Climate change? Whatever. I will adapt!
Paleontologists in Portugal have identified a new prehistoric species,
Metoposaurus Algarvensis. The species (seen in an artist's rendition above), resembled a modern salamander—
except it grew to be around two meters (six and half feet).
The species were distant relatives of the salamanders of today, the team says. The discovery reveals that this group of amphibians was more geographically diverse than previously thought.
The species is the first member of the group to be discovered in the Iberian Peninsula, the team says.
Fossil remains of species belonging to the group have been found in parts of modern day Africa, Europe, India and North America. Differences in the skull and jaw structure of the fossils found in Portugal revealed they belong to a separate species.
Most of the members of these giant salamander species were wiped out over 200 million years ago (or if you're a creationist—"never"), before the
big dinosaurs and before the earth's supercontinent,
Pangea, fully broke apart. That world, known as the
Triassic Period, was a time when amphibians were the movers and shakers.
Frogs, salamanders, crocodiles, turtles, and snakes slunk and slithered on and off the Triassic coast, lakes, and rivers. Pterosaurs, a group of flying reptiles, took to the air. On firm ground, moss, liverwort, and ferns carpeted forests of conifers, ginkgoes, and palm-like cycads. Spiders, scorpions, millipedes, and centipedes thrived. Grasshoppers appeared. But perhaps the biggest changes came with the evolution of dinosaurs and the first mammals in the late Triassic, starting around 230 million years ago.
The
Metoposaurus Algarvensis was one of the
top predators in this period.
Dr Richard Butler, of the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham, said: "Most modern amphibians are pretty tiny and harmless. But back in the Triassic these giant predators would have made lakes and rivers pretty scary places to be."
[Bold my emphasis, for the link below.]
Some things change and some stay the same.
Climate change? Whatever. I will adapt!