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Jurassic 'False Snake' From Skye Described as New Species, Complicating Snake Origins

Analyses of the unusually complete fossil highlight snake-like feeding gear in a short-bodied lizard, leaving its relationship to snakes uncertain.

Overview

  • A Nature study published October 1 formally names Breugnathair elgolensis, a 167-million-year-old squamate from Scotland’s Isle of Skye with python-like jaws and recurved teeth paired with a limbed, short-bodied form.
  • The fossil anchors the enigmatic Parviraptoridae by showing snake-like and gecko-like features in a single animal rather than two mixed specimens.
  • Phylogenetic tests return conflicting placements, resolving parviraptorids either near early toxicoferans (potential stem-snake relatives) or on the squamate stem with convergent snake-like feeding adaptations.
  • Researchers spent nearly a decade preparing the specimen and imaging it via CT and high-powered X-rays at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility to recover fine anatomical detail.
  • Now housed at National Museums Scotland, the roughly 41 cm animal was likely a predator of smaller lizards, early mammals, and possibly juvenile dinosaurs, reinforcing Skye’s significance for Middle Jurassic fossils.