Aug 11
A young Afrovenator abakensis suddenly lunges out of a copse in an optimistic attempt to hunt a midsized sauropod in Niger during the Middle Jurassic.
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A young Afrovenator abakensis suddenly lunges out of a copse in an optimistic attempt to hunt a midsized sauropod in Niger during the Middle Jurassic.
Our fossil is a rare new witness. It comes from roughly 80-million-year-old rock in São Paulo state, Brazil. We named it Tametara mirim, meaning “adorned” and “small” in the local Indigenous language.
(Photo: Agustin Martinelli)
The new fossil of Tametara mirim reframes how we understand snake evolution.
(Photo: Agustin Martinelli)
Life reconstruction of the burrowing stem snake Tametara mirim which lived alongside now-extinct stem-birds and sauropod dinosaurs.
(Illustration: Gabriel Ugueto)
The bones of Tametara show it had the skull of a burrower. CT scan volume-rendered with VGSTUDIO MAX.
(Image: Roy Ebel)
One theory about how snakes evolved suggests lizards went underground, lost their limbs and elongated their bodies.
(Illustration supplied - Roy Ebel)
80‑million‑year‑old snake fossil sheds light on why lizards lost their limbs and started slithering
Snakes are everywhere in our legends and mythology. Yet for most of us, our blood runs cold whenever we encounter these strangely undulating, scaly tubes of muscle slithering through the leaf litter.
The loss of an arm or leg poses a challenge. Yet snakes do perfectly well without all four of them. This makes them suspect. It also leaves us unable to fathom how this radical transition produced one of the most successful vertebrate body plans.
More than 4,000 species of snakes are alive today, on every continent except Antarctica, from thread-thin burrowers to massive pythons, on land and in the sea. We have studied them since antiquity, and still the oldest question about them has no answer: what turned snakes into snakes?
We have long suspected their peculiar, limbless body plan is explained by how the earliest snakes lived. In a new study, published today in Nature, my colleagues and I describe a small, exquisitely preserved fossil that brings us closer to an answer than ever before.
By Roy Ebel
Research Officer Herpetology, Museums Victoria Research Institute, Australia
The Conversation - July 23, 2026
Snakes lost their limbs millions of years ago to become undulating, scaly tubes of muscles. Scientists are finally figuring out why.
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Related article >>
Fig. 1: Holotype (MPM 420) of T. mirim.
a, Photograph of the whole specimen with the articulated skull and postcranium in dorsal view. Ant, anterior; Bl, block number; Ce.V., cervical vertebrae; Do.V., dorsal vertebrae; Post, posterior; Sk, skull. b,c, Photographs of the skull in lateral (b) and dorsal (c) view. CB, compound bone; F, frontal; Oto, otoccipital; P, parietal; PFr, postfrontal; Pro, prootic; Ptg, pterygoid; Q, quadrate; Soc, supraoccipital; St, supratemporal. d–g, 3D renderings of an anterior precloacal (‘cervical’) vertebra in lateral (d) and anterolateral (e) views, and mid-precloacal (‘dorsal’) vertebra in dorsal (f) and left lateral (g) views. h–j, 3D renderings of the skull in the right lateral view (h) and with exposed brain endocasts in the right lateral (i) and dorsal (j) views. Mes., mesencephalon; Rho., rhombencephalon; Tel., telencephalon. Scale bars, 100 mm (a), 5 mm (b,c,h–j) and 1 mm (d–g). Specimen photos were taken by A.S.H.
Exceptional brain and ecological diversity in the earliest snakes
Understanding the ecological origin of snakes has remained a century-old challenge, hindered by an extremely sparse early fossil record and conflicting interpretations of fossil ecologies.
Here we describe an exceptionally preserved Cretaceous fossil snake, Tametara mirim gen. et sp. nov., from Brazil, representing one of the earliest-diverging stem snakes. High-resolution micro-CT scans reveal unprecedented details of cranial nerves, inner ear and brain anatomy, enabling the most integrated reconstruction of stem snake neuroanatomy to date. Quantitative and qualitative endocast analyses demonstrate that Tametara had a brain morphology distinct from both other stem and extant snakes, revealing substantial early neuroanatomical disparity — and probably sensory functions — in snake evolution. Independent evidence from telencephalon shape and bone microstructure converges on a fossorial lifestyle for Tametara and non-fossorial for another stem snake: Dinilysia.
