MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Michel Martin. Kermit the Frog has a new namesake, a 270-million-year-old fossil. The fossil was originally collected in 1984, but that team from the Smithsonian collected so many, they didn't get around to examining them all. Fast-forward to 2021. Researchers took another look and discovered a new member of the amphibian family tree. In a paper published this week, researchers noted several features that resemble the famous Muppet. It's one of several newly discovered species named after Muppets. Miss Piggy isn't one of them - yet. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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