PRESS RELEASE
09/07/2016
Snake Eats Lizard Eats Beetle
Fossil food chain from the Messel Pit examined
Frankfurt/Messel, 09/07/2016. In cooperation with CONICET in
Argentina, Senckenberg scientists examined a spectacular
discovery from the UNESCO World Heritage site Messel Pit: A
fossil snake in whose stomach a lizard can be seen, which in
turn had consumed a beetle. The discovery of the
approximately 48-million-year-old tripartite fossil food chain is
unique for Messel; worldwide, only one single comparable
piece exists. The study was recently published in
Senckenberg’s scientific journal “Palaeobiodiversity and
Palaeoenvironments.”
It is no secret that the Messel Pit is home to a plethora of fantastic
fossils – but some of the findings are so sensational that they even
awe veteran Messel researchers. “In the year 2009, we were able
to recover a plate from the pit that shows an almost fully preserved
snake,” says Dr. Krister Smith of the Department for Messel
Research at the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt, and
he continues, “And as if this was not enough, we discovered a
fossilized lizard inside the snake, which in turn contained a
fossilized beetle in its innards!”
Fossil food chains are extremely rarely preserved; due to the
excellent level of preservation at the fossil site, leaves and grapes
from the stomach of a prehistoric horse, pollen grains in a bird’s
intestinal tract and remains of insects in fossilized fish excrements
had previously been discovered at Messel. “However, until now,
we had never found a tripartite food chain – this is a first for
Messel!” exclaims Smith elatedly. To this day, only one other
example of such fossil preservation has been found worldwide – in
a 280-million-year-old shark.
Using a high-resolution computer tomograph, Smith and his
colleague Agustín Scanferla from Argentina were able to identify
both the snake and the lizard to the species level. Smith
comments, “The fossil snake is a member of Palaeophython
fischeri; the lizard belongs to Geiseltaliellus maarius, which has
only been found at Messel to date.”
The snake measures 103 centimeters in length and is thus
significantly smaller than other specimens of this species, which
can reach two meters or more. Smith therefore assumes that the
fossil represents a juvenile of this relative of the modern-day boas.
SENCKENBERG GESELLSCHAFT FÜR NATURFORSCHUNG
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SENCKENBERG Gesellschaft für Naturforschung | Senckenberganlage 25 | D-60325 Frankfurt am Main
Member of the Leibniz Association
Contact
Dr. Krister T. Smith
Senckenberg Research Institute
and Nature Museum Frankfurt
Department: Paleoanthropology
and Messel Research
Phone 069- 7542-1218
[email protected]
Judith Jördens
Press Office
Senckenberg Gesellschaft für
Naturforschung
Phone 069- 7542 1434
[email protected]
Publication (free access until
10/26/2016):
Smith, K. & Scanferla A.
Palaeobio Palaeoenv
(2016). DOI 10.1007/s12549016-0244-1
http://link.springer.com/article/10.
1007/s12549-016-0244-1
Press Images
Snake with lizard and beetle:
The rare tripartite fossil food
chain from the Messel Pit. ©
Springer Heidelberg
Palaeophython fischeri with the
devoured lizard Geiseltaliellus
maarius (orange) and the
unidentified insect (blue). ©
Krister Smith
Press images may be used at no
cost for editorial reporting,
provided that the original
The lizard measures approximately 20 centimeters from the head
to the tip of its tail – and some of the snake’s ribs, which overlap
the arboreal reptile, clearly indicate that the lizard is located inside
the snake. Geiseltaliellus maarius was presumably equipped with
a small sagittal crest. It had the ability to shed its tail in case of
danger, but did not lose it when it fell prey to the snake.
“Unfortunately, we were unable to unambiguously identify the
beetle – it was not well enough preserved to do so,” adds the
Messel researcher from Frankfurt.
Nonetheless, the small crawler offers insights into the previously
barely known feeding behavior of these lizards from Messel: The
stomachs of previously discovered reptiles only contained the
remains of plants; the fact that the lizards also fed on insects
indicates an omnivorous diet.
author’s name is published, as
well. The images may only be
passed on to third parties in the
context of current reporting.
This press release and the
images are also available at
www.senckenberg.de/presse
The unique discovery came from a layer dating to the Middle
Eocene with an approximate age of 48 million years. “Since the
stomach contents are digested relatively fast and the lizard shows
an excellent level of preservation, we assume that the snake died
no more than one to two days after consuming its prey and then
sank to the bottom of the Messel Lake, where it was preserved,”
explains Smith. Too bad for the snake – but a stroke of luck for
science!
To study and understand nature with its limitless diversity of living creatures and to preserve and
manage it in a sustainable fashion as the basis of life for future generations – this has been the goal
of the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung (Senckenberg Nature Research Society)
for almost 200 years. This integrative “geobiodiversity research” and the dissemination of research
and science are among Senckenberg’s main tasks. Three nature museums in Frankfurt, Görlitz and
Dresden display the diversity of life and the earth’s development over millions of years. The
Senckenberg Nature Research Society is a member of the Leibniz Association. The Senckenberg
Nature Museum in Frankfurt am Main is supported by the City of Frankfurt am Main as well as
numerous other partners. Additional information can be found at www.senckenberg.de.
2016 is the Leibniz year. On the occasion of the 370th birthday and the 300-year death anniversary
of polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (*7/1/1646 in Leipzig, † 11/14/1716 in Hanover), the Leibniz
Association is organizing an extensive topical year. Under the title “The best of all possible worlds” –
a Leibniz quote – it brings into focus the diversity and timeliness of the subject matter currently
studied by the scientists at the 88 Leibniz institutions across the Federal Republic of Germany.
www.bestewelten.de
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