New Fossils of Ancient Snake With Hind Legs Reveals Tantalizing Details of Evolution – Scitech Daily

New fossils of an ancient legged snake, called Najash, shed light on the origin of the slithering reptiles, including how snakes got their bite and lost their legs.

The fossil discoveries published in Science Advances have revealed they possessed hind legs during the first 70 million years of their evolution.

They also provide details about how the flexible skull of snakes evolved from their lizard ancestors.

The evolution of the snake body has captivated researchers for a long time — representing one of the most dramatic examples of the vertebrate body’s ability to adapt — but a limited fossil record has obscured our understanding of their early evolution until now.