The oldest record of Clelia (Serpentes – Colubridae) in South America

Trunk vertebrae of a colubrid from the Lower to Middle Pleistocene of the Buenos Aires province, Argentina, are described. They are assigned to the genus Clelia on the basis of the following combination of characters: the longitudinal development of the neural spine, the short vertebral body, prezygapophyseal processes robust and laterally oriented. This suggests that the origin of the subfamily Xenodontinae and their later dispersal in South America has occurred at least in or before Pliocene times.