Car sized Triassic Salamander discovered

Resident Evil imitates life

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Fossil hunters have found the remains of a giant carnivorous amphibian that patrolled ancient lakes and rivers at the dawn of the age of the dinosaurs.

The salamander-like predator grew to the size of a small car and feasted on the fish that thrived in the waterways of the Late Triassic Period, more than 200m years ago.

According to a report in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, differences in the jaw structure, and parts of the skull where the spinal cord meets the brain, reveal the Portuguese remains to be a new species. The creature had a long, flat head, likened by Brusatte to a toilet seat lined with thousands of tiny teeth.

Remains of other Metoposaurs held in museums have occasional bite marks on their bones, the likely result of ancient encounters with early dinosaurs that waded into ponds and lakes in search of food.

Though a top predator in its own right, Metoposaurus had small, weak limbs for such a large animal. The relative puniness of its legs meant it could not venture far onto land, and so could easily be stranded if its watery home dried out.

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