Researchers named the species Kermitus after Kermit the Frog.
Newly discovered proto-amphibian, Kermitops from the Department of Paleobiology collections at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History. The species is named after Kermit the Frog.The fossilized skull of the 270-million-year-old amphibian ancestor was first unearthed in 1984 in a rock formation in Texas.
Calvin So, a doctoral student at the George Washington University and the paper's lead author, said naming the creature after the beloved character is also an opportunity to get the public excited about the discovery. Researchers said they discovered the fossil was a type of temnospondyl, a primitive amphibian that lived more than 200 million years ago mainly during the the Carboniferous, Permian and Triassic periods.
This head shape suggests the animal ate grubs -- which are the larval form of certain beetle species -- and other small insects, similar to frogs and salamanders.
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