Fossils Of 272 Million-Year-Old Giant Fanged Salamander Unearthed In Namibia
Sunday, July 7, 2024, 6:15 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Ryan Metz: Englebrook Independent News,
NAMIBIA, AF.- Scientists have revealed fossils of a giant salamander-like creature with sharp fangs that inhabited the earth before the first dinosaurs. Animal researchers say it is roughly 272 million years old which means that it lived some 40 million years before the first known dinosaurs evolved.
The findings were published Wednesday in the journal, Nature. Researchers have dubbed the species Giaasia jennyae, a hommage to Gia a geological formation in Namibia, a country located in southern Africa, where the fossils were unearthed, and to Jenny Clack, a paleontologist who studied how vertebrates transitioned from water to land.
"Gaiasia jennyae was larger than a person in length, and it probably hung out near the bottom of swamps and lakes," said Jason Pardo, an NSF postdoctoral fellow at the Field Museum in Chicago and the co-lead author of the study. It had a "big flat, toilet seat-shaped head," "huge fangs" and "giant teeth." The fossil's skull was about 2 feet long. Researchers believe the predator likely used its wide flat head and front teeth to suck in and bite unsuspecting prey.
Fossil remnants of four creatures collected about a decade ago were analyzed in the Nature study, including a partial skull and backbone. While Gaiasia jennyae was an aquatic animal, it could move on land, albeit slowly. The species belonged to a superclass of animals called tetrapods; four-legged vertebrates that climbed onto land with fingers instead of fins and evolved into amphibians, birds, and mammals including humans.
As reported in Earth.com, Gaiasia jennyae is more than just a prehistoric creature- It's a key to unlocking the mysteries of the Permian period, enabling paleontologists to understand how the world evolved.
FILED UNDER: JULY 7, 2024: SCIENCE & NATURE, EDUCATION, WORLD: