The amphibamiform temnospondyl genus Kermitops, which translates to "Kermit face," is extinct and comes from the Early Permian Clear Fork Formation of Texas, in the United States. K. gratus is the only species in the genus that is known from a partial skull.
Discovery and Naming
In April 1984, Nicholas Hotton III and field investigators from the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History found the Kermitops holotype specimen, USNM 407585. The bottom strata of the Clear Fork Formation near Lake Kemp in Wilbarger County, Texas, in the United States, serve as a representative example of the type location. The mandibles, a portion of the braincase, and the majority of the skull roof make up the specimen. With the exception of a few partially developed vomerine teeth, the palate is mostly lost. The marginal teeth are difficult to see. Based on these fossil remnants, So, Pardo, and Mann (2024) named Kermitops gratus as a new genus and species of amphibamiforms. The generic name "Kermitops" combines the Greek suffix "-ops," which means face, with a reference to the well-known frog character from the Muppets, Kermit the Frog. In appreciation of Nicholas Hotton III and the others who helped gather the holotype specimen, the specific name "gratus" means "gratitude" in Latin.
Classification
So, Pardo & Mann conducted many phylogenetic studies for their 2024 description; the fossil skull retains an ossified part that might be the basioccipital, and the classification of this trait as "present" or "absent" changed their findings. Kermitops was consistently identified as the sister taxon to Plemmyradytes in their Bayesian inference investigations. Below is the cladogram with the basioccipital scored as "present":
| Dendrysekos | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Trimerorhachis | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Sources
Kermitops Reconstruction.