members of the international research project of Nature Publishing Group when carrying out excavations on the Antarctic Peninsula for the first time in history have discovered a fossil frog, the age of which is about 40 million years.
proponents of the hypothesis of the existence of warm and humid climate in Antarctica in ancient times have given a new proof. This writes Phys.org.
Paleontologists near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula have unearthed the fossilized remains of Eocene fossil helmet-headed frogs. Earlier in Antarctica, scientists have found the remains of amphibians. This suggests that in ancient times the climate here was more suitable for life.
Found the frog is another indication of the existence of warm and temperate climate on the Antarctic Peninsula to its separation from the supercontinent Gondwana. By the way, scientists have found in Antarctica fossil frog.
it is Reported that a group of paleontologists headed by Thomas Mears discovered the fossilized remains of the femur and the bones of the skull during the time of the expedition in 2011-2013, on the island of Seymour.
Only now scientists were able to identify them. The analysis showed that the age of the two bones is approximately 40 million years. They belong to the Eocene epoch. The bones belong to the frog family Calyptocephalellidae (helmet-headed Whistler).
Previous research suggests that a well-known us ice sheets formed before the final breakup of Gondwana to the modern continents South America and Antarctica. The new discovery suggests that climatic conditions of the Antarctic Peninsula in the late middle Eocene was probably comparable to the wet and temperate climate in forests of South America.
there is Only today home to all five species helmet-headed frogs. The findings also indicate that forests of South America may represent the analogue of the forests of Antarctica-Eocene. They probably were the same before the breakup of Gondwana.
