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scientist have discovered fossils of the oldestpythonon record , a slithery beast that live 48 million years ago in what is now Germany .
Found near an ancient lake , the Snake River remains are helping investigator learn where pythons originated . antecedently , it was n’t clear whether Python came from continent in the Southern Hemisphere , where they hold out today , or the Northern Hemisphere , where their closest living relatives ( the sunray snake of Southeast Asia and the Mexican burrowing python ) are constitute . But this newfound coinage — dubbedMesselopython freyi — advise that pythons evolved in Europe .
The 48 million-year-old fossil python discovered in Germany.
" So far , there have been no earlyfossilsthat would help oneself decide between a northerly and Southern Hemisphere blood , " field co - researcher Krister Smith , craniate paleontologist at the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt , Germany , told Live Science in an e-mail . " Our young fogy are by far the old records of pythons , and ( being in Europe ) they affirm an origin in the Northern Hemisphere . "
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TheM. freyifossils were find at Messel Fossil Pit , near Frankfurt , Germany . Formerly an oil shale mine , this site almost became a garbage trash dump in the seventies . ( " A freehanded cakehole in the flat coat is a worthful commodity , " Smith pronounce . ) But by then , the site was already have it off for its noteworthy fossil dating to theEocene epoch(between 57 million and 36 million years ago ) . So , in 1995 it became aUNESCO(United Nations Educational , Scientific and Cultural Organization ) site . Fossils unearthed there include apregnant maria , mating turtlesandshimmering beetle .
The first discovered fossil belonging to the newfound species Messelopython freyi.(Image credit: Copyright Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung)
M. freyiwould have been about the same size as today ’s small pythons , reach nearly 3.2 foot ( 1 meter ) in length and sporting about 275 vertebra , the researchers said . The ancient python also sheds light on its relationship withboa constrictors .
In effect , the breakthrough show that this former European python lived alongside boa constrictor , a startling find given that boas do n’t live anywhere near mod - daytime pythons . In oecumenical , boas live in South and Central America , Madagascar and northern Oceania , whereas pythons dwell Africa , Southeast Asia and Australia . " This is one of the most exciting and intriguing aspects of the discovery ofMesselopython , " said study carbon monoxide - researcher Hussam Zaher , professor and curator of vertebrates at the Museum of Zoology at the University of São Paulo , in Brazil .
Researchers already know that boas lived in Europe during the earlyPaleogene catamenia , which last from 66 million to 23 million years ago . Now that it ’s exculpated Python go there too , it raises question about how these " lineal bionomic competitors , " which bothsqueeze quarry to death , coexist , Zaher told Live Science in an email .
A sketch (left) and photo of a skull (right) of one of the newly analyzed python fossils.(Image credit: Copyright Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung)
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This interrogation may be answer by find more early python and boa fossils , specially those with preserved stomach content , he said . In gain , researchers can count to southern Florida , where python ( Python molurus bivittatusandP. sebae ) and boa ( Boa constrictor ) species coexist as invasive coinage . It ’s not yet clear whether theP. molurus bivittatusandB. constrictorliving in the Sunshine State " are competing over resources or may be using slightly unlike microhabitat and quarry , " Zaher said . " A similar situation may have happened in Europe during the Eocene . "
The subject area was published online Wednesday ( Dec. 16 ) in the journalBiology Letters .
Originally published on Live Science .
