95 million year old skull reveals "strange" monster

As a paleontology student, Fernando Garberoglio found a 95-million-year-old skull that revealed a "strange" monster. The skull belonged to a snake with legs.

In February 2013, Fernando Garberoglio, then a paleontology student at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, found a 95-million-year-old skull of a “strange” monster. Photo: Fernando Garberoglio, et al.

The discovery is an important one that will give archaeologists a deeper understanding of the ancient snake known as Najash rionegrina, according to researchers Alessandro Palci and Michael Caldwell, who published a study of the monster skull found by Mr Garberoglio. Photo: Raúl Orencio Gómez.

Najash rionegrina is named after the biblical serpent with legs, Nahash (Hebrew for snake), and the Río Negro province in Argentina, where the fossil was discovered. Photo: Fernando Garberoglio, et al.

The Najash rionegrina snake lived in the Cretaceous Period, possessing hind legs for about 70 million years before evolving into a completely new appearance. Photo: Mail Online.

Scientists say Najash rionegrina is a prehistoric snake with hind legs. This snake possesses primitive lizard-like features (cheekbones) as well as snake-lizard hybrid features (jaw joint). Photo: Mail Online.

The Najash rionegrina snake has been around for nearly 70 million years, suggesting that its hind legs were useful. It was not a transitional stage before it adapted to its environment and evolved into a legless creature. Photo: Mail Online.

Research by experts shows that the Najash rionegrina snake lives on land, not in the sea. Photo: Fernando Garberoglio, et al/Raúl Orencio Gómez.

The fossil skull of Najash rionegrina reveals important information about the evolutionary model of snake skulls. Photo: Hongyu Yi.

Evolutionarily, Najash rionegrina provides evidence that snakes have evolved the skull mobility needed to eat fairly large prey, a prominent feature of many modern snakes. Photo: Mail Online.

The team also found another important piece of information when examining and chemically analyzing the skull of Najash rionegrina. That is, for a very long time, the rod-like bone located behind the eyes of modern snakes was called the ostium and was thought to be the equivalent of the postorbital bone of their lizard ancestors. Photo: Hongyu Yi.

Readers are invited to watch the video : Discovering many new species in the Mekong River Region. Source: THĐT1.

Source: https://khoahocdoisong.vn/hop-so-95-trieu-nam-tuoi-he-lo-quai-vat-la-post1551742.html