Four-Legged Snake Ancestors Moved Like LIzards

A four-legged snake fossil is helping researchers piece together the evolution puzzle of the species from lizards.

A researcher discovered the fossil at Solnhofen Museum in Germany during a field trip. The fossil dates to 110 million years, making it the oldest remains of a snake. Researchers affirmed that the fossil was a snake and a not lizard from its body structure, the teeth and belly scales. The snake, named Tetrapodophis amplectus, can help researchers understand when snakes stopped walking and adopted slithering.

"So when snakes stopped walking and started slithering, the legs didn't just become useless little vestiges - they started using them for something else. We're not entirely sure what that would be, but they may have been used for grasping prey, or perhaps mates," said Dr Dave Martill who found the fossil in the museum.

The four-legged snake fossil also has remains of its last meal, probably a salamander. Researchers believe snakes were carnivorous early on in their evolution.

"It is generally accepted that snakes evolved from lizards at some point in the distant past. What scientists don't know yet is when they evolved, why they evolved, and what type of lizard they evolved from. This fossil answers some very important questions, for example it now seems clear to us that snakes evolved from burrowing lizards, not from marine lizards," Dr Martill said.