47 million years old, the World’s largest Python was discovered
A one-meter-long Python, which was completely preserved, was discovered in Messel Pit. Python is around 47 years old.
Important facts about World’s largest Python:
Messelopython freyi is a new python species named in honor of the State Museum of Natural History in Karlsruhe’s paleontologist Eberhand “Dino” Frey. This study was published in the scientific journal Biology Letters.
The list of largest snakes in the World includes the Pythons, whose length can be more than six meters. Presently, several species of these snakes are primarily found in Southeast and South Asia, Africa, and Australia.
According to Dr. Krister Smith of Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History, the new Python’s geographic origin still needs to be clarified. Still, its discovery in Messel Pit is a significant step towards understanding the history of the evolution of these snakes.
Smith and his colleague Dr. disclose that Messelopython freyi, the new species of Python, which Hussam Zaher described, is the World’s oldest fossil record of a python.
According to the findings of Zaher, these snakes first appeared during the Eocene in Europe, which was more than 47 years ago. Their analysis traces the history of their evolution back to Europe.
However, these large snakes vanished from the European continent for quite a time. In Miocene, this snake family’s fossil did not appear again until 23 to 5 million years ago.
After the Miocene, due to the cooldown of global climate again, these pythons once again vanished from Europe.
Unlike Messel’s primitive pythons, modern pythons reside in a completely different environment from Boa, their anatomically similar relative.
The Messel python’s body and head were found almost entirely preserved.
Its scientific name combines the place it is found and the snake family it belongs to. Prof. Karlsruhe State Museum of Natural History gives this special title to the fossil.
Conclusion:
Learning about fossils is a great way to understand the history of the World in which we live.
