Palaeophis vertebra

[Yoda]

I recently added this Palaeophis snake vertebra to my collection 

Looks real to me. 
But I am not convinced the data (formation & age) are correct 

Any comments appreciated 

Thanks 

 

 

[rocket]

interesting vertebrae, but could be another Lepidosauridae

some other facts:

KemKem-beds are Cenomanian, upper part is lower turonian 

this is approx. 95 - 90 Mio Years old

 

I would assume this is not KemKem, looks like phosphates from upper cretaceous / lower Paleogene to me, this is around 65 - 60 Mya

 

[Troodon]

Matrix looks KK, that from the Ouled Abdoun Basin is whiter.   Looks like a snake vertebra.

Your looking at the Kem Kem Group, Cenomanian-Turonian in age (Ibrahim et al. 2020).  The formation from that Group is based on locality in the KK Basin, Taouz is a catch all locality everyone uses regardless of where it was found.  If it was found in that area, a good chance it's the Ifezouane formation

 

There is a paper that described one from the Taouz area Ifezouane Fm

 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311343345_A_new_basal_snake_from_the_mid-Cretaceous_of_Morocco

[Yoda]

1 hour ago, Troodon said:

Matrix looks KK, that from the Ouled Abdoun Basin is whiter.   Looks like a snake vertebra.

Your looking at the Kem Kem Group, Cenomanian-Turonian in age (Ibrahim et al. 2020).  The formation from that Group is based on locality in the KK Basin, Taouz is a catch all locality everyone uses regardless of where it was found.  If it was found in that area, a good chance it's the Ifezouane formation

 

There is a paper that described one from the Taouz area Ifezouane Fm

 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311343345_A_new_basal_snake_from_the_mid-Cretaceous_of_Morocco

Thanks - I will have a look at the paper 

[Harry Pristis]

For comparison: