Wonambi
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Wonambi Temporal range: Miocene- |
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| Wonambi naracoortensis and Thylacoleo | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | †Madtsoiidae |
| Genus: | Wonambi |
| Type species | |
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Wonambi naracoortensis Smith, 1976 |
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| Species | |
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†Wonambi barriei Scanlon, 2000 |
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†Wonambi barriei Scanlon, 2000
†Wonambi naracoortensis Smith, 1976
Wonambi is a genus that consisted of two species of very large snakes. This genus is famous due to its large size. These species were not pythons, like Australia's other large constrictors of the genus Morelia, they are classified in the extinct family Madtsoiidae. This genus was a part of the extinct megafauna of Australia. It went extinct during the Late Pleistocene, probably because of human activity.
The type species is Wonambi naracoortensis, a five to six metre long snake; the only other known species is Wonambi barriei.
Wonambi is a genus of non-venomous, constrictor snakes, it seems to have been an ambush predator that killed its prey by constriction. The head of the animal was small, restricting the size of its prey.
Wonambi naracoortensis was first described from fossils collected at Naracoorte, South Australia, the first extinct snake to be found in Australia.
It was given the name Wonambi from the description, by the local Aboriginal people, of a serpent of the Dreamtime. This serpent, a mythological being commonly referred to by both Aboriginal people and Europeans as the Rainbow Serpent, was often held responsible for the creation of major features of the landscape. The Wagyl of the Western Australian Noongar people is thought to correlate to the South Australian people's Wonambi. It is cognate with the Yollungur genus, found at Riversleigh in Queensland and in the Northern Territory, which was up to 9 meters long with a body about 30 centimeters in diameter.
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