![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/An-interpretation-of-the-strange-creature-Tankya-credit-Vitor-Silva-SWNS.jpg\")
An interpretation of the strange creature Tankya \u2013 credit, Vitor Silva \/ SWNS<\/p>\n An interpretation of the strange creature Tankya \u2013 credit, Vitor Silva \/ SWNS<\/p>\n
The fossilized remains of a creature with a twisted jaw and sideways-facing teeth have been discovered in the Amazon jungle.<\/p>\n
Scientists say the plant eating reptiles now called Tanyka consisted of \u201cliving fossils\u201d even when they stalked the Earth around 275 million years ago.<\/p>\n
A international team of paleontologists recently revealed this strange creature based on their analysis of 9 bones found in a dry riverbed in Brazil.<\/p>\n
They described the jawbones as \u201coddly twisted\u201d with some teeth pointed out and to the sides, and numerous smaller teeth lining the inside of the jaws\u2014a sign that the creatures were among the first of their kind to grind up plants for food.<\/p>\n
The new species, described in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, was given the name Tanyka amnicola by the research team.<\/p>\n
The name Tanyka comes from the local Indigenous Guaran\u00ed language\u2014meaning \u201cjaw\u201d\u2014and amnicola meaning \u201cliving by the river.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe jaw has this weird twist that drove us crazy trying to figure it out,\u201d said study lead author Dr. Jason Pardo of the Field Museum in Chicago. \u201cWe were scratching our heads over this for years, wondering if it was some kind of deformation, but at this point, we\u2019ve got nine jaws from this animal, and they all have this twist, including the really, really well-preserved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s not a deformation, it\u2019s just the way the animal was made.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said Tanyka is part of a much larger group of animals called tetrapods, which are four-legged animals with backbones. Modern tetrapods include reptiles, birds, mammals, and amphibians.<\/p>\n
The oldest tetrapod lineage, called the stem tetrapods, eventually split into two groups: ones that laid eggs outside of water, and ones that laid their eggs in the water.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s reptiles, birds, and mammals are all descendants of the branch that laid watertight eggs on land, while modern amphibians such as frogs and salamanders are the relatives of the tetrapods whose eggs needed to remain moist.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/An-interpretation-of-the-strange-creature-Tankya-credit-Vitor-Silva-SWNS-2.jpg\")
An interpretation of the strange creature Tankya \u2013 credit, Vitor Silva \/ SWNS<\/p>\n
But even after the tetrapod family split into the new groups, some of the stem tetrapods remained, and the research team say Tanyka was one of them. The earliest stem tetrapods include what are currently known<\/a> to be the first creatures that adapted to bearing its weight on land like Icthyostega.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn the sense that Tanyka was a remaining member of the stem tetrapod lineage, even after newer, more modern tetrapods evolved, Tanyka is a little like a platypus: it was a living fossil in its time,\u201d said Dr. Pardo.<\/p>\n He said a lot about Tanyka, including its body shape, remains a mystery.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can say, by comparison with close relatives, that Tanyka might have looked kind of like a salamander with a slightly longer snout.\u201d<\/p>\n Study co-author Dr. Ken Angielczyk, a curator of paleomammalogy at the Field Museum, cautions that until a more complete skeleton can be found, it\u2019s difficult to say for certain if any of the bones found near the jawbone belonged to the same animal.<\/p>\n The researchers aren\u2019t sure how big Tanyka would have been, but they estimate that it might have been up to 3 feet long, and probably lived in lakes, based on the kind of rocks in which the fossils are found.<\/p>\n The surface of Tanyka\u2019s jawbone is covered in a series of smaller teeth called denticles, which form a grinding surface sort of like a cheese grater.<\/p>\n Scientists have yet to find the bones that would make up Tanyka\u2019s upper jaw, but they imagine its top teeth and denticles were oriented similarly to the ones on the lower jaw.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Remains-of-the-strange-creature-Tankya-credit-Vitor-Silva-SWNS.jpg\")
Remains of the strange creature Tankya \u2013 credit, Vitor Silva \/ SWNS<\/p>\n