One temnospondyl , the dvinosaur Trimerorhachis , may have brooded young in an area between the gills called the pharyngeal pouch . Small bones belonging to younger Trimerorhachis individuals have been found in these pouches . The living Darwin 's Frog is also a mouth brooder and would be the closest modern analogue to Trimerorhachis if it cared for its young in this way . An alternative possibility is that Trimerorhachis was cannibalistic , eating its young like many amphibians do today . If this was the case , the bones of these smaller individuals were originally located in the throat and were pushed into the pharyngeal pouch as the animal fossilized .