X-rays reveal hidden leg of an ancient snake: New hints on how snakes were getting legless
Monday, February 7, 2011 - 15:33
in Paleontology & Archaeology
Synchrotron X-ray investigation of a fossilized snake with legs is helping scientists better understand how in the course of evolution snakes have lost their legs, and whether they evolved from terrestrial lizards or from reptiles living in the oceans. New 3-D X-ray images reveal the internal architecture of an ancient snake's leg bones to resemble that of modern terrestrial lizard legs.