Were there any giant sea snakes during the Paleocene?

[Joseph Fossil]

I've been researching again large reptiles of the Paleocene (66.0-56.0 Million Years ago) and Eocene (56.0-33.9 Million Years ago) eras recently and I've come across something interesting - the sudden emergence of giant sea snakes in the Eocene. The Paleocene did see some large snakes, including the largest known snake in the fossil record the Boa relative Titanoboa (which grew up to 12.8-14.3 m. (42-47 feet) in length). But the sudden appearance of large sea snakes like Palaeophis colossaeus (which grew up to 12.3 m. (40 feet) in length) during the Eocene perplexes me as I've been struggling to find any large (or at least fairly large) sea snakes  from the Paleocene. 

 

That is except one possible contender named Vialovophis from the late Paleocene as described in a Scientific Paper from 1997.

 

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alexander-Averianov/publication/235806050_Paleogene_Sea_Snakes_from_the_Eastern_Part_of_Tethys/links/5437db850cf2027cbb205006/Paleogene-Sea-Snakes-from-the-Eastern-Part-of-Tethys.pdf

 

 

I'm just a bit curious why this? Did these sea snakes evolve such gigantic sizes only during the Eocene and why? 

[siteseer]

Large sea snake vertebrae are known from the Paleocene of Mali.  I used to see them at shows and I even bought one (later donated to a musuem in SC).  The Paleocene was a warm time in Earth history and the Early Eocene was even warmer - a great time to be a tropical sea snake.  I've seen small sea snake vertebrae from the Early Eocene of Maryland, Virginia, and western Europe where sea snakes do not occur today.  The Middle Eocene was a time when the worldwide climatic trend changed to a cooler one.  Sea snake vertebrae become rare finds.  In fact, I'm trying to think of a late Eocene or later find other than a possible specimen from the Late Oligocene of SC.

 

I would assume sea snakes had fewer predators after the extinction of large marine reptiles at the end of the Cretaceous.  There were no marine mammals other than the earliest whales and they still had feet during the early Eocene.  I would think only some sharks of the time preyed on sea snakes back then.  

[MarcoSr]

On 4/26/2023 at 5:55 PM, siteseer said:

 I've seen small sea snake vertebrae from the Early Eocene of Maryland, Virginia, and western Europe where sea snakes do not occur today. 

 

I've collected large sea snake vertebrae from the Eocene, Nanjemoy Formation of Virginia in addition to hundreds of Eocene small sea snake vertebrae from Maryland and Virginia.  Below is an example that I donated last year to the Virginia Museum of Natural History.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marco Sr.

[Joseph Fossil]

On 4/26/2023 at 4:55 PM, siteseer said:

Large sea snake vertebrae are known from the Paleocene of Mali.  I used to see them at shows and I even bought one (later donated to a musuem in SC).  The Paleocene was a warm time in Earth history and the Early Eocene was even warmer - a great time to be a tropical sea snake.  I've seen small sea snake vertebrae from the Early Eocene of Maryland, Virginia, and western Europe where sea snakes do not occur today.  The Middle Eocene was a time when the worldwide climatic trend changed to a cooler one.  Sea snake vertebrae become rare finds.  In fact, I'm trying to think of a late Eocene or later find other than a possible specimen from the Late Oligocene of SC.

 

I would assume sea snakes had fewer predators after the extinction of large marine reptiles at the end of the Cretaceous.  There were no marine mammals other than the earliest whales and they still had feet during the early Eocene.  I would think only some sharks of the time preyed on sea snakes back then.  

 

@siteseer Thanks dude! Also, I give you kiddos for donating one of your Paleocene snake vertebrate to a Museum (It's always been my personally belief that in any amateur or professional paleontological collection, the best of the best specimens should always ben donated to a museum for study when possible)!!

[Joseph Fossil]

5 hours ago, MarcoSr said:

 

I've collected large sea snake vertebrae from the Eocene, Nanjemoy Formation of Virginia in addition to hundreds of Eocene small sea snake vertebrae from Maryland and Virginia.  Below is an example that I donated last year to the Virginia Museum of Natural History.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marco Sr.

 

@MarcoSr Thanks Dude for the info! Also, that's a pretty awesome find! Congrats!