Scientists were stunned when they discovered the South American frog fossils in Antarctica

When it comes to the Antarctic animal ecosystem, we often think of fat animals that can cope with the harsh cold such as penguins, seals or whales. However, before being covered with ice like today, Antarctica once owned many temperate rain forests - the habitat of many animals accustomed to hot and humid climate. Recently, scientists have discovered fossils of a strange species of frog, lived in the southernmost region of the Earth more than 40 million years ago.

According to a study published in Scientific Reports on Thursday, the new fossils represent 'the first modern amphibian living in Antarctica'. The study also revealed that the specimens were fragments of frog skulls, and part of their hip bones. This frog belongs to the Calyptocephalellidae family, including 5 different species and is currently living in South America.

Reportedly, the new fossils were discovered on the Seymour Island, near the Antarctic Peninsula during three expeditions of the Argentine and Swedish research team in 2011 - 2013. Thomas Mors, a paleontologist at Bao Museum of Natural History in Sweden, who also led the research team, said it was a surprising and interesting finding: ' Our original purpose was to find mammal fossils. to synthesize the natural ecosystems in Antarctica before the area was frozen. During the 3 expeditions, I have done many surveys on Seymour Island. However, we also did not overlook the two adjacent areas, where scientists once discovered fossils of mammals, including the teeth of marsupials '.

Until they returned to the lab and began studying the fossils collected, Mors and his colleagues discovered the bones of this unique frog. They then gilded them so they could be viewed clearly under an electron microscope. Previous reports have never recorded the existence or extinction of amphibians in the Antarctic region over the past 200 million years.

In other words, this new discovery adds an extremely important information about the ecological displacement process that Antarctica experienced when separated from the Gondwana supercontinent (including today's continents of the hemisphere. south like Antarctica, South America, Africa, Madagascar, India, Arabia Peninsula, Australia-New Guinea and New Zealand). This supercontinent appeared on Earth in the early Jurassic period about 200 million years ago. These frog fossils date from the Eocene period, around the time Antarctica is gradually becoming isolated from South America and Australia in the Southern Ocean. When separated from Gondwana, the temperature in Antarctica gradually decreases and becomes colder, leading to the extinction of many animals already used to warm climates, including frogs.

However, the results of this new study show that Antarctica was once a biodiversity center with many different species of amphibians. Temperate forests and freshwater river systems still flourished on the continent about 40 million years ago. The ecosystem here even has similarities with the forest environment, where many frogs of the Calyptocephalellidae family are still living today.

Mors and colleagues are still hoping to return to Antarctica soon to continue searching for other fossils on the continent: ' At Seymour Island, the sediment data clearly shows the self-transformation. during Antarctica's separation from Gondwana. If more information is collected, we will be able to have a better view of the temperature change process here. How it started to be covered by ice and how it affects its ecosystem '.