Rieppelophis, Scanferla & Smith & Schaal, 2016

Scanferla, Agustín, Smith, Krister T. & Schaal, Stephan F. K., 2016, Revision of the cranial anatomy and phylogenetic relationships of the Eocene minute boas Messelophis variatus and Messelophis ermannorum (Serpentes, Booidea), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 176 (1), pp. 182-206 : 203

RIEPPELOPHIS ERMANNORUM ( SCHAAL & BASZIO, 2004) COMB. NOV.

Holotype

SMF ME 1812 , five trunk vertebrae.

Locality and horizon

Middle Messel Formation, Messel Pit near Darmstadt ( Germany), middle Eocene ( MP 11).

Diagnosis

A very small booid snake that can be distinguished from all other members of Serpentes by the following combination of characters: edentulous premaxilla with ascending process; nasal articulates with the medial frontal pillar; lacrimal duct opens ventrally; large fingerlike medial foot process; postorbital applied to parietal and frontal; parietal with parietal table and a pointed posterior process in sagittal crest; maxilla with two maxillary foramina, and 22 tooth positions and teeth diminishing in size posteriorly; ectopterygoid with forked maxillary process; contact with the pterygoid via a concave surface in the lateral surface of the pterygoid; parietal table present; supraorbital process of parietal well developed; supratemporal short with a conspicuous lip in its contact region with the quadrate; ∼ 183 precloacal and ∼ 36 cloacal–postcloacal vertebrae; neural spine of precloacal vertebrae robust, occupying almost half the length of the neural arch; paracotylar foramina absent; prezygapophyseal process very weakly developed; haemal keel well developed; and paired haemapophyses in postcloacal vertebrae absent and replaced by barely defined paired protuberances located below of the condyle.