Proof of evolution ... or of Genesis?

The oldest snake fossil on record looks almost like a modern snake, except for one glaring difference: It has four feet, each with five digits, a new study finds.

 The roughly 120-million-year-old snake, dubbed Tetrapodophis amplectus (literally, four-legged snake), likely didn't use its feet for walking. Instead, the appendages may have helped Tetrapodophis hold onto a partner while mating, or even grip unruly prey, said study co-researcher David Martill, a professor of paleobiology at the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom.

Previous research has detailed two-legged snake fossils, but this is the first known snake ancestor to sport four legs, he said. It likely evolved from terrestrial-burrowing creatures, and was a transitional animal that lived during the shift from ancient lizards to modern-day snakes, he added. 

"We've found the ancestor of all snakes," Martill told Live Science. "We have found the missing link between four-legged lizards and snakes."

The researchers found several indications that the fossil is, in fact, a transitional snake. Unlike lizards and crocodiles, Tetrapodophis has faint impressions of a single row of belly scales, a signature still seen on snakes today.

When the researchers used ultraviolet photography to examine Tetrapodophis' gut, they found partly digested bone fragments that the camera highlighted in different colors. These remnants suggest the snake ancestor ate vertebrates, just as modern carnivorous snakes do.

Moreover, the fossil had other classic snake features, including a short snout, long braincase, elongated body, fanged teeth and a flexible jaw that could swallow large prey, the researchers said. It also has a similar vertebrae column that allows the snake to be extremely flexible, they said.
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Damien's note: Anti-evolutionists often claim that transitional animals or fossils have never been discovered, thus disproving that evolution exists. This is of course famously false, as everyone knows who has ever seen the fossils of Archaeopteryx with its feathers and teeth. The two- and four-legged transitional snakes are another example, one would say, thus providing more weight to evolution.

On the other hand, Biblical fundamentalist are nothing if not logically slippery. I would imagine at least one preacher will immediately latch onto this fossil as proving that snakes once had legs and lost them because of the role of the serpent in tempting Adam and Eve. (Genesis 3:14 -- And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.)