Name:
Proterogyrinus (Greek for "early tadpole"); pronounced PRO-teh-roe-jih-RYE-nuss
Habitat:
Swamps of North America and western Europe
Historical Period:
Late Carboniferous (325 million years ago)
Size and Weight:
About 3 feet long and 5-10 pounds
Diet:
Fish
Distinguishing Characteristics:
Narrow snout; long, paddle-like tail
About Proterogyrinus:
As unlikely as it may seem, considering the dinosaurs that followed in its wake a hundred million years later, the three-foot-long Proterogyrinus was the apex predator of late Carboniferous Eurasia and North America, when the earth's continents were just beginning to be populated by air-breathing prehistoric amphibians. Proterogyrinus bore some evolutionary traces of its tetrapod ancestors, most notably in its broad, fish-like tail, which was nearly the length of the rest of its slender body.
