Giant Salamanders Terrorized Early Dinosaurs
Wednesday, March 25th, 2015March 25, 2015
Paleontologists have discovered a collection of fossilized, car-sized giant salamanders that once terrorized early dinosaurs in a prehistoric lake bed in southern Portugal. Scientists from the University of Edinburgh published a description this week of the fossils of Metoposaurus algarvensis, a 6-foot (2-meter) amphibian distantly related to the modern frogs, salamanders, and newts that occupy many gardens and ponds. One scientist claimed “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.”
Metoposaurus algarvensis was part of a wider group of primitive amphibians that were widespread in what is now Europe and North America between 220 million and 230 million years ago. With massive jaws full of sharp teeth, Metoposaurus algarvensis likely squatted at the very top of the food chain. The fossils were discovered in a huge collection in an ancient dry lakebed. Like all amphibians, they mostly lived in water and had to lay their eggs there. The creatures might have died after they were trapped when the lake they inhabited dried up.
Modern amphibians, including the earliest frogs and salamanders, first appeared in the early part of the Mesozoic Era, about 250 million years ago. Many of the larger early amphibians had died out by the end of the Triassic Period, some 200 million years ago, as dinosaurs came to rule the land. But a few, like Metoposaurus algarvensis, persisted well into later times.
Like some other early giant amphibians, Metoposaurus algarvensis lived much as crocodiles do today, feeding mostly on fish and occasionally snatching larger animals from the shores. Their prey likely included some of the earliest dinosaurs that also appeared by about 220 million years ago.
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