Bitis olduvaiensis

Bitis olduvaiensis
Temporal occurrence
	late Pliocene to early Pleistocene
	about 1.8 million years
Locations
	Tanzania ( Olduvai , Laetoli ?);
Systematics
	Snakes (serpentes)
	Adder-like and viper-like (Colubroidea)
	Vipers (Viperidae)
	Real vipers (Viperinae)
	Puff adder ( bitis )
	Bitis olduvaiensis
Scientific name
	Bitis olduvaiensis
	Rage , 1973

Bitis olduvaiensis is an extinct species of the African-Arabian puff adder within the vipers (Viperidae).

It was scientifically described after two fossil mandibles and several eddies in the Olduvai Gorge in northern Tanzania . Another jaw and several vertebrae come from Laetoli , south of the Olduvai Gorge. In the case of these fossils, however, it is unclear whether they actually belong to this species or to the recent puff adder ( Bitis arietans ).

Bitis olduvaiensis fossil finds are dated to the late Pliocene or the early Pleistocene . The species lived until less than two million years ago, whereby it was similar in its way of life and its appearance to the puff adder and is therefore classified as part of the genus Bitis (puff adder).

First described was Biti olduvaiensis by Jean-Claude Rage 1,973th

literature

Zbigniew Szyndlar, Jean-Claude Rage: Fossil Record of the True Vipers. In: Gordon W. Schuett, Mats Höggren, Michael E. Douglas, Harry W. Greene (Eds.): Biology of the Vipers. Eagle Mountain Publishing, Eagle Mountain UT 2002, ISBN 0-9720154-0-X , pp. 419-444.

Individual evidence

↑ Jean-Claude Rage: Fossil snakes from Olduvai, Tanzania. In: Louis SB Leakey , Robert Sauvage, Shirley C. Coryndon (Eds.): Fossil Vertebrates from Africa. Volume 3. Academic Press, New York NY et al. 1973, ISBN 0-12-440403-0 , pp. 1-6.

[1] Jean-Claude Rage: Fossil snakes from Olduvai, Tanzania. In: Louis SB Leakey , Robert Sauvage, Shirley C. Coryndon (Eds.): Fossil Vertebrates from Africa. Volume 3. Academic Press, New York NY et al. 1973, ISBN 0-12-440403-0 , pp. 1-6.