In the 1990s, a chicken farmer discovered a 240-million-year-old giant amphibian fossil that researchers believe is the ancestor of the modern Chinese giant salamander (pictured above). The retired farmer took the stones from a nearby quarry and planned to use them to build a retaining wall in the garden, eventually donating the stone and fossil to the Australian Museum.
Now, almost two decades later, researchers have finally fossilized this giant amphibian and the species responsible for its name. Arenaerpeton supinatus, meaning “reclining sand reptile”, is thought to have existed in the Triassic period 240 million years ago. Therefore, the exact age of the fossil is unknown.
One of the things that makes this fossil so fascinating is that it gives us an almost complete view of the entire skeleton of Arenaerpeton supinatus. “We rarely find skeletons with the head and torso still attached and their soft tissues preserved,” said Lachlan Hart, PhD, of the UNSW School of Biology, Earth and Environmental Sciences.
Researchers say the fossil makes the giant amphibian very similar to its modern-day descendant, the Chinese giant salamander. Arenaerpeton also appears to have very sharp teeth, including fangs that “sit on the roof” of his mouth. He probably used these teeth to hunt ancient fish. Researchers at the University of South Wales continue to work to learn more about the giant amphibian.
Meanwhile, senior lecturer at the UNSW BEE School and Australian Museum curator of paleontology, Dr. According to Matthew Currie, this fossil is one of the most important fossils found in New South Wales in the last 30 years. Such fossils, and even fossilized footprints before the appearance of dinosaurs, help to learn more about our world’s past. Source
Source: Port Altele
