Dinosaur-era fossil provides insight into snake evolution

July 23 : Snakes first appeared during the age of dinosaurs, but fossils of many early species are so fragmentary that scientists have had difficulty deciphering their evolution as a group. Now, a well-preserved fossil from southeastern Brazil is offering fresh insight into the history of these slithering reptiles.The fossil is of a snake called Tametara mirim that lived between 75 and 85 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period and measured about 17 inches (42 cm) long. It inhabited a lush ecosystem alongside animals including enormous long-necked, plant-eating dinosaurs, crocodiles and birds.While the fossil does not retain all of Tametara's anatomy, a portion of the skull was so well preserved that it enabled researchers to reconstruct the snake's brain anatomy. It was the brain s