The snake family Madtsoiidae is an extinct clade of primarily Gondwanan terrestrial snakes, with a temporal range spanning approximately 100 million years from the Late Cretaceous to the Late Pleistocene. Their geographic range during the Late Cretaceous encompassed Madagascar, South America, India, Africa, and the European archipelago. The Cenozoic forms are primarily found in North Africa, South America, the Indian subcontinent, and Australia. Madtsoiids display a wide range of body sizes and include some of the largest known terrestrial snakes that have ever lived. Although Madtsoiidae is a speciose clade, most of its taxa are known exclusively from vertebrae. Additionally, the phylogenetic position of Madtsoiidae within Ophidia has remained contentious, as some studies recover it within Serpentes, whereas others place it outside the crown group.
Datta and Bajpai (2024) published a paper in Scientific Reports in April 2024, describing the largest species of snake found to date, estimated to be 36-50 feet (10.9–15.2 meters) in length. The genus Vasuki of Madtsoiid snakes from the Middle Eocene houses the new species. The holotype of Vasuki indicus was discovered in the sedimentary layers of the Naredi Formation in the Panadhro Lignite Mine in the Kutch district of Gujarat State, western India. The specimen consists of 27 pre-cloacal vertebrae, some of which were found in articulation with one another. The fossil material was found sometime after 2004.
The new species is estimated to have lived in India about 47 million years ago. The snake was alive at the same time as the subcontinent was still drifting away from Africa toward Asia. When the snake was alive, the average temperature of its lat its location was about 82.4 degrees Fahrenheit (28 degrees).
Datta D, Bajpai S. 2024. The largest known madtsooid snake from the warm Eocene period of India suggests intercontinental Gondwana dispersal. Scientific Reports 14(1):8054.