These results indicate that major ecological transitions occurred early in snake evolution, and that known stem species do not represent the ancestral condition of crown snakes. Early snake evolution thus involved complex shifts in habitat use and sensory ecology, revealing greater ecological and neuroanatomical diversity than previously thought.
By Tiago R. Simões, Gabriela Sobral, Simone Macri, Roy Ebel, Thiago S. Fachini, Augustin G. Martinelli, William R. Nava, Giovanna M. X. Paixão, Luis M. Chiappe, Nicolas Di-Poï & Annie S. Hsiou
Nature - 22 July 2026
A well-preserved fossil snake from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil shows early ecological and brain shape disparity in the group.
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Was feeling like doing some chasmosaurs
Kawasphenodon expectatus
Cryptarcus russeli
Paulchoffatia delgadoi
Canadaga arctica
Eotriceratops xerinsularis
Miomachairodus pseudoailuroides
Camarasaurs Browsing Out in the Sunset: An scene in the Kimmeridgian to Tithonian-aged Morrison Formation of what is now the Colorado/Utah area, 153 million years ago, featuring the most common sauropod dinosaur of the area: A male Camarasaurus lentus browses on the leaves of an araucaria tree as a juvenile and a few Dryosaurus show up to nibble up the ones that are falling to the ground. This illustration also serves as an homage to the Camarasaurus scene from When Dinosaurs Roamed America, one of the dinosaur documentaries I grew up with as a little kid alongside Dinosaur Planet and the OG Walking with Dinosaurs, as well as one of my favorite paleontology-themed media, which will be celebrating its 25th anniversary this year…
I've come to terms with the fact that I need to write relationship headcanons BEFORE writing any sort of fic or drabble about a character, otherwise I am suddenly physically incapable of writing.
Dr. Henry Loomis Relationship Headcanons!
By me (Lagooneah)
So uh... Jurassic Universe hyperfixation goes crazy- Saw Rebirth like LAST NIGHT (at the time of writing this, #procrastination) and now I can't stop thinking about dinosaurs... (and him)
I imagine him to be a pretty attentive partner, like SO attentive that it almost feels unreal.
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Very much a "Ass or boobs?" - "Personality." kind of dude. (In concept, not specific for the female sex!)
Though he probably couldn't pick a "favorite body part" of any kind of partner, so that's another reason.
He isn't the type to care for the "perfect" body unrealistic standard. He's aware that it's unrealistic, and he doesn't blink in any wrong direction if you've got any kind of "negative" body traits.
Stretch Marks? It's natural for a human, hell, any organisms body to grow and stretch the skin, so why would he mind? He'll worship them if you need it, anything to reassure you you're beautiful/handsome.
"Small" in ANY way? Who cares? You're you, and you are who he's devoted to. Therefore, you are perfect for him and he will NEVER complain or be upset over a trait you were born with because that's a futile use of his mind.
Got a thicker body type? Some chub here and there or everywhere? He will LOVE squeezing and loving on those parts, don't you worry.
Moles? Blemishes? ANY imperfection you can find on yourself won't be an imperfection by the end of the day. He will WORSHIP you, head to toe, mind to matter.
That's another thing, he absolutely loves to listen to you.
He likes keeping a mental journal of all of your likes and dislikes, little quirks you've got, etc etc.
I bet he also likes a bit of humor in his partner, he likes a silly partner, even if he can only shoot back an awkward response.
He also is the type to kinda like if his partner is a little mean/dominant.
Like not genuinely mean, but very opinionated, bossy, the type to grab his arm and drag him somewhere or to grab his chin and move his head to wherever you need him to look.
In that same vein of listening, he LOVES when you'll listen to him ramble on and on about dinosaurs and other prehistoric beings.
One of his "love languages" is actually him showing you what he loves doing, the ins and outs of his career and what he knows.
