For the timid, be assured that the beast roamed the Algarve some 200 million years ago.
The salamander has been named Algarvensis Metoposaurus in tribute to the find which according to paleontologist Octavio Mateus is of a species that coexisted with the first dinosaurs and disappeared during the extinction that occurred 201 million years ago caused by volcanic activity and climate change.
The paleontologist said the extinction that led to the end of Algarvensis Metoposaurus marked the end of the Triassic period.
According to the study, published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, these adult salamanders were over two metres long with flat heads and hundreds of sharp teeth and are the distant relatives of today’s salamanders. Their likely behavior would have been like today’s crocodile as they were carnivorous, fierce and weighty.
"This was the kind of predator that the first dinosaurs had to face, long before the glory days of T. Rex and Brachiosaurus," said Steve Brusatte from the Edinburgh University.
Mateus said that this type of salamander was already known about but the Algarve species was new to science. Fossils of giant salamanders have been discovered in Africa and North America and elsewhere in Europe and the study notes that the Algarve discovery shows that the geographical distribution of this group was greater than previously thought.
The careful dig took place in an area full of the bones of animals that probably died as the lake dried up. So far only four square metres has been excavated and two skulls in good condition have been recovered along with fossilised bones, with studies continuing in the laboratory.
The research was led by the University of Edinburgh but with the collaboration of other institutions including the New University of Lisbon, the Lourinhã Museum and the universities of Edinburgh, Birmingham and the Museum of Natural History in Paris.
