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Ancient amphibian species named after Kermit the Frog
An ancient relative of amphibians has been named in honour of Kermit the Frog.
First unearthed over 40 years ago, Kermitops gratus highlights the number of specimens waiting to be described in the world’s museums.
It’s not easy being green, especially if you’re an ancient amphibian.
Named Kermitops gratus, a new fossil species has been named in honour of one of the world’s most famous frogs. But while Kermit the Frog made his TV debut in 1955, Kermit the Fossil lived in ancient Texas over 270 million years ago.
For the past four decades, the fossil skull has sat in the collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, just waiting to be studied. A team of researchers have now described the fossil, publishing their findings in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
Calvin So, a PhD student and lead author of the study, says, “using the name Kermit has significant implications for how we can bridge the science that is done by paleontologists in museums to the general public.”
“Because this animal is a distant relative of today’s amphibians, and Kermit is a modern-day amphibian icon, it was the perfect name for it.”
While Kermitops was probably more like an ancient bony salamander than a frog, its identity isn’t necessarily a problem.
Dr Marc Jones, who looks after the Natural History Museum’s fossil amphibian collections, says, “while Kermitops isn’t a frog, making the name perhaps a little controversial, Kermit hasn’t always been a frog either. In his early appearances, Kermit had a more lizard-like appearance, and he still has five fingers, rather than the four that most amphibians have.”
“Anatomy aside, Kermit is one of my childhood idols, so I’m happy to see this name out there.”
Based on the shape of its skull, it's thought that Kermitops gratus would look similar to a stout salamander. © HWall/Shutterstock.
Celebrity specimens
With thousands of new species described every year, there’s a constant demand for new names. While many names are given in honour of where an organism lives or its distinctive characteristics, scientists also turn to the world of pop culture.
Celebrities like Arnold Schwarzenegger and RuPaul are among the figures to have insects bearing their name, while dinosaurs have been named after the worlds of Game of Thrones, Harry Potter and Disney.
The Muppets have also provided inspiration for species before now. The grumpy duo of Statler and Waldorf share a trilobite, as the rear of its body is said to resemble their faces, while The Great Gonzo gives his name to a tube-dwelling spider.
Kermit himself isn’t unfamiliar to biologists, with a species of extinct frog named Hensonbatrachus kermiti in honour of the puppet and his creator.
The living Hyalinobatrachium dianae was also dubbed ‘the Kermit frog’ due to its striking similarity to the puppet, but this isn’t a formal name – the species is actually named after the scientist’s mother.
Kermitops takes things a step further using the Muppet’s name as a genus. This means that if further relatives of Kermitops gratus are found, they will also bear the Kermit’s name.
As for Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, and the rest of the Muppet gang, the wait continues for a species of their own.
Based on the shape of its skull, it's thought that Kermitops gratus would look similar to a stout salamander. © Brittany M. Hance, Smithsonian.
Kermit’s contribution to science
The naming of Kermitops gratus helps to reveal more about life during the Early Permian between 300 and 270 million years ago. It was one of a few early amphibian relatives, known as temnospondyls, that were living in Texas at this time.
Its skull has an elongated, curved snout and a shortened region behind the eyes suggesting it probably ate grubs and other small insects. As this head shape is unlike other temnospondyls found in the same rocks, it’s possible that the species was targeting different prey but the researchers say more evidence is needed to confirm this.
Adding Kermitops into the family tree of temnospondyls has helped to provide more information about how the ancient animals relate to each other, but their exact relationship to modern amphibians remains unclear.
This is a common problem for scientists working out how amphibians evolved, as their fossil record is notoriously patchy. It’s a particular issue for fossils aged between 260 and 247 million years ago, around the time when the ancestors of living frogs and salamanders are thought to have first appeared.
“It’s still tricky to say exactly where modern amphibians came from,” Marc says. “Scientists still disagree on the exact route of evolution, with some suggesting they descend from different groups.”
“To resolve this once and for all, it would be great to find more fossils from the late Permian that could bridge some of the anatomical differences between ancestral forms and modern ones. This would allow us to evaluate in what order modern traits were acquired.”
Finding these fossils, however, is not going to be easy. High temperatures in the Late Permian limited where amphibians lived, while the small bones of these animals are difficult to spot and easily destroyed.
But with a bit of effort, scientists might be able to find the amphibian connection after all.
