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Published online 27 January 2000 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news000127-8
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A twist in the tail of snake evolution
Reconstructed skulls from an extinct group of Australian snakes may provide the much-needed missing link in the slippery story of snake evolution, Eleanor Lawrence explains.
New finds of fossil snake skull fragments indicate that the sinuous, legless snake body from a large predatory lizard-like ancestor, perhaps for swimming, or as an adaptation for sliding through dense vegetation. The finds are reported this week by John D.
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