In Depth Eocyclotosaurus is a genus of amphibian predator that lived in both North America and the British Isles during the early Triassic. With a long snout and a mouth full of sharp teeth, Eocyclotosaurus would have hunted for fish and small amphibians in the water. Eocyclotosaurus directly translates as ‘dawn rounded eared lizard’, however … Read more
In Depth Triadobatrachus is one of the earliest frogs to appear in the fossil record. So primitive is Triadobatrachus that this frog has substantially more vertebrae, fourteen in total when compared to a range of four to nine vertebrae in modern frogs. A short tail was also retained in adulthood. Triadobatrachus has been found in … Read more
In Depth ‘Discovered’ in a museum draw and named after the Venta River, Ventastega is a partially preserved amphibian tetrapod. Although very poorly preserved, there have been enough skeletal elements recovered to show that Ventastega had legs. These post cranial elements along with the quite well preserved skull suggest that Ventastega was more amphibian than … Read more
In Depth Colosteus is a genus of colosteid amphibian that lived in the USA during the Carboniferous. Further Reading - An Overview of the Upper Carboniferous Fossil Deposit at Linton, Ohio -. The Ohio Journal of Science 88 (1): 55–60. – Colosteus scutellatus (Newberry), a Primitive Temnospondyl Amphibian from the Middle Pennsylvanian of Linton, Ohio. … Read more
In Depth Nigerpeton seems to have been one of the last surviving members of the Edopoidea group of temnospondyl amphibians. Nigerpeton possibly lived in the same environments as Saharastega since both of these amphibians are known from the Moradi Formation of Niger. Further Reading – Permian tetrapods from the Sahara show climate-controlled endemism in Pangaea. … Read more
In Depth Sinerpeton is a genus of small salamander that live in China during the last stage of the Jurassic. Further Reading - Late Jurassic salamanders from northern China. - Nature 410:574-577 - K. -Q. Gao & N. H. Shubin - 2001.
In Depth The genus Metoposaurus was originally named as Metopias by Christian von Meyer in 1842, but the name was replaced and changed to Metoposaurus by Richard Lydekker in 1890. Metoposaurus is the type species of the Metoposauridae, a group of temnospondyl amphibians that are particularly noted for having eyes that are placed further forward … Read more
In Depth Rastosuchus is a genus of temnospondyl amphibian known to have lived in South America during the late Permian. Further Reading - A new short-snouted rhinesuchid from the Permian of southern Brazil. - Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia. 23 (2): 98–122. - Eliseu Vieira Dias, S�rgio Dias-da-Silva & Cesar Leandro Schultz - 2020.
In Depth Palaeobatrachus was an ancient frog that has often been related as being similar to the African clawed toad genus Xenopus. Palaeobatrachus is thought to have been a primarily aquatic frog which means that it rarely left the water. Like with other frogs, Palaeobatrachus were probably predators of invertebrates as well as possibly vertebrates … Read more
In Depth Kryostega is one of the growing number of temnospondyl amphibians that are now known from Antarctica. With a reconstructed body length estimated to be about four and a half meters long, Kryostega is so far one of the largest temnospondyl amphibians known to have lived in Antarctica during the Early Triassic, and a … Read more