Despite these features, it is possible that Menarana was not a powerful burrower, and that the burrowing characteristics were retained from a burrowing ancestor. The related madtsoiid Yurlunggur also has a highly fused basicranium, but its snout is unspecialized and unsuitable for digging. Moreover, its large body size would have made it difficult to burrow through compact soils. This indicates that ancestral fossorial characteristics can be retained even if the snake was not fossorial.