He takes you around the museum, shows you all the DNA presentations that he learned from AND created, and he especially loves pointing out how a lot of creatures don't look necessarily correct and he sketch's out what they'd actually theoretically look like.
To circle back, he returns your listening skills tenfold. He KNOWS you, he gets all the tea from your workplace, he gets all the random interest knowledge (video games, movies, tv shows, hobbies in general!)
He knows how to gift like a motherfucker I just know it.
He will get you more generic gifts, either from your interests or for how you want to present, and then he'll get you at least ONE incredibly specific and niche "made for you and only you" item, event, experience etc.
And he'll do this with every single special occasion, and THEN some with a random gift here and there.
He'd get you more, but with his line of work there can be times when money is inconsistent, and he'd much rather save up and get you something GOOD than constantly getting you okay-ish things.
Flowers, candy, clothes, small things just to surprise you? are exceptions lol, those are basic expectations that he holds for himself and will always (and constantly) meet.
He's the type to just blurt out random facts that he happens to know, and this gets triggered by literally everything.
You point out a cute dog you saw? After you've asked the owner to meet it and take a photo, Henry gives you a cute little tid-bit on that specific breed.
It likely makes you laugh, but he doesn't mind you laughing or calling him a nerd, he ultimately gets to put a smile on your face so he wins in his mind.
I know he's accidentally cuddly.
Like, he acts like he won't cling, especially in public, but when doors are closed? He gets SO close to you, you'd think he was in your skin.
He might try to get in one day.
His limbs always find themselves tangled with yours even if you fall asleep apart, he instinctively grabs your hand if something sudden happens, etc etc.
He loves being close to you, it's a habit.
Another habit is him saying your name or calling you in the late hours.
Like, he's falling asleep at his desk, somewhat in the middle of an experiment, calling your name to "turn the lights up a bit, please."
One time, one of his coworkers was also in the office at a late hour, and he put a hand on his shoulder to try and tell him to head home.
He did, but THE Dr. Henry Loomis mumbled a, "Ok [insert pet name]..." to his coworker before leaving him in confusion, because yes, he thought that hand was yours.
Loomis was super awkward when you first met him, it's a fact I fear.
He knows how to handle DNA samples, complex machines, and analyze just about ANYTHING- but if he has to ask someone out on a date then it's over.
He was a little (a lot) jittery when he first approached you at the local coffee shop in NYC.
He probably spoke a little fast, causing you to raise an eyebrow and ask "Sorry?" when he attempted to ask you out. Which made him malfunction, ask again in a disorganized manner, making you giggle and say yes because HELLO- he was super cute the whole time in this interaction despite him personally feeling like he totally screwed himself over.
After he really gets to know you and gets used to your presence, in pure introverted fashion, he becomes a YAPPER that loves being around you. (as previously explored)
He totally would take on more work for the chance of earning more money so that he can provide for you, give you a comfortable life with everything you want and need- regardless of your career status.
He wants to treat you because he loves you, duh.
With that? Love Languages are totally Physical Touch, Gift Giving, and Words of Affirmation. (Or just him listening to you and you listening to him)
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A/N: So... Little Relationship Headcanon while I write a fic drabble of this wonderful science man. The Jurassic Universe finally threw the nerd lovers a bone and gave us all a nice, smart man who respects others and acknowledges that a woman can do things better than him (Unlike Owen's dumbass) so yeah!! I hope you all liked it, and I hope to write more on him soon!! Love ya, bye!
Somehow neglected to share this Stegosaurus bas-relief project here, when I began in December 2024, so now that I'm starting it over I may as well share both versions. The more finished-looking one, in soft clay, is now unworkable because its plastic base has warped too badly, and so the new, slightly larger air-hardening clay version is mounted on a pane of glass instead. Thankfully, water restores this Paperclay's pliability, so I'll be able to texture and reshape this project even as it dries. More detail and context in the image descriptions.
Predator of the Jurassic Plesiosaurus
What's your favorite Phanerozoic Period?
Cambrian
Ordovician
Silurian
Devonian
Carboniferous
Permian
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
Quaternary (includes present day)
If you have no opinion on this/don't like ancient history prehistoric periods/etc, choose Quaternary.
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