EVIDENCE OF THE DRIFTING CONTINENTS? Scientists Found a Fossilized South American Frog in Antarctica

The fossils represent “the first modern amphibian found in Antarctica,” according to a study published on Thursday in Scientific Reports. Measuring just a few millimeters across, the specimens are fragments of the ancient frog’s ornamented skull and a portion of its hip bone.

The results suggest that the animal belongs to the Calyptocephalellidae family—more popularly known as helmeted frogs—which includes five species that still live in forested pockets of the Chilean Andes in South America.

The bones were collected from Seymour Island, located near the tip of the Antarctic peninsula, during three joint Argentinian-Swedish expeditions from 2011 to 2013. Thomas Mörs, a paleontologist at the Swedish Museum of Natural History who led the study, called it an “unexpected, exciting discovery” in an email.