The ancestors of cobras and related snakes first emerged in Asia roughly 35 million years ago.
Many researchers thought the Elapoidea superfamily of snakes evolved in Africa before slithering their way across the globe. But new genetic evidence points to the continent next door to Africa, researchers report August 7 in Royal Society Open Science.
The over 700 species of elapoid snakes are extremely diverse, including both highly venomous reptiles like mambas and sea snakes and many nonvenomous species. They’re found in subtropical and tropical regions around the world, in rainforests, deserts and oceans. But the elapoids have long had a murky origin story, says Jeff Weinell, an evolutionary
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