Titanoboa (; lit. 'titanic boa') is a genus of extinct giant boid snake (being the biological family of all boas and anacondas) that lived during the middle and late Paleocene epoch. Titanoboa was first discovered in the early 2000s by members of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, which – along with students from the University of Florida – recovered 186 fossils of Titanoboa from the Cerrejón coal mines in the La Guajira department of northeastern Colombia. It was named and described in 2009 as Titanoboa cerrejonensis, and lauded as the largest snake ever found at that time. The original type material consisted of thoracic vertebrae and ribs, but later expeditions collected parts of the skull and teeth. Titanoboa is estimated to grow up to 12.8 m (42 ft) or perhaps even up to 14.3 m (47 ft) long, and weigh around 730 to 1,135 kg (1,610 to 2,500 lb). The discovery of Titanoboa cerrejonensis supplanted the previous record holder, Gigantophis garstini, which is known from the Eocene of Egypt. Titanoboa evolved following the extinction of all nonavian dinosaurs, being one of the largest reptiles that lived after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Its vertebrae are very robust and wide, with a pentagonal shape in anterior view, as in other members of Boinae; the genus is considered to be most closely related to other extant boines from the Indo-Pacific region, such as those from Madagascar. Titanoboa is thought to have been a semi-aquatic apex predator, with a diet consisting primarily of fish.
History and naming
During an expedition in 2002 to the coal mines of Cerrejón in La Guajira, which was launched by the University of Florida and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, large thoracic vertebrae and ribs were unearthed by the students Jonathon Bloch and Carlos Jaramillo. More fossils were unearthed over the course of the expedition, eventually totaling 186 specimens from 30 individuals. These fossils were found in association with those of other reptiles from the Cerrejón Formation, such as turtles and crocodilians, which date to the mid-late Paleocene epoch (around 60–58 million years ago, Mya), a period just after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event which occurred 66 Mya. Before this discovery, few fossils of Paleocene-epoch vertebrates had been found in ancient tropical environments of South America. The expedition lasted until 2004, during which the fossils that would eventually be used to describe Titanoboa were mistakenly labeled as belonging to crocodyleans. The fossils were then transported to the Florida Museum of Natural History, where they were studied and described by an international team of Canadian, American, and Panamanian scientists in 2009 led by Jason J. Head of the University of Toronto. After being recognized as the remains of a snake species, they were identified as belonging to a novel species of giant boid snake that they named Titanoboa cerrejonensis. The generic name derives from the Greek word "Titan" in addition to Boa, the type genus of the family Boidae. The specific name is a reference to its locality, the Cerrejón region. The designated holotype is a single dorsal vertebra cataloged as UF/IGM 1, which is used by Head et al. (2009) to complete the initial size estimates of T. cerrejonensis. Another expedition to Cerrejón launched in 2011 found more fossils from Titanoboa. Most notably, the group returned with three disarticulated skulls of Titanoboa, making it one of the few fossil snakes with preserved cranial material. They were associated with postcranial material, cementing their referral to the species. Though the skulls are undescribed, an article about them by the BBC in 2012 and an abstract in the annals of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology have been published. A documentary on the animal titled Titanoboa: Monster Snake aired in 2012 in addition to a touring exhibit of the same name, which lasted from 2013 to 2018. In 2023, some of the vertebrae from the referred specimen UF/IGM 16 were reassigned to an indeterminate palaeophiine, a different type of aquatic snake.
Description
Titanoboa specimens are either incomplete or undescribed, consisting primarily of thoracic vertebrae that were located before (anterior of) the cloaca, which possess the same characteristics as other boids and especially Boa, such as a short, posteriorly pointing prezygapophyseal process. However, Titanoboa's vertebrae are distinct due to being very robust and with a uniquely T-shaped neural spine, which also has an expanded posterior margin and a thin, blade-like anterior process. It also has much smaller foramina (small pits in bone) on its center and lateral sides, contrary to those of many other boids. The skull material is only briefly described in a 2013 abstract. According to it, Titanoboa has a high amount of palatal and marginal tooth positions compared to other boids. The quadrate bone is oriented at a low angle and the articulation (joint) of both the palatine to pterygoid and pterygoid to quadrate are heavily reduced, a trait absent in its relatives. The teeth themselves are weakly ankylosed; they are not strongly connected to the jawbone.
Size
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
