Scientists name #NewSpecies of #extinct giant #amphibian from #fossil found in retaining wall https://phys.org/news/2023-08-scientists-species-extinct-giant-amphibian.html

A new #chigutisaurid (#Temnospondyli) with soft tissue preservation from the #Triassic Sydney Basin, #NewSouthWales, #Australia https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2023.2232829

"This fossil is a unique example of #extinct #temnospondyls... We don't often find #skeletons with the head and body still attached, and the #SoftTissuePreservation is an even rarer occurrence."

Thanks to #SoftTissuePreservation, we now know what Tuzoia, a Cambrian #arthropod first discovered 100 years ago, actually looked like https://www.livescience.com/taco-lookalike-arthropod-tuzoia

The problematic #Cambrian arthropod #Tuzoia and the origin of #mandibulates revisited https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.220933

Tuzoia was a predator or scavenger that feasted on the remains of creatures littering the seafloor. The arthropod could likely flex its carapace outward as it moved, enabling its legs to touch the ground and scuttle across it.