Jurassic amphibian with a projectile tongue named as a new species

As dinosaurs roamed the landscape of the Late Jurassic, a huge diversity of smaller animals crawled among their feet. Many of them are yet to be described by scientists.

One of these animals was a tiny amphibian no more than five centimetres long with dry scaly skin, keratin-like claws and eyelids. They also had a ballistic tongue that they projected at their prey, in a similar way to how chameleons hunt.

This tiny creature has recently been described by scientists after hundreds of bone fragments were uncovered at the site in western Portugal. The new species has been named Nabia civiscientrix in honour of the many citizen scientists, most of whom were from the local community, who helped unearth the remains.

Dr Miguel Moreno-Azanza from the University of Zaragoza in Spain, says, “It’s always a good feeling to see local communities involved in this kind of project, especially when they end up highlighting their own palaeoheritage. That’s why we chose that name.”

Details of this new species have been published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.

Solving an ancient mystery

The remains were discovered in the Lourinhã Formation. This region is well-known among palaeontologists for its Late Jurassic dinosaur fossils such as the carnivorous theropod dinosaur Lourinhanosaurus, the ornithopod Hesperonyx and stegosaurs Miragaia.

But scientists are learning more about the smaller creatures that once roamed this landscape.

“This new species highlights the herpetofauna present in Lourinhã during the Late Jurassic 150 million years ago,” says Alexandre R. D. Guillaume, a PhD student at the NOVA School of Science and Technology and the Museu da Lourinhã in Portugal, who was lead author of the study.

Over 400 bones belonging to N. civiscientrix were collected at Lourinhã, with most of them consisting of fragments from the skull and vertebrae. But the remains of N. civiscientrix have also been found elsewhere.

Fossils have previously been discovered in the Guimarota beds, another Late Jurassic fossil site in Portugal.

“The material from Guimarota has been known for a long time,” says Alexandre. “We knew it was a new species and it has always been considered as such by other palaeontologists.”

“But our previous study challenged the original attribution to the genus Celtedens. So, we had to dig deeper.”

Uncovering a new amphibian group

To understand more about this new amphibian, several of the best-preserved specimens were sent to University College London where they could be analysed using micro-CT scanners.

These scanners use x-rays to reveal the internal structure of small objects and create 3D models so the bones can be studied in much greater detail.

Dr Marc Jones, our curator of fossil reptiles and amphibians, was one of the researchers tasked with examining the remains.

“These bones are really tiny with most being less than one millimetre wide. Without a microscope they look almost like tea leaves.”

“Although the bones are isolated and sometimes broken, they still preserve remarkable three-dimensional anatomical detail such as joint surfaces, the areas where other bones overlapped and the holes through which blood vessels passed.”

“We are also able to host the 3D digital models online for anyone to examine without the need of a microscope.”

The new species is from a group of extinct amphibians called Albanerpetontidae. The Albanerpetontidae are closely related to the larger group Lissamphibia, meaning smooth amphibians, which includes all living amphibians.

“This new material is remarkable as it represents some of the oldest albanerpetontid remains that are known to date and the oldest found in the Iberian Peninsula,” says Marc. “It’s great that we can now learn much more about this group.”

The Albanerpetontid amphibians are believed to have lived for more than 160 million years from as early as the Middle Jurassic through to the Pleistocene.

Until recently, studies on their anatomy have usually focused on just a limited set of easily recognisable bones. But now scientists have been able to conduct a detailed analysis of N. civiscientrix this will help them to revise the anatomy of this ancient group of amphibians.