• Around 250 million years ago, what is today scorching desert in remote northwestern Australia was the shore of a shallow bay bordering a vast prehistoric ocean. • Fossils recovered from this region over 60 years ago, and almost forgotten in museum collections, have now shed new light on the earliest global radiations of land-living animals adapting to life in the sea.
Article Summaries:
- Researchers have reexamined sea‑salamander fossils from northwestern Australia, first collected over six decades ago. The specimens, which grew in a shallow bay that existed 250 million years ago, were stored in museum collections and largely overlooked. New analyses of the material reveal details about the earliest global diversification of land‑dwelling vertebrates that transitioned to marine environments. The findings help clarify how early tetrapods adapted to life in the sea during the late Carboniferous and early Permian. The rediscovery underscores the value of re‑studying historic collections for understanding early vertebrate evolution.
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