009-02-07.
5. ^ McIlroy, Anne (2009-02-05). "Titanoboa made anaconda look like a garter snake". Science. Archived from the original on 2009-02-05. http://web.archive.org/web/20090205215607/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090205.wsnake05/BNStory/Science/home. Retrieved on 2009-02-06.
6. ^ Dunham, Will (2009-02-04). "Titanic ancient snake was as long as Tyrannosaurus". Reuters UK. http://uk.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUKTRE5136K320090204. Retrieved on 2009-02-06.
7. ^ S. Blair Hedges (August 4, 2008). "At the lower size limit in snakes: two new species of threadsnakes (Squamata: Leptotyphlopidae: Leptotyphlops) from the Lesser Antilles" (PDF). Zootaxa 1841: 1–30. http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2008/f/zt01841p030.pdf. Retrieved on 2008-08-04.
8. ^ Maugh II, Thomas H. (4 February 2009). "Fossil of 43-foot super snake Titanoboa found in Colombia". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-sci-snake5-2009feb05,0,6550292.story. Retrieved on 2009-02-04.
9. ^ "At 2,500 Pounds And 43 Feet, Prehistoric Snake Is Largest On Record". Science Daily. February 4, 2009. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090204112217.htm. Retrieved on 2009-02-04.
10. ^ ^{a b} Joyce, Christopher (5 February 2009). "1-Ton Snakes Once Slithered In The Tropics". NPR. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100262412. Retrieved on 2009-02-05.
11. ^ "ScienceDirect - Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology : Climate model sensitivity to atmospheric CO2 levels in the Early–Middle Paleogene". http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V6R-47S6RC4-3&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=f53378580e88505b71158a35999e10ef. Retrieved on 2009-02-07.
12. ^ "ScienceDirect - Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology : Climate model sensitivity to atmospheric CO2 levels in the Early–Middle Paleogene". http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V6R-47S6RC4-3&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=f53378580e88505b71158a35999e10ef. Retrieved on 2009-02-07.
13. ^ Makarieva, A. M.; Victor G. Gorshkov and Bai-Lian Li (2005-09-14). "Gigantism, temperature and metabolic rate in terrestrial poikilotherms". Proceedings of the Royal Society B 272: 2325–2328. http://journals.royalsociety.org/content/p30384h277127964/. Retrieved on 2009-02-07.

External linksEdit

• A Snake the Size of a Plane: How did prehistoric animals get so big? By Nina Shen Rastogi. Feb. 5, 2009.

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