Odd Couple: 250 Million Years Ago A Mammal Forerunner And An Amphibian Lived (And Died) Together
Sunday, June 23, 2013 - 17:50
in Paleontology & Archaeology
The world's first known odd couple: 250 million years ago, a mammal forerunner and an amphibian shared a burrow in South Africa. Scientists scanning a 250 million-year-old fossilized burrow from the Karoo Basin of South Africa have discovered that two unrelated vertebrate animals nestled together and were fossilized after being trapped by a flash flood event. Facing harsh climatic conditions subsequent to the Permo-Triassic (P-T) mass extinction, the amphibian Broomistega and the mammal forerunner Thrinaxodon cohabited in a burrow. read more