Fossil Found In Kutch May Belong To Largest Snake To Have Ever Lived: Study

New Delhi:

Fossils recovered from Kutch successful Gujarat whitethorn person belonged to nan spine of 1 of nan largest snakes to ever person lived, according to caller investigation from nan Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee.

From nan Panandhro Lignite Mine, researchers discovered 27 "mostly well-preserved" bones forming nan snake's spinal column, aliases vertebra, pinch immoderate connections still intact. They said nan vertebrae appeared to beryllium from a fully-grown animal.

Part of nan now-extinct Madtsoiidae family, nan snake is estimated to beryllium betwixt astir 11 and 15 metres long. The Madtsoiidae snake family is known to person lived crossed a wide geography, including Africa, Europe and India.

The researchers said nan snake represented a "distinct lineage" originating successful India which past dispersed via confederate Europe to Africa during nan Eocene, astir 56 to 34 cardinal years ago. The first ancestors and adjacent relatives of nan modern mammal type are said to person appeared successful nan Eocene period.

The authors dated nan fossils to nan Middle Eocene play astir 47 cardinal years ago.

The researchers person named this recently discovered snake type 'Vasuki Indicus' (V. Indicus) aft nan mythical snake information nan cervix of nan Hindu deity Shiva and successful reference to its state of discovery, India. Their findings are published successful nan diary Scientific Reports.

The vertebrae, measuring betwixt 38 and 62 millimeters successful length, and betwixt 62 and 111 millimeters successful width, suggested V. Indicus to perchance person had a broad, cylindrical body, nan researchers said.

They extrapolated nan measurements of V. Indicus to beryllium betwixt 10.9 and 15.2 metres successful length.

This is comparable successful size to nan extinct Titanoboa, nan longest known snake to person ever lived, nan researchers said, moreover arsenic they highlighted nan uncertainties astir these estimates. The fossils of Titanoboa were first discovered successful nan 2000s successful present-day Colombia.

They judge that V. Indicus's ample size whitethorn person made it a slow-moving ambush predator, akin to an anaconda.

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