Snakes (from Old English snaca, and ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European base snag- or sneg-, "to crawl"), also known as ophidians, are cold blooded legless reptiles closely related to lizards, which share the order Squamata. There are also several species of legless lizard which superficially resemble snakes, but are not otherwise related to them. A love of snakes is called ophiophilia, a fear of snakes is called ophidiophobia. A specialist in snakes is an ophiologist.

An old synonym for snake is serpent (which comes from Old French, and ultimately from *serp-, "to creep"); in modern usage this usually refers to a mythic or symbolic snake, and information about such creatures will be found under serpent (symbolism). This article deals with the biology of snakes.

Evolution

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The phylogeny of snakes is poorly known due to the fact that snake skeletons are typically small and fragile, making fossilization unlikely. It has however been generally agreed, on the basis of morphology, that snakes descended from lizard-like ancestors. Recent research based on genetics and biochemistry confirms this; snakes form a venom clade with several extant lizard families.

Recent fossil evidence suggests that snakes directly evolved from burrowing lizards, either varanids or some other group. An early fossil snake, Najash rionegrina, was a two-legged burrowing animal with a sacrum, fully terrestrial. One extant analog of these putative ancestors is the earless monitor Lanthanotus of Borneo, although it also is semi-aquatic. As these ancestors became more subterranean, they lost their limbs and became more streamlined for burrowing. Features such as the transparent, fused eyelids and loss of external ears, according to this hypothesis, evolved to combat subterranean conditions (scratched corneas, dirt in the ears). According to this hypothesis, snakes re-emerged onto the surface of the land much as they are today. Other primitive snakes are known to have possessed hindlimbs but lacked a direct connection of the pelvic bones to the vertebrae, including Haasiophis, Pachyrhachis and Eupodophis) which are slightly older than Najash.

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@BangClangCrash talking snakes can be very persuasive. And fuck if you didn't want me to eat the fruit name it tree of poison not knowledge
Baconmints (Baconmints) Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:54:18 -0000
@BangClangCrash talking snakes can be very persuasive. And fuck if you didn't want me to eat the fruit name it tree of poison not knowledge
Snakes and Earrings: Hitomi Kanehara http://bookmooch.com/B0017VJ6RY #fetz #PH #grdn #inv #chld #liter #entrtn #nfict #cook #parent #comcs
bookmooch (BookMooch) Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:54:12 -0000
Snakes and Earrings: Hitomi Kanehara http://bookmooch.com/B0017VJ6RY #fetz #PH #grdn #inv #chld #liter #entrtn #nfict #cook #parent #comcs
Women: Essentially, snakes with tits.
Moods09 (Alex Moody) Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:51:56 -0000
Women: Essentially, snakes with tits.
gm allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll im coming out to play later greeny u still on for playing snakes and ladders lol x
lilmiss888lady (Rebecca Lea Bevan) Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:49:25 -0000
gm allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll im coming out to play later greeny u still on for playing snakes and ladders lol x
@mistersaxon I don't know that it *delights* me, but albino snakes are cool!
tygerbaby (Kristen Andrews) Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:48:26 -0000
@mistersaxon I don't know that it *delights* me, but albino snakes are cool!
smechere rau RT@metropotam RT @urbanbite New Video Release: Massive Attack - United Snakes - http://s4h.ro/y3vl
ancaechim (anca echim) Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:45:50 -0000
smechere rau RT@metropotam RT @urbanbite New Video Release: Massive Attack - United Snakes - http://s4h.ro/y3vl

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