Fossils of Ancient Frog and Fanged Eel-Like Creatures Found in Brazil

Posted on November 5, 2015

Scientists from The Field Museum and their international colleagues have discovered fossils of previously unknown amphibian species and a reptile from northeastern Brazil. The fossils are from 278 million years ago when the landmasses were merged into the supercontinent of Pangaea. The new discoveries will help improve the record of continental tetrapods in Gondwana.

Field Museum scientist Ken Angielczyk and one of the authors of the paper, says in a statement, "Almost all of our knowledge about land animals from this time, comes from a handful of regions in North America and western Europe, which were located near the equator. Now we finally have information about what kinds of animals were present in areas farther to the south, and their similarities and differences to the animals living near the equator."

The research paper describes two new species of aquatic carnivorous amphibians. One of the amphibians was a small, fully aquatic eel-like creature with fangs and gills. The creature, named Timonya annae, is described as a "cross between a modern Mexican salamander and an eel." A photo of the skull of Timonya annae is pictured below.

The second new species is named Procuhy nazarienis. This name means "fire frog" in the Timbira language of its Brazilian homeland. The frog-like species lived in the water and not in fire. It is named after the Pedra de Fogo ("Rock of Fire") formation where it is from. The researchers say that both new species are distant relatives of modern salamanders. They are not frogs or salamanders but belong to an extinct group that was common during the Permian.

The research paper on the new species was published here in the journal, Nature Communications. The paper also describes a collie-sized amphibian species and an lizard-like reptile species.

ANIMALS