Aug 3, 2026 03:22 PM
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1138474
INTRO: Snakes are highly modified lizards, with more than 4,000 living species today. The origin of snakes has long been one of evolutionary biology's most debated questions. Their sparse fossil record has made it hard to pin down what drove the evolution of their limbless body plan.
For decades, scientists have argued whether the elongated, limbless snake body first evolved as an adaptation to burrowing or to life in water. A study published in Nature challenges that framing: early snakes did not follow one ecological path but experimented with multiple habitats and sensory strategies.
“Our findings show that early snakes had already achieved remarkable ecological and morphological diversity by the Late Cretaceous, around 80 million years ago,” says lead author Tiago Simões, Assistant Professor at Princeton University... (MORE - no ads)
INTRO: Snakes are highly modified lizards, with more than 4,000 living species today. The origin of snakes has long been one of evolutionary biology's most debated questions. Their sparse fossil record has made it hard to pin down what drove the evolution of their limbless body plan.
For decades, scientists have argued whether the elongated, limbless snake body first evolved as an adaptation to burrowing or to life in water. A study published in Nature challenges that framing: early snakes did not follow one ecological path but experimented with multiple habitats and sensory strategies.
“Our findings show that early snakes had already achieved remarkable ecological and morphological diversity by the Late Cretaceous, around 80 million years ago,” says lead author Tiago Simões, Assistant Professor at Princeton University... (MORE - no ads)