The snake, Paradoxophidion richardoweni was first discovered at Hordle Cliff on the South Coast of England.
A new species of snake that was discovered in 1981 has been described based on the vertebrae and is described as an early member of the caenophidian clade, a group of snakes that are known to be nocturnal.
The snake, Paradoxophidion richardoweni was first discovered at Hordle Cliff on the South Coast of England. It is estimated to have lived 37 million years ago. Its given genus name, “paradox” means the snake features a mix of characteristics that are found in a variety of snakes throughout the caenophidian clade. The species name, richardoweni, was given in honor of Sir Richard Owen, who named the first fossil snakes found at Hordle Cliff, and helped to establish the Natural History Museum.
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The researchers, co-author Dr. Marc Jones and lead author Dr Georgios Georgalis of the Natural History Museum, took CT scans of the fossils and identified 31 vertebrae from the spine of Paradoxophidion. The vertebrae are just a few millimeters in length. They then took three dimensional models of the fossils which enabled them to provide a digital record of the fossils and share them online for anyone to study. Based on the fossils, Georgalis estimates the snake to be less than a meter in length. The researchers do note that the backbones of Paradoxophidion resemble those of the Acrochordus snakes, which are aquatic snakes found in Australia and tropical Asia. They did note there was not enough evidence to definitely say if the snake was an aquatic snake or what family it belongs to.
The complete paper, A new peculiar early diverging caenophidian snake (Serpentes) from the late Eocene of Hordle Cliff, England” can be read on the Scientific Press website.
