Inside a 5-million-year-old sinkhole in Tennessee, at a spot dubbed Gray Fossil Site, scientists have unearthed the fossilized remains of an ancient "winged serpent" among hundreds of other snake bones. Though it may sound like the stuff of nightmares, the winged snake was not gifted with flight — its name is in reference to the wing-like protrusions on its vertebrae. These protrusions drew the attention of the researchers, who realized the ancient beast was a new species. Snakes' vertebrae are key to the classification of the creatures' fossils, according to study lead author Steven Jasinski, a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania and acting curator of paleontology and geology at the State Museum of Pennsylvania. "Snakes don't have arms or legs, but they have high numbers of vertebrae," Jasinski said in a statement. "These are often the bones that paleontologists use to identify fossil snakes." The researchers named the new genus and species Zilantophis schuberti, which