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A new fossil discovery links a bizarre modern amphibious vehicle to flakey ancient amphibians with throne - seat headland — and rescues a chemical group of uncanny Triassic creature from their late status as an evolutionary utter end .
The fossil represents a raw species ofcaecilian , which are subterranean amphibian that look like nightmarishly giant worm . Members of this group want branch and have either no eyes or tiny , naive eyes , since their ground - harp lifestyle affords little chance to see anyway . They do , however , have tiny needle - like tooth that allow them to attack target like insects and worm . [ See Images of Living Baby Caecilians ]
This bizarre amphibian,Chinlestegophis jenkinsi, was a small subterranean carnivore that lived during the Triassic period.
The largest caecilian today , Caecilia thompsoni , is found only in Colombia and can grow to 5 invertebrate foot ( 1.5 meters ) in length . Most species are n’t so gargantuan , though , which makes them hard to discover in the fossil record , Adam Huttenlocker , an adjunct professor in anatomic science at the University of Southern California ’s Keck School of Medicine , said in a assertion .
Rare find
In the 1990s , though , a fossilist nominate Bryan Small discovered two caecilian skull , one each in the Colorado counties of Eagle and Garfield , in the Rocky Mountains . A new examination of these fogey reveals they are the oldest caecilians ever found by at least 15 million years .
The new analysis also bring out these fossils act a new metal money , dubbedChinlestegophis jenkinsi , that lived in the Triassic period more than 200 million years ago . Before this discovery , the oldest do it caecilians fare fromthe other Jurassic , which lasted from 199.6 million to 145.5 million years ago . The discovery closes the opening between the caecilians and a weird amphibian radical bid the sterospondyls , which also live during the Triassic ; these now - extinct amphibians are best known for theirodd commode - seat - shaped heads .
The soma of theC. jenkinsispecimens paint a picture that other caecilians share features with stereospondyls , and that the wormy amphibians and the toilet - seat heads depart from a common antecedent about 315 million geezerhood ago , the researchers report Monday ( June 19 ) in the journalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .
Staying cool
The ossified skulls were just under 1 in ( 2.5 cm ) long , and the fossilized burrow that became the wormy amphibian ' net resting place were only about 2 inches ( 5 cm ) wide , Huttenlocker said . At most , C. jenkinsiprobably grew to about a foot ( 30 cm ) in duration , study writer Jason Pardo , a doctoral candidate at the University of Calgary in Canada , enounce in the financial statement . Like its innovative congenator , the ancient caecilians probably subsisted on insect .
Triassic Colorado was a sear desert during the summertime , the research worker said , soC. jenkinsiprobably benefit from its undercover life style .
" The ancient blindworm lived in these tunnel deeply in the soil down to about the level of the piddle table so that they could keep wet and annul the extreme barrenness from the dry time of year , " Huttenlocker say . He plans to return to Colorado this year to look for perfect caecilian fossils .
" We ’ll find one , " he say . " This is just the initial account . "
Original article on Live Science .
