Modern snakes are 'children' of the asteroid that 66 million years ago caused the disappearance of dinosaurs: the more than 4,000 species currently present in the world have in fact evolved from a handful of ancient species of snakes that would have survived the cataclysm by hiding underground. and resisting for long periods without food.
This is demonstrated by the genetic and fossil analysis published in Nature Communications by an international group of experts led by the University of Bath.
"Our research - explains paleontologist Nick Longrich - suggests that extinction acts as a sort of 'creative destruction': by erasing old species, it allows survivors to exploit the spaces freed up in the ecosystem to experiment with new lifestyles and habitats" . So would the snakes that, after the impact of the asteroid, would have started to occupy the ecological niches once occupied by competing species and then diversify into different types, such as vipers, cobras, pythons and boas. The fossils also show that after the catastrophe, snakes began to change the shape of the vertebrae leading to the appearance of new groups, such as that of giant sea snakes that can reach up to 10 meters in length.
Finally, the study indicates that after the fall of the asteroid and the mass extinction, snakes began to spread from the southern hemisphere, reaching Asia for the first time.