Chinlestegophis

Chinlestegophis
Temporal range: Late Triassic, 221–206 Ma
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Order:
†Temnospondyli
Suborder:
†Stereospondyli
Superfamily:
†Metoposauroidea?
Genus:
†Chinlestegophis

Pardo et al., 2017
Binomial name
†Chinlestegophis jenkinsi
Pardo et al., 2017

Chinlestegophis is a diminutive Late Triassic stereospondyl that has been interpreted as a putative stem caecilian, a living group of legless burrowing amphibians.[1] If Chinlestegophis is indeed both an advanced stereospondyl and a relative of caecilians, this means that stereospondyls (in the form of caecilians) survived to the present day; historically the group was thought to have gone extinct by the early Cretaceous.[2] Chinlestegophis jenkinsi, the type and only species, is known from two partial skulls discovered in the Chinle Formation in Colorado.

  1. ^ Pardo, Jason D.; Small, Bryan J.; Huttenlocker, Adam K. (2017-07-03). "Stem caecilian from the Triassic of Colorado sheds light on the origins of Lissamphibia". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 114 (27): E5389–E5395. doi:10.1073/pnas.1706752114. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 5502650. PMID 28630337.
  2. ^ Warren, Anne; Rich, Thomas H.; Vickers-Rich, Patricia (1997). "The last labyrinthodonts". Palaeontographica Abteilung A. 247: 1–24.