Transition fossil are usually quite rare and have been elusive to find.
This is changing.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to deduce that snakes evolved from lizards but the exact transition has proved very elusive.
We have some living species today who are clearly in a state of transition but are still decidedly lizard or snake.
Tetrapodophis is clearly what we have been looking for, for the original transition from lizard to snake.
The geological timing is right (matches molecular data of when the split should have occurred) and the fossils from Brazil are excellent.
In this instance we clearly have a snake with four limbs as opposed to a legless lizard or a snake with vestigial hind limbs in the form of spurs.
Pics by University of Portsmouth’s David Martill and colleagues.
