Texasophis galbreathi, new species, the earliest New World colubrid snake

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Abstract
A remarkably complete trunk vertebra representing a new species of Texasophis, a genus previously known only from the Miocene of North America and France, moves the appearance of the family Colubridae and the subfamily Colubrinae in the New World from the late early Miocene (Harrison Formation: Arikareean) back into the middle Oligocene (Brule Formation: Orellan). The fossil was found in the Scenic Member of the Brule Formation in northeastern Colorado. This snake is much more similar to an undescribed species of Texasophis from the French Miocene than it is to the North American Texasophis fossilis. It now appears that the Colubridae had spread from its center of origin in Asia to France by about 32 million years ago, and to North America by about 30 to 31 million years ago. Based on its vertebral structure it appears that Texasophis galbreathi was a quite small, secretive or semifossorial species.

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