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An ancient sink hole in eastern Tennessee holds the clues to an important transitional time in the evolutionary history of snakes. Among the fossilized creatures found there, according to a new paper, is a new species of snake that lived 5 million years ago. This study involved many hours of close examination of hundreds of dark mineral-stained snake fossils.
In the end, the biggest surprise was the discovery of vertebrae that don’t match any known species of snake, living or extinct. The researchers named the new genus and species Zilantophis schuberti.Image credit: Steven Jasinski/University of Pennsylvania/State Museum of Pennsylvania
