Pythons Lived in Europe as Early as 48 Million Years Ago | Featured, Paleontology
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...
Source: sci-news.com