| description |
Three "snakes with legs" are known: Pachyrhachis problematicus, Haasiophis terrasanctus
and Eupodophis descouensi. They have short posterior limbs but lack an anterior girdle and
forelimbs. Moreover, Pachyophis woodwardi, Mesophis nopcsai and Simoliophis ssp. appear to be
closely related to the hindlimbed taxa; consequently, although the presence of posterior limbs has
not been demonstrated for these genera, it is presumed that they too were hindlimbed. All these
snakes have been recovered only from the Cenomanian. Moreover, these six genera come from a
restricted area (western Europe and northwesternmost Africa to the Middle East). This limited
geographic range suggests that snakes might have originated in the "Mediterranean" part of the
Tethys, but the restricted stratigraphical range remains unexplained.
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