Well, first of all I should state that “suggest it may have been” is my own phrasing, and different reports (and possibly the researchers themselves) might very well use more confident language.

Of course, since it is science, the door is always open for a new fossil, or a new set of eyes looking at this fossil, that leads to a different conclusion. On the flip side, new fossils and new sets of eyes might well confirm the phylogeny presented by Anderson et al. There’s even a pretty good chance that some parts of the research described here will be bolstered by future work, while other parts will require modification when faced with new insights and discoveries.

The lack of certainty can be frustrating, but I happen to think it’s more fun to watch the stories unfold than to find satisfaction with any particular answer.

From the paper, “…the oldest known caecilian Eocaecilia falls within recumbirostrine lepospondyls, sister group to Rhynchonokos and, one step further out, the brachystelechids.” I’m afraid that’s all the insight I can muster, as my familiarity with lepospondyl classification is basically zilch. If any readers have a better answer, please chime in!

Does anyone know much about how the LTr/EJ Eocaecilia (which I believe has two sets of tiny limbs) matches up with this? Are the caecilians supposed to be close to the limbless aistopods, or are their features believed to be convergent?