Not to be confused with the massive dinosaur
Brachiosaurus, which was some 26m/85ft long,
Branchiosaurus belonged to the group of tetra pods known
as temnospondyls. These appeared during the Early to Mid
Carboniferous Period and included newt-like aquatic forms
as well as large, powerful, land-going predators, such as
E,:yops (see overleaf) and Mastodonsaurus, which had scaly
or bony plates on the skin and bore a vague outward
resemblance to crocodiles. Branchiosaurus was a smallish,
fully aquatic form, about 30crnl12in in length, that in
.sorne ways resembled the modern salamander-like axolotl.
It had four weak limbs for walking in water, a long finned
tail for swimming, and feathery external gills. Its family
date from the Late Carboniferous Period through to the
Perrnian. Usually only the young or larvalforms of
amphibians, known commonly as
tadpoles, have external gills.
('Amphibian' is a commonly
used though imprecise term
usually a pplied to tetra pods tha t
breathe using gills when young,
and by gills and/or lungs when
adult.) Keeping the larval gills
as the rest of the body became
sexually mature is an example
of a well-known phenomenon in animal
development termed paedomorphosis - retention of juvenile
features into adult life - something that it shares with the
Mexican axolotl. Brancbiosaurus' way of life as a sharp-
toothed aquatic predator was similar to that of
Micromelerpeton, opposite.