Tag: amphibians
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Fossil Friday #295: Juvenile Dvinosaur From Mazon Creek
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #295. Expect this to be a regular feature of the website. We will post fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Bluesky/Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! We have a particularly special Mazon Creek fossil to share…
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Reptiles Alive! exhibit opens at Field Museum
The Field Museum has a new exhibit… Reptiles Alive! Explore the fascinating world of reptiles in this one-of-a-kind family-friendly exhibition! Combining original Field Museum science with live animals and engaging interactives, Reptiles Alive! offers an immersive experience into the lives of snakes, lizards, crocodiles, and more. Discover their habitats, adaptations, and the groundbreaking research of Dr. Sara…
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Fossil Reveals Oldest Known Tadpole That Grew to the Size of a Hot Dog
The New York Times Trilobite column has a story about what may be the largest tadpole species ever discovered. Notobatrachus, an ancient relative of modern frogs, lived around 161 million years ago in present-day Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. In 2020, a team of paleontologists from Argentina and China uncovered hundreds of adult fossils of Notobatrachus,…
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Newly Discovered Fossil from the Smithsonian’s Collection Named After Kermit the Frog
Smithsonian Magazine has an article about a new species named for the Muppet character Kermit the Frog. Kermitops gratus lived during the early Permian in what is now Texas, about 280 million years ago. The paper’s authors Calvin So, Arjan Mann, and Jason Pardo describe the new species as a pro-amphibian. The skull fossil was…
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240 million-year-old fossil of salamander-like creature with ‘gnarly teeth’ unearthed in rocks for garden wall
LiveScience has an article about the discovery of a salamander-like animal in Australia. The animal, Arenaerpeton supinatus — meaning “supine sand creeper” — lived about 240 million years ago during the Triassic Period in what is now Australia. It was estimated to be 4 foot (1.2 meters) long and looked similar to the modern Chinese…
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Smithsonian: Paleontologists Uncover Fossil Impressions of Giant, Alligator-Like Amphibians
Smithsonian Magazine has a story about the discovery of alligator-like amphibians from the Permian Period. The animals, Rhinesuchus, were found in the Karoo Basin in South Africa. They lived more than 255 million years ago. They are thought to be salamander-like, but the size of modern day alligators. The rhinesuchid temnospondyls were described in the…
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PBS Eons: The Biggest Frog that Ever Lived
A new episode of PBS Eons is up over on Youtube. It’s about a huge frog from the Cretaceous! Untangling the origins of Beelzebufo — the giant frog that lived alongside the dinosaurs — turns out to be one of the most bedeviling problems in the history of amphibians.
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NYT: Fossil Shows Cold-Blooded Frogs Lived on Warm Antarctica
The New York Times Trilobites column has a story about the discovery of fossil frogs on Antarctica. The frog lived about 40 million years ago in what is now Seymour Island, which sits on the Antarctic Peninsula roughly 700 miles south of Tierra Del Fuego on South America. The specimen was found in 2015 by…
