Ungaliophiidae McDowell 1987

UNGALIOPHIIDAE McDowell, 1987 (sensu Burbrink et al. 2020) REMARKS Ungaliophiidae were previously classified as a subfamily within Tropidophiidae (originally Ungaliopheinae of McDowell 1987). However, based on molecular data, ungaliophiids are considered to be much more distantly related to tropidophiids and instead represent distinct booids. This taxonomic classification is usually regarded as a subfamily within Charinaidae Gray, 1849 (Ungaliophiinae of Pyron et al. 2014; Georgalis & Smith 2020), or as a distinct family of Booidea, the Ungaliophiidae (Burbrink et al. 2020; Szyndlar & Georgalis 2023; Zaher et al. 2023). Parsimony analyses have recovered the latter as the sister clade of Charinaidae (Burbrink et al. 2020) (for further details see also Szyndlar & Georgalis 2023). Messelophis Baszio, 2004, is a genus of fossil dwarf boas from the middle Eocene of Messel locality, Germany, described firstly by Baszio (2004), based mainly on the morphology of its vertebrae. Another species of the genus, Messelophis ermannorum Schaal & Baszio, 2004, also from Messel, was later reassigned to a new genus by Scanferla et al. (2016): Rieppelophis Scanferla, Smith & Schaal, 2016. The latter genus appears in parsimony analyses as the sister taxon of Messelophis, while Messelophis + Rieppelophis has been recovered as the sister taxon of Exiliboa + Ungaliophis (Scanferla & Smith 2020a, b).