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This finding proves that viviparous snakes existed at least 47 million years ago.

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 ori...

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 ...

Messelopython freyi. Image credit: Senckenberg Research Institute. The newly-identified python species lived in what is now Germany, approximately 47.6 million years ago (Eocene period). Named Messelopython freyi, the ancient snake is the earliest-known member of the superfamily Pythonoidea. “The geographic origin of pythons is still not clear,” said co-author Dr. Krister Smith, a paleontologist in the Department of Messel Research and Mammalogy at the Senckenberg Research Institute and the Institute for Ecology, Diversity and Evolution at the Goethe University Frankfurt. “According to...

Messelopython freyi remains were recovered from a quarry near Darmstadt The head and body of Messelopython freyi are 'almost completely preserved' Scientists have identified the world's earliest python from 47 million-year-old fossils recovered from a quarry in southwest Germany.  Remains of the new python species, called Messelopython freyi, were discovered in Messel Pit, a UNESCO World Heritage Site near the German city of Darmstadt. ADVERTISEMENT Researchers report in a new paper that the 'completely preserved' species had a length of just over three feet (one metre).  M. freyi, both ...