The Ypresian Cambay Shale Formation at Vastan, Mangrol, and Tadkeshwar lignite mines in Gujarat, western India, has yielded a rich vertebrate fauna including madtsoiid, palaeophiid, booid, and colubroidean-like snakes. The latter are particularly abundant, but their systematic affinities are difficult to resolve. Here we describe new specimens of the colubroidean-like snake Thaumastophis missiaeni, including anterior, middle, and posterior trunk vertebrae, as well as caudal vertebrae. The combination of primitive and derived caenophidian and colubroidean vertebral characters confirms Thaumastophis as the earliest known stem-colubriform snake while Procerophis, from the same beds, is more derived and considered to represent a crown-Colubriformes. Additionally, Thaumastophis shares with Renenutet enmerwer from the late Eocene of Egypt a unique combination of vertebral characters that suggests an exchange with North Africa was possible along the southern margin of the Neotethys. We erect the new family Thaumastophiidae for Thaumastophis and Renenutet on the basis of their shared derived vertebral morphology.

位于印度西部古吉拉特邦 Vastan、Mangrol 和 Tadkeshwar 褐煤矿的 Ypresian Cambay 页岩组已经产生了丰富的脊椎动物群，包括 madtsoiid、palaeophiid、booid 和类似 corubroidean 的蛇。后者尤其丰富，但它们的系统亲和力却难以解析。在这里，我们描述了类似 colubroidean 的蛇Thaumastophis Missiaeni 的新标本，包括前、中和后躯干椎骨，以及尾椎骨。原始和派生的 caenophidian 和 colubroidean 椎体特征的结合证实了Thaumastophis是已知最早的茎 - colubriform蛇，而Procerophis，来自相同的床，更多的是派生出来的，被认为代表了一种冠柱状目。此外，Thaumastophis与来自埃及始新世晚期的Renenutet enmerwer共享一种独特的椎骨特征组合，这表明沿着新特提斯的南缘可能与北非进行交流。我们根据Thaumastophis和Renenutet共有的衍生椎体形态，为Thaumastophis和Renenutet建立了新的 Thaumastophiidae 科。