National Geographic => Snakes Evolved on Land, New Fossil Find Suggests
Seems like it’s been a good month for fossils in Argentina, at least for announcements, anyway.
Even today, some snakes have vestigial legs, indicating that, in earlier forms, they had functioning legs before loosing them to evolution. There is some debate as to whether they evolved first on land or in the water.
This new find in Argentina is of a primitive snake form that still has functioning hip and back legs, suited for crawling or digging. This lends evidence to the land-based evolution scenario.
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