Associated Snake Vertebrae

[Cris]

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to share one of my more recent finds. Two associated and still connected rattlesnake verts from the Pleistocene of Florida. Isolated pieces are fairly common, but finding any fossil bones that are still together is rare here. It's been a while since I was able to share anything with all of you, so here it is:

[PrehistoricFlorida]

These are fairly common and are fused due to arthritic growth. This has to be very painful for the snake.

[bmorefossil]

Nice find cris its awesome finding articulated fossils

[edd]

Fairly common?

[Cris]

These are fairly common and are fused due to arthritic growth. This has to be very painful for the snake.

Interesting. I've never found or seen any others posted before. Happen to have any photos handy? When I say "fused", I mean still connected. They can be wiggled apart. It's surprising the current didn't separate them over the thousands of years.

[CreekCrawler]

Very cool find! Pretty large serpent as well..

[Sundancer73]

Sweet find! Yeah,like 'Creek' said. he was a biggun'

Edited May 18, 2011 by Sundancer73

[Roz]

Very cool find, Cris! I have only found one snake vert ever and it was modern.. I rarely

see those..

[2thfindr]

sweet find

[Frank Menser]

Not that common. 40+ years there and never found one anywhere near that big. As a long time snake keeper I am completely in love with that specimen. Way to go!

Edited May 18, 2011 by Frank Menser

[Jesta384]

for those of you more versed in herpitology.....about how big around would that beastie have been (at that segment)

[Hawkeye]

Very nice Cris! That would have been a very big snake!

[Megalodon_hunter]

Awesome find chris

[Ramo]

Cris, How do you know it's Rattlesnake. That would be a huge snake. I've seen 5-6' diamondback skeletons, and there verts aren't half as big as those!!

[tracer]

maybe he's just got tiny fingers? man, a snake with a bad back is like a centipede with ingrown toenails.

but i held my fingers up to the screen in exactly the same position as the alleged cris person and i hypothesized adding ribs to the verts and their approximately wing-span and if that was a snake it was one with a thyroid problem. how do we know it wasn't one of those anacrumpets that squeeze the bejeebers out of ya?

[PrehistoricFlorida]

Here's a couple. The really difficult to find ones are the ones with 3+ verts. The first specimen has 3 fused verts.

[Cris]

Very interesting. I figured with all the snake material you find, if this was a fairly common pathology, you would have some. I've seen this with alligator material before, but not snake.

[Cris]

Cris, How do you know it's Rattlesnake. That would be a huge snake. I've seen 5-6' diamondback skeletons, and there verts aren't half as big as those!!

In pic number 3, the protrusion at the bottom touching my thumb is broken off. It would have normally been pretty long and only vipers have them. It would be interesting to get a size estimate of how big this guy would have been!

[Ramo]

Thanks Cris. I never knew that. (I thought I knew a lot about reptiles!!)

Ramo

[Nandomas]

Not so common find to me, not because the vertebrae are fused, but because they are big. That size means really a big snake like a boa constrictor

[bear-dog]

Cris, How do you know it's Rattlesnake. That would be a huge snake. I've seen 5-6' diamondback skeletons, and there verts aren't half as big as those!!

We have a fossil book here showing numerous snake vertebra and who they belonged to.

[bear-dog]

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to share one of my more recent finds. Two associated and still connected rattlesnake verts from the Pleistocene of Florida. Isolated pieces are fairly common, but finding any fossil bones that are still together is rare here. It's been a while since I was able to share anything with all of you, so here it is:

Could that be from the [giant]rattlesnake talked about some years back in the news?At any rate super find.I own a baggie of snake verts. but none that large,let alone connected

[Guest N.AL.hunter]

Really neat find. Looking at your pictures, it is obvious that those came from a female, probably 4 years old, eastern diamondback, she had just laid some eggs prior to her death, and she was killed by a gator.

OK, that might not be all true.

Edited May 19, 2011 by N.AL.hunter

[Frank Menser]

To my recollection, there was a species of giant rattler in Florida that reached over 8 feet. I saw a partial skeleton on display at the Graves Museum (unfortunately the museum is now closed).

The size record for the extant sps is 8'1".

[Cris]

To my recollection, there was a species of giant rattler in Florida that reached over 8 feet. I saw a partial skeleton on display at the Graves Museum (unfortunately the museum is now closed).

The size record for the extant sps is 8'1".

Frank,

Very interesting. I did a little research on this and found mention of a species called Crotalus gigantus from the late Pleistocene of Florida. Apparently it was very similar to modern eastern diamondback rattlesnakes, only quite a bit larger. Did a search on the Forum and found this old post by Harry:

Here's the bad-boy, Crotalus giganteus, indistinguishable except for size from the eastern diamondback, C. adamanteus. according to Auffenberg.

Apparently this is a pretty rare snake. Now if I could only find a paper with more information and measurements in it. I supposed nobody happens to have (or have access to) THIS article in their PDF collection?