[ad_1]
a snake
Scientists discovered what they considered the oldest known snake fossil in the world so far, almost completely preserved, in the approximately one meter long fossil at the UNESCO World Heritage site “Mesel Pete”, which has about 47 million years.
The new species of snake was named Messelopython freyi, in honor of the paleontologist Eberhard Frey, of the State Museum of Natural History in Karlsruhe, being world famous for his meticulous studies of fossil reptiles. The study was published on Wednesday, December 16, in the scientific journal Biology Letters.
The length of this type of snake is more than six meters, and it is one of the largest snakes in the world. Today, there are different species of these snakes of the genus Sphincter, mainly in Africa, Southeast Asia and Australia. Dr Christer Smith of the Senckenberg Institute for Research and Natural History in Frankfurt explains: “The geographical origin of snakes is still unclear. Therefore, the discovery of a new type of snake in the Messel crater represents a great advance in the understanding of the evolutionary history of these snakes. “
The first in the world #piton identified from 47 million year old fossil remains @Senckenberg @RSocPublishing https://t.co/lFS7LBswaK
– Phys.org (@physorg_com) December 16, 2020
The new species of snake Messelopython freyi described by Smith and his Brazilian colleague Dr. Husam Zaher of the University of São Paulo is the oldest known snake fossil record in the world. According to their findings, these snakes were already present in Europe in the Eocene epoch, more than 47 million years ago. Our analyzes trace its evolutionary history to Europe, ”according to Dr. Zahir.
📢🦕#Research news from Messel – World’s oldest python found – Fossil suggests giant snakes originated in Europe 🐍More: https://t.co/wWCxq3uWab #SGNScience #MuseumsDiscover #Senckenberg #GrubeMessel pic.twitter.com/FHfBz30R0D
– SENCKENBERG (@Senckenberg) December 16, 2020
However, the large pheromone eels subsequently disappeared from the European continent for some time. The fossils of this family of snakes did not appear again until the Miocene, between 23 and 5 million years ago.
“When the global climate started to cool again after the Miocene, snakes disappeared from Europe again,” says Smith.
And unlike the primitive Meissel python, modern snakes live in complete spatial separation from their very similar anatomically similar relatives, the Boa. “However, in Messel, Messelopython freyi and primitive ports like Eoconstrictor fischeri lived together in the same ecosystem, so we have to reconsider the hypothesis that these two groups of snakes compete with each other, rendering them unable to share the same. habitats “. According to Smith, according to “phys.org”.
[ad_2]
