Newer techniques using molecular biology may give us a more complete picture of snake evolution. The study of snakes using DNA techniques is still in its infancy, but has already revealed a few surprises. Preliminary results indicate that the vipers are not, as was formerly thought, the most recent of the snakes, but instead diverged from the ancestral boid stock before both the elapids and the colubrids. If this finding is confirmed, it means that we have to completely re-think our view of how snakes evolved. It appears that the snakes underwent a rapid radiation in their initial burst of evolution, with a number of different lifestyles appearing at once and then developing independently and in parallel afterwards.
Much work remains to be done on the evolution of snakes.