A new discovery for the scientific world and for humanity in general. The fossil of a small reptile that inhabited Scotland during the age of the dinosaurs, 167 million years ago, has scientists asking many questions. According to researchers, this creature, called Breugnathair elgolensis, had highly curved, hooked teeth, like those of snakes. The fact is that the samples found describe a creature with a lizard’s body and snake-like teeth, a discovery that rewrites the evolutionary history of reptiles.
Nothing suggested that these remains belonged to one of the most puzzling discoveries of recent years
Paleontologists found tiny, scattered bone fragments embedded in a limestone slab on the Isle of Skye, west of Scotland. They were a mix of snake and lizard traits. The way the teeth were set in the jaws and the inward angle they had with respect to the jaws were also similar to those of snakes. Nothing suggested that these remains belonged to one of the most puzzling discoveries of recent years. This is, indeed, a Jurassic reptile with the body of a lizard, the teeth of a snake, and an anatomy that seems like an experiment in evolution itself.
The fossil has just been officially named ‘Breugnathair’ elgolensis, which in Gaelic means ‘the false serpent of Elgol’
As we mentioned earlier, this fossil was discovered in Scotland, specifically on the Isle of Skye, in a coastal town near the city of Elgol. For this reason, the fossil has just been officially described in Nature under the name Breugnathair elgolensis, which in Gaelic means ‘the false serpent of Elgol’.
Breugnathair, which measured about 30 cm long including its tail, lived in a mangrove-like environment with tropical conditions during the Jurassic, much warmer than present-day Scotland. Its appearance is so unique that it has forced scientists to reconsider the origins of reptiles, which includes all modern lizards and snakes. According to the data, it represents one of the oldest relatively complete fossils of the group of reptiles known as squamates.
The Breugnathair is either a lizard-like ancestor of snakes, or it belongs to a more primitive group of lizards
Let’s talk about its physical characteristics. For one thing, its skull resembles that of a monitor lizard, but its jaws curve like those of a modern python. Then there are its teeth, which turned out to be sharp and hooked, designed for gripping slippery prey. And finally, its body retains sturdy legs and a proportionally short tail, which rules out the possibility that it was ever a proper snake. Therefore, the Breugnathair is either a lizard-like ancestor of snakes, or it belongs to a more primitive group of lizards that independently evolved snake-like characteristics.
It’s certainly a great discovery, even if it raises more questions than it answers
“The balance of evidence is so tight that we couldn’t choose between these two alternatives,” says paleontologist Roger Benson of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, lead author of the study published in the journal Nature. This tiny predator, about 40 centimeters long, lived about 167 million years ago and is now “back,” puzzling scientists. “The unexpected combination of traits we observed shows that the evolution of early squamates was very complex, and we are only just beginning to understand what might have happened,” Benson added.
Ultimately, what we can say is that this discovery doesn’t settle the debate about the origin of snakes, but it does introduce a new turning point. “It may ultimately help us understand what traits we should look for in future fossils to understand the ancestry of snakes,” said one of the researchers. It’s certainly a great discovery, even if it raises more questions than it answers.
