2026-03-06 12:02:12

Experts have discovered the fossilised remains of a creature with an “oddly twisted” twisted jaw and sideways-facing teeth.

Palaeontologists analysed nine bones found in a dry riverbed in Brazil and believe the plant-eating reptiles consisted of “living fossils” when they roamed the earth around 275 million years ago.

The new species has been given the name Tanyka amnicola, with the first word stemming from the local Indigenous Guaraní language and meaning “jaw”and the second meaning “living by the river.”

The creature had teeth pointed out and to the sides, with smaller teeth lining the inside of the jaws, suggesting they were among the first to grind up plants for food.

Study lead author Dr. Jason Pardo of the Field Museum in Chicago said: “The jaw has this weird twist that drove us crazy trying to figure it out.

“We were scratching our heads over this for years, wondering if it was some kind of deformation, but at this point, we’ve got nine jaws from this animal, and they all have this twist, including the really, really well-preserved ones.

“So it’s not a deformation, it’s just the way the animal was made.”

The scientist believes Tanyka is part of the tretrapod animal group, meaning it was a four-legged creature with a backbone, but a lot about it, including its body shape, is still unknown.

Dr. Pardo said: “In the sense that Tanyka was a remaining member of the stem tetrapod lineage, even after newer, more modern tetrapods evolved, Tanyka is a little like a platypus: it was a living fossil in its time.

“We can say, by comparison with close relatives, that Tanyka might have looked kind of like a salamander with a slightly longer snout.”

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