Non-Erycine Booidea from the Oligocene and Miocene of Europe

About this book

This is the first monographic description of boas, pythons, and tropidophiids inhabiting Europe in the period between the middle Oligocene and the middle Miocene. The story tells about the times when booids, in Europe and elsewhere, were absolute dominants of snake faunas as well as about the times when the domination ended and the constrictors were ousted from the European continent.

The book consists of three major parts:
* Introductory part that provides, among others, a review of the worldwide fossil record of booid snakes.
* Systematic part that describes or redescribes in great detail fossil remains of European Oligocene and Miocene non-erycine Booidea.
* The final part that discusses in detail all main events of the history of the European Booidea (including Erycinae), beginning in the period around the "Grande Coupure" at the Eocene / Oligocene boundary and ending with the extinction of last boas and pythons in the middle Miocene. The discussion considers non-booid snakes, as well.

The text is supplemented throughout by numerous illustrations, mostly full-page plates, and includes an extensive bibliography.

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