Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.Paleontologists with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History have discovered a previously unknown prehistoric species — a 270 million-year-old amphibian with wide eyes and a cartoonish grin — and its name is a nod to an iconic froggy celebrity.Kermit the Frog meet Kermitops gratus, the most recent ancient amphibian to be identified after examination of a tiny fossilized skull that once sat unstudied in the Smithsonian fossil collection for 40 years, according to a paper published Thursday in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.Predating the dinosaurs, Kermitops is believed to have roamed the lower Clear Fork Formation of Texas during the Early Permian Epoch 298.9 million to 272.3 million years ago. The skull of the ancient amphibian, measuring just over an inch (about 2.5 centimeters) long, features big oval eye sockets and — due to its slightly crushed state — a lopsided smile that researchers said reminded them of the Muppet icon.The researchers believe the small opening at the tip of the critter’s snout, the internarial fontanelle, held a mucus gland that would aid in catching insects. The palpebral ossicles were small boney shingles embedded within the eyelid to protect the eye. – Brittany M. Hance/Smithsonian/CNNThe discovery of the new amphibian species could provide some answers to how frogs and salamanders evolved to get their special characteristics today, the authors wrote in the paper.“One thing that Kermitops really shows is that the origins of modern amphibians are a little more complex than some of the research has led on,” said study coauthor Arjan Mann, a postdoctoral paleontologist at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.“And that really means that people need to keep studying these things because just looking at museum collections, like this fossil, has the potential to change our ideas of evolutionary hypotheses of living lineages.” The fossil was first uncovered in 1984 by the late Nicholas Hotton IIII, a museum paleontologist who had excavated fossils from the Red Beds in Texas, an area known to be rich in Permian-age remains.Kermitops, not a frogThe fossil was first uncovered in 1984 by the late Nicholas Hotton IIII, a museum paleontologist who had excavated fossils from the Red Beds in Texas, an area known to be rich in Permian-age remains.Researchers unearthed a large …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnSign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.Paleontologists with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History have discovered a previously unknown prehistoric species — a 270 million-year-old amphibian with wide eyes and a cartoonish grin — and its name is a nod to an iconic froggy celebrity.Kermit the Frog meet Kermitops gratus, the most recent ancient amphibian to be identified after examination of a tiny fossilized skull that once sat unstudied in the Smithsonian fossil collection for 40 years, according to a paper published Thursday in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.Predating the dinosaurs, Kermitops is believed to have roamed the lower Clear Fork Formation of Texas during the Early Permian Epoch 298.9 million to 272.3 million years ago. The skull of the ancient amphibian, measuring just over an inch (about 2.5 centimeters) long, features big oval eye sockets and — due to its slightly crushed state — a lopsided smile that researchers said reminded them of the Muppet icon.The researchers believe the small opening at the tip of the critter’s snout, the internarial fontanelle, held a mucus gland that would aid in catching insects. The palpebral ossicles were small boney shingles embedded within the eyelid to protect the eye. – Brittany M. Hance/Smithsonian/CNNThe discovery of the new amphibian species could provide some answers to how frogs and salamanders evolved to get their special characteristics today, the authors wrote in the paper.“One thing that Kermitops really shows is that the origins of modern amphibians are a little more complex than some of the research has led on,” said study coauthor Arjan Mann, a postdoctoral paleontologist at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.“And that really means that people need to keep studying these things because just looking at museum collections, like this fossil, has the potential to change our ideas of evolutionary hypotheses of living lineages.” The fossil was first uncovered in 1984 by the late Nicholas Hotton IIII, a museum paleontologist who had excavated fossils from the Red Beds in Texas, an area known to be rich in Permian-age remains.Kermitops, not a frogThe fossil was first uncovered in 1984 by the late Nicholas Hotton IIII, a museum paleontologist who had excavated fossils from the Red Beds in Texas, an area known to be rich in Permian-age remains.Researchers unearthed a large …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
