Fossils show huge salamanderlike predator with sharp fangs existed before the dinosaurs

📆 7/3/2024 3:18 PM
📰 AP

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Scientists have identified a giant salamanderlike predator with sharp fangs that likely ruled waters 280 million years ago. The creature existed before the dinosaurs and likely used its wide, flat head to suck in prey. Findings were published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

This July 2, 2018 image provided by Claudia Marsicano shows an image of the nearly complete skeleton from fossils recovered in Namibia of a giant salamander-like creature at the Paleontology lab in Cape Town, South Africa. This image provided by Gabriel Lio shows an artistic reconstruction of what the prehistoric salamander-like creature may have looked like. Researchers discovered a giant salamander-like predator that lived about 280 million years ago, using fossils recovered from Namibia.

Researchers have long examined such ancient predators to uncover the origins of tetrapods: four-legged animals that clambered onto land with fingers instead of fins and evolved to amphibians, birds and mammals including humans.

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