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35 million years old rare snake fossil
May 18 , 2022
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- Scientists have discovered a 35 million years old Madtsoiidae snake fossil from the molasse deposits of Ladakh.
- This reveals their prevalence in the subcontinent for much longer time than previously thought.
- Madtsoiidae is an extinct group of medium-sized to gigantic snakes.
- They first appeared during the late Cretaceous.
- And it is mostly distributed in the Gondwanan landmasses.
- Their Cenozoic record is extremely scarce.
- From the fossil record, we infer that the whole group disappeared in the mid-Paleogene across most Gondwanan continents.
- However, in Australia the species survived with its last known taxon Wonambi till late Pleistocene.
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