Oldest fossil footprints from reptile found in Australia

The Associated Press

· Posted: May 15, 2025 10:12 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

Scientists successful Australia person identified the oldest known fossil footprints of a reptile-like animal, dated to astir 350 cardinal years ago.

The find suggests that aft the archetypal animals emerged from the water astir 400 cardinal years ago, they evolved the quality to unrecorded exclusively connected onshore overmuch faster than antecedently assumed.

"We had thought the modulation from fin to limb took overmuch longer," said California State University paleontologist Stuart Sumida, who was not progressive successful the caller research.

Previously the earliest known reptile footprints, recovered successful Canada, were dated to 318 cardinal years ago.

The past footprints from Australia were recovered connected a slab of sandstone recovered adjacent Melbourne and amusement reptile-like feet with agelong toes and hooked claws.

Scientists estimation the carnal was astir 80 centimetres long and whitethorn person resembled a modern show lizard. The findings were published Wednesday successful Nature.

WATCH | See what this past reptile whitethorn person looked like:

Earliest carnal with claws

The hooked claws are a important recognition clue, said survey co-author and paleontologist Per Ahlberg astatine Uppsala University successful Sweden.

"It's a walking animal," helium said.

Only animals that evolved to unrecorded solely connected onshore ever developed claws. The earliest vertebrates — food and amphibians — ne'er developed hard nails and remained babelike connected watery environments to laic eggs and reproduce.

But the subdivision of the evolutionary histrion that led to modern reptiles, birds and mammals — known arsenic amniotes — developed feet with nails oregon claws acceptable for walking connected hard ground.

"This is the earliest grounds we've ever seen of an carnal with claws," said Sumida.

At the clip the past reptile lived, the portion was blistery and steamy and immense forests began to screen the planet. Australia was portion of the supercontinent Gondwana.

The fossil footprints grounds a bid of events successful 1 day, Ahlberg said. One reptile scampered crossed the crushed earlier a airy rainfall fell. Some raindrop dimples partially obscured its trackways. Then 2 much reptiles ran by successful the other absorption earlier the crushed hardened and was covered successful sediment.

Fossil "trackways are beauteous due to the fact that they archer you however thing lived, not conscionable what thing looked like," said co-author John Long, a paleontologist astatine Flinders University successful Australia.