LOS ANGELES, 23 June (BelTA - Xinhua) - New research of two tiny fossils found in the 1990s has helped scientists reveal the backstory of the most mysterious amphibian alive and expand amphibious timeline by at least 15 million years.
Dubbed Chinlestegophis jenkinsi, the pair of fossils is the oldest relative of the most mysterious group of amphibians: caecilians. Today, these limbless, colorful serpentine carnivores live underground and range in size from 6 inches to 5 feet, according to the new research.
The study, published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, expands the known history of frogs, toads and salamanders by at least 15 million years and closes a significant gap in early caecilian evolution by connecting them to stereospondyls, animals with toilet-seat heads that were the most diverse amphibian group during the Triassic era more than 200 million years ago.
Scientists found that the fossils of the extinct species from the Triassic Period are the long-missing link that connects Kermit the Frog's amphibian brethren to wormlike creatures with a backbone and two rows of sharp teeth.
Two ancient fossil amphibians found in the late 1990s by Bryan Small, study co-author and a research associate at Texas Tech University, were preserved in the fossilized burrows of Eagle County, Colorado.
Scientists previously believed the story of the stereospondyl order was a dead-end because, although widespread during the Triassic Period, the animals were believed to be unrelated to anything alive today.
The two recently discovered fossils finally fill this gap and suggest that the amphibian lineage of today evolved from a common ancestor some 315 million years ago.
