80-million-year-old fossil sheds light on how reptiles lost their limbs to become snakes

New research based on an 80-million-year-old fossil offers clues about the evolutionary history of snakes and how reptiles lost their limbs. Scientists have long debated whether the ancestors of snakes were aquatic, terrestrial or subterranean, and the new findings hint that more than one environment may have played a role. The discovery adds nuance to the complex evolutionary story of limbless reptiles.

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More on this topic

🔬 Science Fossil reveals brain and ecological diversity in the earliest snakes Nature · 7d ago 🔬 Science 550-million-year-old worm-like creature is earliest known right-handed animal Smithsonian Magazine · 15d ago 🔬 Science 570-million-year-old fossils found in Canada shed light on complex life's origins Focus.pl · 21d ago