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Debate Over Ancient 4-Legged Snake Heats Up


Claire.

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Mistaken Identity? Debate Over Ancient 4-Legged Snake Heats Up

A critter heralded as the first four-legged fossil snake on record may actually not be a snake, according to new research. Instead, the 120-million-year-old creature is likely a dolichosaurid, an extinct four-legged marine lizard with an elongated, snake-like body, a new analysis of the specimen finds.  

"Tetrapodophis doesn't show any of those features that you would expect to see in a snake," said Michael Caldwell, a professor and chair of biological sciences at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, who is leading the new investigation into the enigmatic fossil.

For instance, Tetrapodophis amplectus doesn't have hooked teeth like a snake does, nor does it have a snake-like skull and skeleton, Caldwell said. Other anatomical details that have been found in ancient and modern snakes are also missing, including the subdental ridge in the mouth and zygosphenes, which are special joints that are found between snake vertebrae, he said. Rather, the creature is likely a dolichosaurid, which falls under the squamate (scaly reptile) umbrella, he said. It's unclear exactly how dolichosaurids are related to snakes, but some evidence suggests they are a sister group to the slithery reptiles, Caldwell said.

Read more: Live Science

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As I understand it, there's ongoing debate about this fossil. I can't remember where I heard or read about it recently. But I believe these ideas have been questioned in some way.

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  • 2 weeks later...

UPDATE: The fossil Tetrapodophis amplectus will return to the Bürgermeister-Müller-Museum in Solnhofen, Germany, later this month, sources say. The fossil’s owner had temporarily removed it because of damage it had sustained during CT scanning at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France. “Two very important bones of the holotype were partially damaged,” says Martin Röper, director of the museum. After investigating the extent of the damage, the owner agreed to return it to the museum—but scientists will now only be able to study it in-house, Röper says. The good news, says Paul Tafforeau of ESRF, is that the facility has improved its imaging protocols for flat fossils, so that “it can never happen again.”

Source: Science Magazine

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