Ancient Snake's Ancestors were Ambush, Nocturnal Predators with Tiny Hind Limbs

Snakes are known for their long, lean bodies and lack of limbs. Now, though, scientists have discovered that the very first snakes were nocturnal, stealth-hunting predators with tiny hind limbs that had ankles and toes.

Snakes show an incredible amount of diversity. In fact, there are over 3,400 living species found in a wide range of habitats, such as land, water and in trees. Very little is known about where and when they evolved, though, which is why researchers decided to take a closer look.

"While snake origins have been debated for a long time, this is the first time these hypotheses have been tested thoroughly using cutting-edge methods," said Allison Hsiang, one of the researchers, in a news release. "By analyzing the genes, fossils and anatomy of73 different snake and lizard species, both living and extinct, we've managed to generate the first comprehensive reconstruction of what the ancestral snake was like."

In this case, the researchers analyzed fossils, genes and anatomy from 73 snake and lizard species. This suggested that snakes first evolved on land and not in the sea. Most likely, they originated in the warm, forested ecosystems of the Southern Hemisphere about 128.5 million years ago.

The very first snakes probably possessed a pair of tiny hind limbs and targeted soft-bodied vertebrate and invertebrate prey that were relatively large in size compared to prey targeted by lizards at the time. While the snake wasn't limited to eating very small animals, it hadn't yet developed the ability to manipulate prey much larger than itself by using constriction as a form of attack.

It's likely that snakes were largely successfully due to their skills as "dispersers." They're able to travel ranges up to 110,000 square kilometers, which is about 4.5 times larger than lizards. They're also able to inhabit environments that traditionally hinder the dispersal of terrestrial animals.

The findings are published in the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology.

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