One of the most exciting pieces of evidence for four-legged snakes comes from fossil snakes. In 2015, scientists discovered a fossil snake from South America that had tiny legs.
This four-legged snake, named Tetrapodophis amplectuslived around 120 million years ago and had well-developed fore and hind legs. The discovery, published by a scientist from the University of Portsmouthhelped confirm that ancient snakes once had fully functional legs.
Over time, these legs became smaller and less useful, likely due to changes in their environment or the way they hunted. Eventually, these legs became vestigial, meaning they shrank into small, nonfunctional structures that no longer served a purpose.
More Fossil Evidence
Another important fossil snake is Najash rionegrinafound in Patagonia. This species had well-developed hind legs and lived around 90 million years ago, further showing that snakes slowly lost their legs as they evolved from lizard-like ancestors.
The fossil record of early snakes gives us a look into how these legged reptiles transformed into the slithering creatures we know today.
