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21m ago

Scientists Name Breugnathair elgolensis, a Snake-Like-Jawed Jurassic Reptile From Skye

Placement within Parviraptoridae leaves its ties to modern snakes or lizards unresolved.

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

Overview

  • The peer-reviewed description appears October 1 in Nature after nearly a decade of CT scanning and comparative analysis by an international team.
  • Discovered near Elgol on the Isle of Skye in 2016 by National Museums Scotland curator Stig Walsh, the fossil is now in the NMS national collection.
  • The roughly 167-million-year-old skeleton preserves snake-like jaws and recurved, python-like teeth paired with a short, lizard-like body and limbs.
  • Researchers assign the species to Parviraptoridae and say its mosaic features could reflect a stem-squamate lineage or convergent evolution of snake-like feeding.
  • At about 16 inches long, the animal likely hunted small lizards and early mammals, with some reports suggesting very young dinosaurs as possible prey.