Jul 27, 2023
What would be your opinion on so-called pythonomorpha? I've always figured the morphological and implicit genetic evidence was overwhelming when compared to the "burrowing lizard" hypothesis of snake evolution when it came to jaw anatomy and convergent evolution, but I understand it's a fairly divided issue and am wary of dogma as a paleontology student. Wanted your opinion on the cladistics of it, since every paper I read seems to contradict one another
The cladistics are such a mess I am not touching it with a ten foot poll. I do think toxicofera is definitely a thing. But between mosasaurs and the early fossil burrowing snakes, it’s a toss up as to their ancestral ecology at this point
