On July 23rd 2015, it was announced that the fossil remains of a four legged snake had been discovered. Paleontologist David Martill of the University of Portsmouth, the UK, found the snake in the Museum Solnhofen in Germany. Martill said, "When I noticed the fossil had front legs, I realized we actually got the missing link between lizards and snakes."
Martill and his colleague Nicholas Longrich of Britain's Bath University, believe that the snake fossil, which was found in Brazil dates back to the Cretaceous period some 110 to 125 million years ago. The snake, named Tetrapodophis, measured 7.9 inches with a head the size of an adult fingernail. Its front legs were a small 0.4 inches with tiny hands that were half as long. Its hind legs and feet were slightly longer.
For years scientists have argued over whether snakes evolved from land or sea animals. Tetrapodophis has no adaptations that would have made it a marine animal. However, its skull and its body proportions are consistent with an animal that had adapted to burrowing. Longrich feels that this finding shows that it must be true that snakes originated in the Southern Hemisphere, and he supports the theory of a terrestrial origin.
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