Eocaecilia
Eocaecilia
Eocaecilia is an extinct genus of caecilians, whose fossils were found in the Kayenta Formation at Gold Spring in northeastern Arizona. In contrast to all of today's Sneak amphibians Eocaecilia had four short limbs. Overall, we found the remains of 38 copies. None was complete, pelvic bone still missing, however, parts of the shoulder girdle, humerus, radius, ulna, and femur, tibia and fibula are preserved. The only way is Eocaecilia micropodia.
Features
The feet of Eocaecilia had three toes. The shoulder girdle resembles that of the salamanders and the extinct Microsauria. The mouth was slightly inferior. In the upper jaw were two rows of small, sharp teeth, two more than in today's Sneak amphibians. In contrast to recent Sneak amphibians Eocaecilia had a gill cover ( operculum ).
Modern features Eocaecilia with recent Sneak amphibians shares are the tentacle pit at the front edge of the eye socket, which coalesced skull bone and the lower jaw protrusion on which adjoins the second muscle pair of the typical double jaw closure mechanism of caecilians.
Importance
In addition to two fossil vertebrae from the Upper Cretaceous of Bolivia and the Paleocene of Brazil, the fossils of Eocaecilia are the only fossil record of amphibians order. The finds are older than the oldest of the Salamanders and show that the caecilians are descended from four-legged ancestors.