Antarctic Fossil Discoveries

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32166, 9 December 1969, Page 18

Antarctic Fossil Discoveries

Bones of the thecodont, a reptilian ancestor of the dinosaurs, were among fossil discoveries in Antarctica recently. Remains of the reptile have also been found in North America and Europe. The only evolutionary descendants living today are crocodiles and alligators and, through a more complex evolution, birds. The find was in a bed of fossil bones which included part of a reptilian skull of the lystrosaurus reported in “The Press” yesterday. A more complete report of the National Science Foundation, Washington, yesterday said that all the fossil bones of several types of vertebrates, including amphibians and reptiles, appeared to be the remnants of creatures that lived in the Triassic period more than 200 million years ago. Another discovery was a remnant of an amphibian called labyrinthodont The

only previous find of fossil vertebrate remains in 4ntartica was a labyrinthodont jaw bone two years ago. Scientists have been excited by the discoveries, which were reported to the foundation from Antarctica as: “On November 23, the first day of work in the field, Dr D. H. Elliot, of the Institute of Polar Studies and Department of Geology, Ohio State University, discovered fossil bones in a sandstone bed at Coalsack Bluff, Central TransAntarctic Mountains, about 400 miles from the South Pole. “Since the initial discovery tiie exposure has been systematically explored by a group of vertebrate pelMontologists, including Dr E. H. Colbert, of the American Museum of Natural History, New York, and the Museum' of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff, Arizona, Mr J. Jensen, of Brigham Young University, Utah, Mr W. J. Breed, of the Museum of Northern Arizona, and Mr J. S. Powell, of the University of Arizona, Tucson.”

The presence of freshwater amphibians and land-living reptiles in Antarctica about 200 million years ago was strong .evidence of the probability Of continental drift because the creatures, which were closely related to backboned animals of the same age on other continents, could not have migrated * across

oceanic barriers, the scientists said. It has been recognised for many years that Antarctica once had a temperate climate. Fossil ferns and other plants were found as early as 1911 during Captain Scott’s expedition to the South Pole. Captain Scott’s party discovered beds of coal containing fossil leaves in the mountain wall bordering the Beardmore Glacier, which is not far from the site of the present American scientific

camp at Coalsack Bluff. The bluff was named by the. 1961-62 New Zealand geological and survey Antarctic expedition. The labyrinthodont fossil discovered two years ago lay in a sediment-filled stream bed among plant fossils. It was also in the general area

of the Beardmore Glacier, about 325 miles from the South Pole and within 100 miles of the new finds. Until its -discovery there had • been no evidence of the existence of a vertebrate animal that lived on land or in fresh water and was common to Antarctica and other contin-

ents. A . Insept fossils were discovered in Antarctica last year, at the Carapace Nunatak, about 100 miles from - McMurdo Station and about 300 miles from the present palaeontology work. Extinct dragonflies were found and they appeared to be similar to insect fossils in beds near Colorsdo SpffhijgsTpe scientists’ camp is in a mountainous, heavily-glaci-ated area about midway between McMurdo Station and the South Pdle in the area of the Queen Alexandra Range. The, men pitif to work in areas within about 100 miles

of the camp. The Jawbone of the lystrosaurus is shown in a plastic cup. The other bones uncovered In the same area have not yet been identified.