SNAKE fossils found in Oxfordshire have forced scientists to re-write their evolutionary story.

The fossils dug up in Kirtlington, near Bicester, show snakes learnt to slither 167 million years ago, 70 million years earlier than previously thought.

Until now, it was thought the snake’s head evolved after its elongated body, but that was based on evidence which suddenly appeared in the fossil record 100 million years ago.

The fossils point to a much older origin for snakes, and suggest the classic snake head pre-dated a legless body. Of the four newly discovered snakes, two were from the UK, and the oldest, Eophis underwoodi, was found near Kirtlington. The other was a Parviraptor estesi.

Lead scientist professor Michael Caldwell, from the University of Alberta, Canada, said: “The study explores the idea that evolution within the group called ‘snakes’ is much more complex than previously thought. Importantly, there is now a significant knowledge gap to be bridged by future research.”

The research, published in Nature Communications, overturns the idea snakes appeared suddenly and spread around the world 100 million years ago.

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