Photo illustration: a salamander. – Superstock / Sipa

N.Bg. with AFP

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To study the past to anticipate the future. Scientists in Brazil found two previously unknown species of amphibians that lived there 278 million years ago, a discovery that could help better understand how animals respond to climate change, announced Thursday the History Museum Natural London.

The fossils of these creatures presenting similarities with salamanders were discovered at the same time as the oldest reptile skeleton ever found in South America, by an international team of British scientists , Argentine and German, among others.

A cross between a salamander and an eel

This discovery, published in the journal Nature , “fills an important geographical gap in our knowledge of the evolution and adaptation of amphibians, a group increasingly threatened today by climate change, “said a statement from the Museum of Natural History.

both discovered species are aquatic amphibians, baptized “timonya annae” and “procuhy nazariensis”. The first was a creature with fangs 40 cm long and looked like a cross between a Mexican salamander current and eel. “Procuhy nazariensis” would have had a similar size.

This discovery is all the more “remarkable”, emphasized the paleontologist Martha Richter, the knowledge on vertebrate quadrupeds that period were far mostly limited to North and West Europe America.

Better predict the consequences of climate change

The scientific, study co-author and head of vertebrate fossils at the Museum of Natural History, said that “timonya annae” and “procuhy nazariensis” would improve the knowledge on how animals adapt to rapid environmental change.

“More 90% of the species on Earth became extinct at the end of the Permian there are 253 million years, when conditions had become inhospitable around the world, “she said.

“Understanding how were made extinct species (…) and how they have evolved over time can help us better predict” the consequences of climate change, said Martha Richter.