Receiving the Fall 2023 FLMNH Travel Award allowed me to attend the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology’s (SVP) annual meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio, where I gave my first talk on fossil squamates.
The oldest fossils referred to Boinae in North America (NA) have received multiple taxonomic interpretations, primarily based on vertebrae from the 17-18 Ma Thomas Farm (TF) locality, Gilchrist County, Florida. With an ever-improving understanding of the boine fossil record in South America (SA), the vertebrae from TF have been reclassified as Psuedoepicrates, Boa, and most recently, Chilabothrus. Competing taxonomic assignments infer significantly different biogeographic dispersal scenarios for these early NA boines. Newly recovered fossils have substantially increased the number of snakes from TF including hundreds of vertebrae and the first dentary. After comparing µCT scans of the new fossils, we assigned it to the genus Boa, which supports an SA origin for early NA boine. This record likely represents the northernmost occurrence of an SA clade prior to the closure of the Isthmus of Panama and the Great American Biotic Interchange. In addition to presenting my work at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology’s Annual Conference, I met with collaborators and experts who have previously published on these fossils and reached a group consensus on the conclusions discussed in my talk. In addition, I was loaned Panamanian boa fossils that I needed to image before the paper could be published.
Mitchell Riegler is a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. through the College of Geological Sciences advised by Dr. Jonathan Bloch, Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology here at the Florida Museum.
The 2023 Fall Student Travel Awards are supported by the FLMNH Department of Natural History, including funds from the Louis C. and Jane Gapenski Endowed Fellowship. If you would like to help support this fund for future student awards, please go to:
Louis C. and Jane Gapenski Endowed Fellowship