News Paleontology

Fossil gets a leg up on snake family tree

By Tina Hesman Saey

- More than 2 years ago

A newly described fossil snake with legs may have climbed higher into the snake family tree than previously thought.

This 95-million-year-old legged snake tests serpentine origins. Mark Widhalm/The Field Museum

The 95-million-year-old fossil snake, dubbed Haasiophis terrasanctus, is a relative of another legged fossil snake—Pachyrhachis problematicus—that some scientists think may be the earliest link between snakes and extinct marine lizards, like mosasaurs (SN: 4/19/97, p.