Ancient Snake Fossil with Infrared Vision. PHOTOS/LC
As reported by Unilad, research led by Krister Smith of the Senckenberg Research Institute and Museum in Frankfurt, Germany, and Agustn Scanferla of the Universidad Nacional de La Plata in Argentina found an amazing ancient snake.
According to their research, this snake, formerly classified as Palaeopython fischeri, is actually a member of an extinct limiting genus (commonly known as boas or boids) and is capable of making infrared images of its surroundings.
In 2004, Stephan Schaal named the snake after the former German minister, Joschka Fischer. As scientific studies revealed that the genus was a distinct lineage, in 2020, it was transferred as the new genus Eoconstrictor, which is related to the South American boas.
“To date, four very well-preserved snake species can be described from the Messel Pit,” explained Dr. Krister S
Comprehensive examination of the eoconstrictor belonging to the Fischeri neural circuit revealed another surprise. The neural circuits of Messel’s snake are similar to those of the great boa and more recently pythons – snakes with pit organs.
These organs, located between the maxillary and mandibular plates, allow the snake to create a three-dimensional thermal map of its environment by mixing visible light and infrared radiation.
(wbs)
