The oldest fossil snake discovered in amber 100 million years ago [19659002] The fossilized snake found in an amber is 99 million years old [19659003Lefossileduserpentmontreal] The anatomie of thepatient is widely unchanged since the centuries
The origin of snakes remains a mystery, but the fossil provides a glimpse of their natural habitat there are million years
a snake baby fossil
The discovery of fossil remains helps scientists discover the origin of species. Archaeologists and paleontologists have uncovered some of the earliest fossils dating back to the time when dinosaurs roamed freely over the earth's surface. In the rarest discovery, scientists found their first baby snake fossil in an ancient amber.
Lida Xing, a paleontologist from the China Geoscience University in Beijing, came into possession of the oldest fossil of a baby snake buried in a small piece of amber. After careful analysis, the scientists concluded that the amber preserving the incredibly rare baby snake fossil is 99 million years old, which puts it back in the days of the first half of the century. Mesozoic era.
It's an incredible time capsule by nature. This is the first baby snake fossil, it is treated with great value in order to study the mysterious origin of snakes. Dr. Xing took the rare fossil Michael Caldwell, a snake paleontologist at the University of Alberta, to advance the research and published his findings in the journal Science Advances on Wednesday.
Does the newly discovered fossil tell us where snakes are coming from and how they are spreading around the world?
Qu & # 3939; is the baby snake fossil telling us exactly?
The baby snake fossil, Xiaophis myanmarensis (Myanmar dawn snake), inside the fossilized resin with golden hues was found in the southeastern nation of Myanmar, and closely examined inside a synchrotron, a powerful source of X-rays. The results were then compared with those of the syn rayons source source My My My My Les Les. modern day snakes and surprisingly found many similarities
According to paleontologists Xing and Caldwell, the Snake baby's body was composed of 97 vertebrae and rib bones. The general shape of the baby snake's body has helped scientists conclude that snakes have retained their anatomy for a very long time. Scientists have found the resemblance between the fossil snake and modern snakes, which have smooth, shiny scales and a powerful jaw
"This was a surprise, evolved at least 100 million years ago. Caldwell said to Inverse
.The head of the baby snake had disappeared, which created an identity crisis for fossil hunters who thought it was a problem. A Millipede Despite several scans, scientists were unable to identify whether the baby snake was a newborn or an embryo.
But amber picked up d & # 39; other materials with the baby snake's body, including plants, cockroaches and insect droppings.These clues suggest that the snake lived in the forest, which is the first time that scientists have been able to place snakes in the forests during the Mesozoic era.
The mystery continues …
the snakes are left unanswered.All this since the origin of the snakes to which the family of lizards is closely related, or even the evolution of complete limb loss.Scientists also do not know why the forelegs disappeared before the back box and their skull unique morphology
"Almost everything ab" We must continue to look into even older rocks if we want to understand the origin of snakes, not just their subsequent specializations and evolution, "he said. concluded.