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Triassic amphibians the size of alligators perished in mass die-off in Wyoming, puzzling ‘bone bed’ reveals

Study first author Aaron Kufner, a geologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and colleagues uncovered fossils of Buettnererpeton bakeri in a Wyoming fossil bed called Nobby Knob.

“This assemblage is a snapshot of a single population rather than an accumulation over time,” Kufner said in a statement. The discovery “more than doubles the number of known Buettnererpeton bakeri individuals.” Alongside the B. bakeri fossils, the team also found fossilized plants, bivalves and fossilized poop, called coprolites.