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A unexampled look at a 95 - million - year - quondam fossilized snake expose two tiny leg bones attached to the slithery creature ’s pelvis . A three - dimensional Reconstruction Period of the finger cymbals could help researcher sympathise how snakes evolve to drop off their legs .
The fossil , found in Lebanon , is from an epoch when snakes had not yet completely lost the hind limbsleft by their lounge lizard ancestors . A much - debated question among paleontologist is whether these leggy root were ocean - living natator or earth - habitation burrowing lizard .
The Eupodophis descouensi specimen found in Lebanon. The snake’s inch-long legs are in the tail section to the left of the snake’s head.
The new finding select a twinge at do that question .
One - column inch - long fossilized leg osseous tissue is seeable on the aerofoil of the ossified Lebanese snake in the grass , but half the pelvis ( where another leg would be expected ) is buried in rock . The 19 - inch - foresighted ( 50 centimeter ) ophidian ( calledEupodophis descouensi ) is one of only three Snake River fogey with its hind limbs preserved , so breaking it loose to face for the other leg was out of the interrogative , said study researcher Alexandra Houssaye of the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris .
Instead , the researchers used a proficiency called synchrotron - radiation computed laminography ( SRCL ) . Like a aesculapian cypher imaging ( CT ) scan , SRCL use ecstasy - rays to image the internal body structure of an object , but at 1,000 times higher resolution .
" Only 3 - calciferol [ scanning ] could discover the inner social system of the bones without damaging them , and the same is true to celebrate the complete second leg , " Houssaye told LiveScience .
The scanning revealed a hidden leg , dented at the knee but lacking foot and toe bones . The frame-up of the off-white is similar to that of planetary lizards , Houssaye said , adding that one report could n’t conciliate the " land ancestor versus water ancestor " debate . However , she said , the anatomy of the bone suggest that evolutiontook Snake River ' legsnot by alter the way of life they grew . Instead , Houssaye said , it looks as though the limbs grow either dense or for a poor catamenia of meter .
This experiment was the first to habituate the SRCL technique in fossilology , Houssaye tell , and there ’s much more to analyze . The next stride , she say , admit analyzing other hind - limbsnake fossils , canvas the limbs of living snakes and lizards and dissect the fogy of the quondam snake in the grass known .
The researchers describe their results in the Feb. 8 exit of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology .
you could followLiveScienceSenior Writer Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas .
