Weekend | Mirá el fósil de una serpiente pitón de 47 millones de años que descubrieron en Alemania perfil.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from perfil.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Messelopython freyi, was unearthed close to an ancient lake.
The fossil was located at Messel Fossil Pit which is near Frankfurt. It was once an oil shale mine where numerous historic fossils have been recovered from the Eocene Epoch which dates back to between 57 million and 36 million years ago. Some interesting fossils that were found there included shimmering beetles, mating turtles, and a pregnant mare. The location was named a UNESCO site in 1995.
Python
The fact that it was discovered in Germany is incredibly exciting and very surprising as it was previously unclear whether pythons originated in the Southern Hemisphere (where they are currently living) or in the Northern Hemisphere (where their closest relatives – the sunbeam snakes of Southeast Asia and the Mexican burrowing pythons – are located). The newly discovered
Encuentran el fósil de la serpiente pitón más antigua del mundo elpais.com.uy - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from elpais.com.uy Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The completely preserved fossils were just under a metre long.
Today the snakes could grow up to six metres in length and are found throughout Africa, southern and southeast Asia, and Australia.
Krister Smith from the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum found the snakes, with his colleague Hussam Zaher of the University in São Paulo.
The head and body of the Messel python are almost completely preserved.(Hessian State Museum Darmstadt)
Mr Smith said the finding was significant because it indicates pythons actually evolved in Europe. The geographic origin of pythons is still not clear, he said.