First evidence of a tetrapod footprint from the Triassic of northern Victoria Land, Antarctica

• Published in: Polar Research
• Main Authors: Mörs, Thomas, Niedźwiedzki, Grzegorz, Crispini, Laura, Läufer, Andreas, Bomfleur, Benjamin
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Norwegian Polar Institute 2019
• Subjects: Beacon Supergroup; Helliwell Hills; ichnotaxon; Procolophonichnium; Rennick Glacier; Transantarctic Basin; Rennick; Victoria Land; Antarc*; Antarctica; Polar Research
• Online Access: https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3438; https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v38.3438

Here, we report on a tetrapod footprint from the Transantarctic Basin in the far north of Victoria Land, which marks the first record of terrestrial vertebrates for this region. The single specimen derives from a previously unknown lithological unit of Middle or Late Triassic age of the Beacon Supergroup in the Helliwell Hills in the central Rennick Glacier area. It differs in both size and morphology clearly from Middle Triassic trackway types from the upper Fremouw Formation of the Queen Alexandra Range in southern Victoria Land, and likely represents a primitive amniote, procolophonid or therapsid. The footprint is the third evidence of fossil vertebrate trackways in Antarctica.