90 mln-year-old fossil shows how snakes lost legs

November 29, 2015 13:58

Snakes lost their limbs when their ancestors evolved to wriggle through burrows, and not in order to live in the sea, according to a new analysis of a 90 million-year-old reptile fossil skull.

Comparisons between CT scans of the fossil and modern reptiles indicate that snakes lost their legs when their ancestors evolved to live and hunt in burrows, which many snakes still do today.

The findings from University of Edinburgh in the UK show that snakes did not lose their limbs in order to live in the sea, as was previously suggested.

Scientists used CT scans to examine the bony inner ear of Dinilysia patagonica, a 2-metre long reptile closely linked to modern snakes.

These bony canals and cavities, like those in the ears of modern burrowing snakes, controlled its hearing and balance.

They built 3D virtual models to compare the inner ears of the fossils with those of modern lizards and snakes.

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