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The skull of Python reticulatus.. The skull of a snake is a very complex structure, with numerous joints to allow the snake to swallow prey far larger than its head.. The typical snake skull has a solidly ossified braincase, with the separate frontal bones and the united parietal bones extending downward to the basisphenoid, which is large and extends forward into a rostrum extending to the ...
The snake elements were described as those of a novel, giant boid snake that they named Titanoboa cerrejonensis. The genus name derives from the Greek word "Titan" in addition to Boa, the type genus of the family Boidae. The species name is a reference to the Cerrejón region it is known from.
It is a relatively small snake, measuring more than 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) long at maximum. [1] Pachyrhachis appears to have been an ancient marine snake; the fossils occur in a marine limestone deposit, and the thickened bone of the ribs and vertebrae would have functioned as ballast to decrease the buoyancy of the animal, allowing it to dive ...
In other words, most of a snake's skeleton is an extremely extended thorax. Ribs are found exclusively on the thoracic vertebrae. Neck, lumbar and pelvic vertebrae are very reduced in number (only 2–10 lumbar and pelvic vertebrae are present), while only a short tail remains of the caudal vertebrae.
Rectilinear locomotion relies upon two opposing muscles, the costocutaneous inferior and superior, which are present on every rib and connect the ribs to the skin. [5] [6] Although it was originally believed that the ribs moved in a "walking" pattern during rectilinear movement, studies have shown that the ribs themselves do not move, only the muscles and the skin move to produce forward ...
The snake's common names include Gaboon viper, butterfly adder, forest puff adder, whisper, [5] swampjack, [5] and Gaboon adder. [4] [10] Originally a name given by the Portuguese, Gabon (Gabão) refers to the estuary on which the town of Libreville was built, in Gabon, and to a narrow strip of territory on either bank of this arm of the sea.
Image credits: historycoolkids The History Cool Kids Instagram account has amassed an impressive 1.5 million followers since its creation in 2016. But the page’s success will come as no surprise ...
While the vertebrae and ribs of Eupodophis are pachyostotic and osteosclerotic (meaning that the outer and inner parts of the bone are compact), the limb bones remain light. This lightness is also seen in the bones of terrestrial lizards, suggesting that the limbs had not been part of the overall adaptation of the skeleton for an aquatic ...