Fedexia
Name: Fedexia
(After
the Federal Express Company).
Phonetic: Fed-ex-ee-ah.
Named By: Berman et al - 2010.
Classification: Chordata, Tetrapoda, Amphibia,
Temnospondyli, Euskelia, Dissorophoidea, Trematopidae.
Species: F. striegeli (type).
Type: Carnivore.
Size: Total size is uncertain due to insufficient
remains, but estimates place it at around 60 centimetres long.
Skull length is 11.5 centimetres.
Known locations: USA, Pennsylvania, Casselman
Formation, Pittsburgh.
Time period: Gzhelian of the Carboniferous.
Fossil representation: Single but well preserved
skull.
Fedexia
was
discovered in 2004 by Adam Striegal, a university student at the
time. It acquired its name because the land it was discovered on was
owned by the FedEx Corporation. When first examined, Fedexia
was
mistaken for a fern because of the arrangement of teeth. Study by
Charles Jones, the class lecturer, revealed it to be a skull.
In
life Fedexia was a
carnivorous amphibian, often regaled as being like a salamander. It
had two large palatal tusks that would have been quite effective at
pinning prey in its mouth. Prey was likely to include anything from
smaller amphibians to large insects. Study of the fossil site
suggests that Fedexia lived in a freshwater
environment such as a
lake, but is still envisioned as a primarily terrestrial creature.
Further reading
- A new trematopid amphibian (Temnospondyli: Dissorophoidea) from the
Upper Pennsylvanian of western Pennsylvania: earliest record of
terrestrial vertebrates responding to a warmer, drier climate. - Annals
of Carnegie Museum. 78 (4): 289–318. - D. S. Berman, A. C. Henrici, D.
K. Brezinski & A. D. Kollar - 2010.
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