Photo: National Park Service, Fossil Butte National Monument
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Boidae
A small fossil boa — snakes are uncommon finds in the Fossil Butte Member.
The family Boidae has 44 living species found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions of Central and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the western United States. Snakes in the Boidae family are carnivorous and a few are aquatic.
B. idelmani is small and may belong to the neotropical subfamily Tropidophiinae (dwarf boas). Snakes are uncommon to find in the Fossil Butte Member. In 2017, a second snake fossil from the FBM was identified as Dunnophis sp.
Species text: National Park Service, Fossil Butte National Monument — Fossil Reptile Species.