Paleontologists with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History have discovered a previously unknown prehistoric species — a 270 million-year-old amphibian with wide eyes and a ...

Paleontologists have discovered a previously unknown ancient species: Kermitops — an amphibian that predates the dinosaurs and reveals the complexity of frog evolution.

There were definitely no muppets 270 million years ago, but there was a Kermit — or at least an ancestor of modern amphibians, according to scientists who uncovered its fossilised skull.

Researchers also noted that this new discovery is essential to studying how modern amphibians came into being — as well as how their prehistoric ancestors looked and behaved. They concluded that ...

Predating the dinosaurs, Kermitops is believed to have roamed the lower Clear Fork Formation of Texas during the Early Permian Epoch 298.9 million to 272.3 million years ago.