Daboia maxima

Daboia maxima
Temporal occurrence
	middle Pliocene (MN 15)
	approx. 3 million years
Locations
	Spain ( Layna );
Systematics
	Snakes (serpentes)
	Adder-like and viper-like (Colubroidea)
	Vipers (Viperidae)
	Real vipers (Viperinae)
	Oriental Vipers ( Daboia )
	Daboia maxima
Scientific name
	Daboia maxima
	( Szyndlar , 1988)

Daboia maxima is an extinct species of the European vipers and is classified in the genus Daboia . A very close relationship with the chain viper ( Daboia russelii ) is assumed. Daboia maxima was the largest known real viper (Viperinae).

It was scientifically described after a dorsal vertebra and 19 other vertebrae collected at the site near Layna in Castile-León . It has so far only been described from this site.

The fossil finds of Daboia maxima are dated to the middle Pliocene . So the species lived until about three million years ago, and was probably similar to the chain viper in its way of life and appearance. A relationship was assumed through similarities in the anterior region of the vertebra described; in contrast to others, both types have high neural arches and short pituitary glands .

First described was Daboia maxima by Zbigniew Szyndlar 1988 as Vipera maxima , a rearrangement in the genus Daboia carried out with a review of the recent vipers based on biochemical characteristics, wherein the chain Viper as the only extant species of the genus Daboia has been assigned. Since then, three other species have been assigned to the genus.

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

↑ Zbigniew Szyndlar: Two new extinct species of the Genera Malpolon and Vipera (Reptilia; Serpentes) from the Pliocene of Layna (Spain). In: Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia. Vol. 31, No. 27, 1988, ISSN 0065-1710 , pp. 687-706.
↑ Hans-Werner Herrmann, Ulrich Joger , Göran Nilson: Phylogeny and systematics of viperine snakes. III: resurrection of the genus Macroektivena (Reuss, 1927) as suggested by biochemical evidence. In: Amphibia-Reptilia. Vol. 13, No. 4, 1992, ISSN 0173-5373 , pp. 375-392, doi : 10.1163 / 156853892X00076 .

[1] Zbigniew Szyndlar: Two new extinct species of the Genera Malpolon and Vipera (Reptilia; Serpentes) from the Pliocene of Layna (Spain). In: Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia. Vol. 31, No. 27, 1988, ISSN 0065-1710 , pp. 687-706.

[2] Hans-Werner Herrmann, Ulrich Joger , Göran Nilson: Phylogeny and systematics of viperine snakes. III: resurrection of the genus Macroektivena (Reuss, 1927) as suggested by biochemical evidence. In: Amphibia-Reptilia. Vol. 13, No. 4, 1992, ISSN 0173-5373 , pp. 375-392, doi : 10.1163 / 156853892X00076 .