SEATTLE, June 11 (UPI) -- U.S. paleontologists say they have found fossilized burrows of tetrapods in Antarctica dating from the Early Triassic epoch, about 245 million years ago.
University of Washington Assistant Professor Christian Sidor, senior author of the study, said the fossils were found in the southern Victoria Land area of Antarctica.
He said the discovery marks the first time paleontologists have found fossilized burrows of tetrapods -- any land vertebrates with four legs or leglike appendages -- in Antarctica. Although no animal remains were found in the burrows, the scientists said the hardened sediment in each burrow preserved a track made as the animals entered and exited.
"We've got good evidence that these burrows were made by land-dwelling animals rather than crayfish," said Sidor, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture at the University of Washington.
The discovery that included Vanderbilt University geology Professor Molly Miller and geosciences Professor John Isbell of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is reported in The Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. The work was funded by the National Science Foundation.
