Ancient Swamp Creature Hunted with Jaws Wide Open
Newfound giant salamander was a top predator
Before dinosaurs ruled the planet, a giant salamander with a 2-foot-long head shaped like a toilet seat hunted the swamps of what is now Namibia. Scientists say it was a ferocious creature, hunting with its interlocking jaws wide open.
“Gaiasia jennyae was considerably larger than a person, and it probably hung out near the bottom of swamps and lakes,” explained Jason Pardo, an NSF postdoctoral fellow at the Field Museum in Chicago. “It's got a big, flat, toilet seat-shaped head, which allows it to open its mouth and suck in prey. It has these huge fangs, the whole front of the mouth is just giant teeth. It’s a big predator, but potentially also a relatively slow ambush predator.”
Pardo is a co-lead author of a study in the discovery, published this week in the journal Nature.
The fossil, along with several related specimens, was found by Claudia Marsicano of the University of Buenos Aires and her colleagues.
“When we found this enormous specimen just lying on the outcrop as a giant concretion, it was really shocking,” Marsicano said in a statement. “I knew just from seeing it that it was something completely different. We were all very excited. After examining the skull, the structure of the front of the skull caught my attention. It was the only clearly visible part at that time, and it showed very unusually interlocking large fangs, creating a unique bite for early tetrapods.”
Tetrapods were four-limbed vertebrates that evolved from fish on the way to the evolution of amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, the researchers explained.
