did snakes come from..

[Lizzy001]

i have seen on the tv that people think snakes are lizards that didnt need their legs anymore millions of years ago...but i have also seen that people believe that snakes came from creatures that lived in the sea and have fossils to prove it. which one?
im confused...tell me if there is something in this post that is wrong, i am releing on info seen (tv) and heard.

[BWSmith]

Some snakes still have vestigial (sp) limbs.

[reptilez]

Like the Burtons Legless Lizard

[Hamster of Borg]

There is a pretty good book called "Snakes" by Greene that goes into this topic and the overall idea of the evolution of limb loss. Numerous species have tried the particular adaptation of reduced limbs over the eons, and many even currently display it. Some caught on and were successful - snakes in particular, some didn't fare so well. While it probably won't answer your question definitively, I think its worth a read.

Ham

[Bryce Masuk]

I think the snakes came from lizard that came in from the sea. skinks seem like in the next couple of hundred million years will evolve into snakes and the legless lizards are just farther on there way

[reverendsterlin]

boas and pythons are some of the oldest species of snakes around, it is common for people to use a visual of the animals vestigial spurs to try to sex the animal, the larger spurs are used by the male to stimulate the female during breeding. If you look at a skeleton of either of these species the pelvic girdle and spur/leg remenants are quite visible. All life seems to have come from the ancient seas. Whether snakes evolved from lizards was your question, the best answer is that at some point in history snakes and lizards shared a common ancestor, as did man and apes, whether this ancestor was already a true lizard or not we won't known until the fossil record is more complete.

[J_Riley]

I second Hamster_of_Borg's recommendation, Greene's book, "Snakes, the evolution of mystery in nature", is IMHO, an outstanding book. I've read and re-read it several times. I covers various aspects of the evolution of snake systematics, not only ancestors, but the evolution of venom, delivery of same and on and on. Worth every penny, which I think I found it used for $18.00 USD.

[Lizzy001]

thanks people...u helped me alot