Name: Diplocaulus magnicornis

 

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Diplocaulus is a genus of amphibian that lived in Permian North America, between about 300 and 250 million years ago. It is most famous for its boomerang-shaped head, which palaeontologists believe may have been used as a defence mechanism (as predators would find it hard to swallow) or could have aided it in swimming, acting as a hydrofoil to cut through the water. It was one of the largest lepospondyl amphibians known, as it could grow up to a metre in length. Diplocaulus had very small, weak limbs and it is likely that it did not come up onto land very often, if ever.