New Middle Jurassic Snake-like Lizard

A fossil discovered on the Isle of Skye, Scotland has revealed a new species and family of Jurassic reptile linked to the origins of lizards and snakes. The bone histology of this strange animal indicates that this species grew incredibly slowly. Breugnathair elgolensis, recently published in Nature, has snake-like features of the teeth and jaws, but in other ways is similar to varanid lizards. Snake ancestors may have been very different to what we expected, or it may represent evidence for evolution of predatory habits in a primitive, extinct group.