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Stem tetrapods were four-limbed critters that dragged themselves from the swamp and led to the four-limbed critters called you and me. They bridged the gap between fish in the water and vertebrates on land. Anew find nicknamed “Swamp Thing” suggests surprising twists in their story.
In the journal Nature, Claudia A. Marsicano (University of Buenos Aires) and colleagues describe a fossil discovered in Namibia they’ve formally dubbed Gaiasia jennyae. It resembles a salamander but one stretching as much as 13 feet long and bearing fierce interlocking fangs. In short, not something you’d want to meet in the swamp!