Tetrapodophis amplectus: Four-Legged Hugging-Snake of Northeast Brazil

The profile of Tetrapodophis amplectus emerges as that of a reptile whose distribution range, life cycle, and natural history straddle the ancient spaces and prehistoric times of:

• the Cretaceous (chalk bed-filled) Period of 66,000,000 to 145,000,000 years ago;
• the supercontinent Gondwana (forest of the Gond peoples) whose Southern Hemisphere domination ends with ultimate separation into today’s continents of Africa, Antarctica, Australia, and South America and sub-continent of India.

It furnishes no direct answers as to its status less as a lizard and more as a snake -- or vice versa -- in terms of its native bio-geography. The limestone-rich Crato Formation instead gives insights into:

• crustaceans;
• insects;
• magnolia family, one seed-leaf, and two seed-leaf flora;
• scorpions, spiders. 

Paleontologists and taxonomists nevertheless have an extraordinary specimen whose preservation is exceptional. The fossil is missing some skull parts. But the extant parts of the 7.8-inch (19.81-centimeter) specimen join:

• body elongated, with 160 vertebrae and pelvic indications;
• braincase elongated;
• snout abbreviated;
• stomach filled with salamander remnants;
• tail short, with 112 vertebrae and without paddle shape typical of swimmers;
• teeth backward-curved;
• tissues softened for functioning as trachea and in single row of belly scales;
• 2 feet, each with 5 clawed toes;
• 2 hands, each with 5 clawed fingers whose last digits elongate for grasping;
• 2 lower limbs, each 0.28 inches (7 millimeters) long;
• 2 upper limbs, each 0.16 inches (5 millimeters) long and including tiny elbows and wrists.  

Brazilian challenges to provenance and peer review of taxonomy keep Tetropodophis amplectus noteworthy. Legislation from 1942 leads Brazilian National Department of Mineral Production (Departamento Nacional de Produção Mineral) staff to question whether the 100,000,000- to 113,000,000-year-old Albian Age fossil has mandatory government pre-approval for removal from Brazil. Sorting descent from land- or water-dwelling lizards moves scientists to approve, counter or expand classifications and descriptions formalized in July 2015 by paleontologists Nicholas Longrich, David Martill, and Helmut Tischlinger.

Twenty-first century regulatory accords, scientific advances, and technological breakthroughs narrow which emergence -- Gondwana’s continental or Tethys’ (from the ancient Greek word Τηθύς [tḗthē, grandmother]) marine fauna -- describes Tetrapodophis amplectus, whose serpentine status involves anatomy and skull, not limblessness. 

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Bürgermeister-Müller-Museum: site of limestone slab with serpentine fossil described and named by paleobiologist Dr. David Martill as Tetrapodophis amplectus
Bürgermeister-Müller-Museum, Solnhofen, Free State of Bavaria (Freistaat Bayern), southeastern Germany; Monday, June 18, 2012, 16:36: Vitold Muratov, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Burgermeister-Muller_Museum.jpg

Crato Formation, location of fossil Tetrapodophis amplectus, occurs on northern flanks of Chapada do Araripe (Araripe Plateau).
view of Chapada do Araripe from city of Crato, namesake of Crato Formation
Ceará state, northeastern Brazil: Augusto Pessoa, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CHAPADA_DO_ARARIPE_01.jpg

With splitting limestone slab sheltering Tetrapodophis amplectus fossil, the skeleton and skull were separated onto opposite sides of the slab.
Impression of skull is preserved with skeleton on one side; impression of skeleton remains on side with skull.
skeleton of Tetrapodophis amplectus, with skull impression (upper left) on limestone; Bürgermeister-Müller-Museum, Solnhofen, Germany; Friday, July 7, 2017, 12:28: Ghedo (Ghedoghedo), CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tetrapodophis_amplectus_3483.jpg

"Tetrapodophis amplectus - A four-legged snake from the Early Cretaceous of Gondwana" (2:36)
Uploaded July 24, 2015, by GeoBeats News to YouTube ~ URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sq1qdbHYUk

Tetrapodophis amplectus fossil's two hindlimbs end in feet, each with five clawed toes.
hindlimbs of skeleton of Tetrapdophis amplectus; Bürgermeister-Müller-Museum, Solnhofen, Germany; Friday, July 7, 2017, 12:28: Ghedo (Ghedoghedo), CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tetrapodophis_hindlimbs.jpg

The serendipity of discovery: While leading a student field trip primarily interested in Archaeopteryx specimen at Burgermeister Muller Museum, David Martill spotted the unidentified serpentine fossil that is known now as Tetrapodophis amplectus.
Burgermeister Muller Museum houses one of the world's 11 specimens of Archaeopteryx, a bird-like dinosaur thriving in today's southern Germany during Late Jurassic period (around 150 million years ago).
Archaeopterix lithographica; Bürgermeister-Müller-Museum, Solnhofen, Bavaria, southeastern Germany: Vitold Muratov, CC BY SA 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Archaeopteryx_lithographica_MEYER,_1861.jpg

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