Discover a new blind snake

This blind snake is one of the few animals present during Madagascar's formation.

This blind snake is one of the few animals present during Madagascar's formation.

Picture 1 of Discover a new blind snake

With a body length of about 30cm, blind snakes act quite similar to worms. They dug up and lived below the ground on all continents, except Antarctica. In terms of body composition, this blind snake is different from worms in that they have scaly and body scales.

'From the beginnings of the continents, the continental separation and drifting processes have greatly influenced the evolution of this snake because the population of the species is divided when the continents are separated. ' - Researcher Nicolas Vidal at the French National Museum of Natural History in Paris said.

Madagascar island - today considered part of Africa - 94 million years ago separated from the Indian continent. This species of blind snake lives in Madagascar since then and evolved into a new species compared to its relatives elsewhere.

Their evolutionary history remains a mystery because no fossils have been found. However, by comparing the genes of about 96 species of blind snakes on earth, the researchers were able to create an evolutionary diagram of the evolution of blind snakes.

Accordingly, this newly discovered blind snake first lived south of the continent of Gondwana. When Gondwana was split, these snakes were isolated on the continent called Indigascar, which is now separated into India and Madagascar. Not long after being isolated, this snake evolved into a new species as we see in the picture above.

Update 16 December 2018
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