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Jurassic ‘False Snake’ From Scotland Revealed as Mosaic Lizard, Deepening Snake-Origin Puzzle

A Nature study describes a 167‑million‑year‑old Skye fossil whose snake‑like jaws alongside lizard‑like limbs complicate efforts to place it on the squamate family tree.

An illustration of Breugnathair elgolensis with its mouth open, showing hooked, snake-like teeth.
Image
Image
Breugnathair elgolensis had teeth and teeth-bearing bones similar to a modern python.

Overview

  • The species, Breugnathair elgolensis, is formally described from the Isle of Skye and is among the oldest relatively complete squamate fossils.
  • Researchers assign it to Parviraptoridae, providing the first near-complete reference for a group previously known mostly from fragments.
  • Phylogenetic analyses yield conflicting results, placing parviraptorids either near early toxicoferans (potentially close to snake origins) or as stem squamates with convergent snake-like traits.
  • The disarticulated skeleton was found in 2015 by National Museums Scotland’s Stig Walsh and reconstructed over nearly a decade using CT and synchrotron X‑ray imaging at ESRF.
  • About 41 cm long with strongly recurved, python-like teeth, the animal likely preyed on small vertebrates, underscoring mosaic evolution during early squamate diversification.