A massive, extinct salamander with jaws like a vice once roamed ancient Tennessee and its fossil has just rewritten what we thought we knew about Appalachian amphibians. Named Dynamognathus ...

Paleontologist Andre LuJan had an assist from nature with his latest exciting fossil find. Heavy rains helped expose a nearly complete skull of an enormous ancient salamander-like creature in a quarry ...

Researchers believe predators like this one may have driven the rapid evolution of Appalachian stream-dwelling salamanders, highlighting the region's key role in salamander diversification.

A giant burrowing salamander fossil challenges assumptions about amphibian evolution in prehistoric Appalachia. A giant ...

Researchers believe predators like this one may have driven the rapid evolution of Appalachian stream-dwelling salamanders, highlighting the region’s key role in salamander diversification.

An Ancient Predator With Powerful Jaws The new salamander species is noted for its unusually strong bite force, a feature that likely made it an efficient predator in its environment. This ...

A giant salamander — one the biggest ever known to prowl the forests of ancient Appalachia — is offering new insight into the region’s remarkable amphibian diversity. Thanks to a fossil unearthed near ...

Modern dusky salamanders max out at about seven inches (18 centimeters) – less than half the length of the fossil giant. The research team suspects that predators like D. robertsoni drove smaller ...

The fossil itself was first spotted by paleontologist Joseph Sertich back in 2005. “ [I remember seeing] a bunch of scattered bones down a low, flat, sandy area,” Sertich said. At the time, he assumed ...