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Earliest-known 'reptile' footprints discovered by amateur fossil hunters in Victoria
In short:
Amateur palaeontologists have found the earliest-known footprints of a reptile-like creature called an amniote.
The tracks are about 356 million years old, pushing back the origin of reptiles and other land-based creatures by 40 million years.
Amateur palaeontologists have found the earliest-known footprints of a reptile-like creature called an amniote.
The tracks are about 356 million years old, pushing back the origin of reptiles and other land-based creatures by 40 million years.
Builder Craig Eury and winemaker John Eason were fossil hunting near the Victorian town of Mansfield when they spotted some footprints on a slab of rock.
"It was literally the footprints that caught my eye — the light hit the rock in a way that cast a shadow on the footprints," Mr Eury said.
According to a study published today in the journal Nature, the footprints they discovered back in 2021 were made by an early relative of reptiles, birds, and mammals — known as an amniote
John Long, a palaeontologist at Flinders University who led the study, said the fossil could help scientists understand when our animal ancestors first left the water to become land dwellers.
"It's the [evolutionary] line that leads to us," Professor Long said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2025-05-15/fossil-footprints-early-animal-ancestors-discovered-victoria/105275336