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Description
Palaeopheids were and still are a very important lineage of marine snakes. Possessing many adaptations to an aquatic, sea-going existence, including a degree of endothermy completely unprecedented in Squamates outside of Mosasauria. Larger than the contemporary Nigeropheids, some Paleogene forms reached gargantuan sizes of 10m and inhabited a Trans-Atlantic range. The genus Eupalaeophis has been recovered from Paleocene and Eocene deposits in North America, the Uk, Italy, Algeria and Egypt. The most complete fossils of this family come from the Late Eocene of Egypt and belong to a 60% complete specimen of the genus Apep giganteus, a massive 8m aquatic ambush predator. This fearsome predator was heavily adapted to a marine existence, with a vertically flattened tail useful for powering through the water. It was likely a sit and wait style predator, lurking in the shallows and striking quickly to seize marine birds, large fish and aquatic reptiles. Despite the relative completeness of its remains, no skull material attributed to A. giganteus is known, leaving us in the dark as to how macropredatory this snake really was. However, given the overall size of the animal, it is likely that its main prey would have been fish or juvenile Mosasaurs. These snakes did not decline after the end of the Eocene, with their endothermic metabolisms and fast growth patterns enabling them to colonize waters further afield. During the Holocene, not even icy arctic waters would be safe from these aberrant sea serpents.

Description
Palaeopheids were and still are a very important lineage of marine snakes. Possessing many adaptations to an aquatic, sea-going existence, including a degree of endothermy completely unprecedented in Squamates outside of Mosasauria. Larger than the contemporary Nigeropheids, some Paleogene forms reached gargantuan sizes of 10m and inhabited a Trans-Atlantic range. The genus Eupalaeophis has been recovered from Paleocene and Eocene deposits in North America, the Uk, Italy, Algeria and Egypt. The most complete fossils of this family come from the Late Eocene of Egypt and belong to a 60% complete specimen of the genus Apep giganteus, a massive 8m aquatic ambush predator. This fearsome predator was heavily adapted to a marine existence, with a vertically flattened tail useful for powering through the water. It was likely a sit and wait style predator, lurking in the shallows and striking quickly to seize marine birds, large fish and aquatic reptiles. Despite the relative completeness of its remains, no skull material attributed to A. giganteus is known, leaving us in the dark as to how macropredatory this snake really was. However, given the overall size of the animal, it is likely that its main prey would have been fish or juvenile Mosasaurs. These snakes did not decline after the end of the Eocene, with their endothermic metabolisms and fast growth patterns enabling them to colonize waters further afield. During the Holocene, not even icy arctic waters would be safe from these aberrant sea serpents.