The findings are published in this month's Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Sidor suspects Kryostega "probably ate mostly fish and other amphibians living in the river alongside it, however, like crocodiles, if land-living (animals) strayed too close to the river's edge, I expect that it would have been able to drag them in." Little is known about Antarctica's flora and fauna of this time, but scientists previously unearthed the remains of another large amphibian, Parotosuchus, as well as evidence of dicynodonts -- tusked, stocky plant eaters that could be as small as a rat or as large as an ox. Burrows found in river bottoms suggest insects were also present. Although dinosaurs would not emerge in the region until later, Antarctica was probably more supportive of life then than it is now. "The part of Pangea that is now Antarctica was substantially warmer in the Middle Triassic than it is today," said Sidor, "but I would never claim that it was tropical or balmy." "Computer climate simulations suggest that it was seasonally very harsh, with periods of complete darkness," he added. Sebastien Steyer, a paleontologist at the Museum of Natural History in Paris, told Discovery News that he thinks the new finding "is a great one." "This discovery of a fossil amphibian brings new information on the paleofauna of Antarctica before dinosaurs (emerged there)," Steyer explained. He added, "The 'paleoworld' of Antarctica is potentially extremely rich but still poorly known, simply because it is difficult to work there...so this should encourage all the paleontologists to organize expeditions there." Related Links: Jennifer Viegas' blog: Born Animal |
advertisement
Put Discovery News on Your Site!
|
-
our sites
-
video
mobile
-
shop
-
stay connected
-
corporate
