MIAMI: A fossil of a four-legged snake uncovered in Brazil has shed new light on the origins of snakes as land burrowers, not sea creatures, a study said on Thursday.

This ancestor of modern day snakes is the first of its kind and was found in Brazil’s Crato Formation.

“The newly discovered species Tetrapodophis amplectus, which lived during the Early Cretaceous 146 to 100 million years ago, maintains many classic snake features, such as a short snout, long braincase, elongated body, scales, fanged teeth and a flexible jaw to swallow large prey,” said the study, led by British and German scientists.

These ancient reptiles had the same flexibility as modern snakes so they could constrict their prey, but they had limbs each with five well-defined digits.—AFP