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

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 Super...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polar Research
Main Authors: Thomas Mörs, Grzegorz Niedz´wiedzki, Laura Crispini, Andreas Läufer, Benjamin Bomfleur
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Norwegian Polar Institute 2019
Subjects:
Beacon Supergroup
Helliwell Hills
Procolophonichnium
Rennick Glacier
Transantarctic Basin
geo
envir
Rennick
Victoria Land
Antarc*
Antarctica
Polar Research
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v38.3438
https://doaj.org/article/37357550a285445d9ffb10771908b7d0
Description
Summary: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.

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