Titanoboa

Titanoboa Temporal range: Mid-Late Paleocene (Peligran-Itaboraian) ~60–58 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Titanoboa dorsal vertebra in the José Royo y Gómez National Geological Museum, Bogotá
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Boidae
Genus:	†Titanoboa Head et al., 2009
Species:	†T. cerrejonensis
Binomial name
†Titanoboa cerrejonensis Head et al., 2009

Titanoboa (/ˌtaɪtənəˈboʊə/; lit. 'titanic boa') is an extinct genus of giant boid (the family that includes all boas and anacondas) snake that lived during the middle and late Paleocene. Titanoboa was first discovered in the early 2000s by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute who, along with students from the University of Florida, recovered 186 fossils of Titanoboa from La Guajira in northeastern Colombia. It was named and described in 2009 as Titanoboa cerrejonensis, the largest snake ever found at that time. It was originally known only from thoracic vertebrae and ribs, but later expeditions collected parts of the skull and teeth. Titanoboa is in the subfamily Boinae, being most closely related to other extant boines from Madagascar and the Pacific.

Titanoboa could grow up to 12.8 m (42 ft) long, perhaps even up to 14.3 m (47 ft) long, and weigh around 730–1,135 kg (1,610–2,500 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 non-avian dinosaurs, being one of the largest reptiles to evolve 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. Although originally thought to be an apex predator, the discovery of skull bones revealed that it was more than likely specialized in preying on fish.