Forskningsområden: Paleontologi, Zoologi
Forskningsämnen: Antarktis, Evolution, Fossil, Utdöenden
Project overview
Project period: 2010 – 2023
Participating departments from the museum: Palaeobiology, Zoology
The Antarctic Peninsula is the only part of the continent where exposed layers from the Cretaceous-Eocene period exist. These layers provide insight into the evolution of plants, animals, and ecosystems from that time. Here, there is an opportunity to understand the central biogeographical role that Antarctica played when the animal world underwent dramatic changes at the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary mass extinction event.
The primary goal of the research project is to find fossils of vertebrates. We achieve this by exploring deposits from various geological time periods: late Cretaceous, Paleocene, and Eocene.
Project description
At the Cretaceous/ Paleogene boundary mass extinction event, the Antarctic Peninsula became an important dispersal corridor between South America and Australia. It is here that we can hope to find more information about biodiversity and the ecology of past worlds - before, during, and after the dramatic cooling period of the late Eocene.
Focus on vertebrates
The aim of this project is to explore Mesozoic and Paleogene deposits in search of fossils, with a focus on vertebrates.
During the SWEDARP expeditions of 2010/11, 2011/12, 2012/13, and 2014/15, as well as the GANOVEX XI and XIII expeditions of 2015/2016 and 2018/2019, we collected thousands of fossils of vertebrates, as well as fossils of plants and invertebrate animals.
Scientific results
One outcome of the project is that the Swedish Museum of Natural History now has one of the world's largest collections of Antarctic fossils. Several scientific results have been reported based on this material:
- First fossil frog from Antarctica provides new information on Eocene high latitude climate conditions and frog evolution (Mörs et al. 2020)
- New Antarctic whale fossils give new insights in early whale evolution (Buono et al. 2016; Loch et al. 2020; Davydenko et al. 2021)
- The oldest Antarctic terrestrial mammal provides new information on the dispersal history of South American mammals to Antarctica (Gelfo et al. 2015)
- New paleoecological data based on Eocene Antarctic fish diversity patterns, including many new teleost and shark species (Engelbrecht et al. 2016, 2017; Kriwet et al. 2016; Schwarzhans et al. 2017; Kim et al. 2020)
- New data on penguin palaeobiodiversity and anatomy (Jadwiszczak & Mörs 2011, 2016, 2019; Jadwiszczak et al. 2021, 2022)
- Exceptional soft tissue preservation of Antarctic worm cocoons, including the oldest animal sperm (Bomfleur et al. 2015; McLoughlin et al. 2017)
Financial support
- Swedish Research Counci - Vetenskapsrådet (https://www.vr.se/)
- Riksmusei vänner (https://www.nrm.se/ommuseet/samverkansparter/riksmuseivanner.323.html)
- Ymer-80 (https://www.polar.se/nyheter/2022/ansoek-om-stipendium-fraan-stiftelsen-ymer-80/)
- Carl Tryggers Stiftelse (https://www.carltryggersstiftelse.se/)
- Polarforskningssekretariatet (https://www.polar.se/)
Selected publications
Mörs, T., Reguero, M. & Vasilyan, D. (2020). First fossil frog from Antarctica: implications for Eocene high latitude climate conditions and Gondwanan cosmopolitanism of Australobatrachia. Scientific Reports, 10, 5051. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-61973-5 External link.
Mörs, T., Niedzwiedzki, G., Crispini, L., Läufer, A. & Bomfleur, B. 2019. First evidence of a tetrapod footprint from the Triassic of northern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Polar Research, 38, 3438. https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v38.3438 External link.
Engelbrecht, A., Mörs, T., Reguero, M. & Kriwet, J. (2017). A new sawshark, Pristiophorus laevis, from the Eocene of Antarctica with comments on Pristiophorus lanceolatus. Historical Biology, 29 (6), ss 841-853. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2016.1252761 External link.
Schwarzhans, W., Mörs, T., Engelbrecht, A., Reguero, M. & Kriwet, J. (2017). Before the freeze: Otoliths from the Eocene of Seymour Island, Antarctica, reveal dominance of gadiform fishes (Teleostei). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 15 (2), ss 147-170. https://doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2016.1151958 External link.
Buono, M.R., Fernandez, M.S., Reguero, M.A., Marenssi, S.A., Santillana, S.N. & Mörs, T. (2016). Eocene basilosaurid whales from the La Meseta Formation, Marambio (Seymour) Island, Antarctica. Ameghiniana, 53 (3), ss 296-315. https://doi.org/10.5710/AMGH.02.02.2016.2922 External link.
Kriwet, J., Engelbrecht, A., Mörs, T., Reguero, M. & Pfaff, C. (2016). Ultimate Eocene (Priabonian) chondrichthyans (Holocephali, Elasmobranchii) of Antarctica. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 36 (4), e1160911. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2016.1160911 External link.
Bomfleur, B., Mörs, T., Ferraguti, M., Reguero, M.A. & McLoughlin, S. (2015). Fossilized spermatozoa preserved in a 50-Myr-old annelid cocoon from Antarctica. Biology Letters, 11: 20150431. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2015.0431 External link.
Gelfo, J.N., Mörs, T., Lorente, M., Lopez, G.M. & Reguero, M. (2015). The oldest mammals from Antarctica, early Eocene of La Meseta Formation, Seymour Island. Palaeontology, 58 (1), ss 101-110. https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12121 External link.
External participants
- Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, Hannover, Tyskland, https://www.bgr.bund.de/DE/Home/homepage_node.html
External link.
- Department of Earth, Atmosphere, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA, https://www.eaps.purdue.edu
External link.
- Department of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA, https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/artsandsciences/earth_ocean_and_environment/
External link.
- Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of California, Merced, California, USA, https://les.ucmerced.edu/
External link.
- Department of Paleontology, University Vienna, Österrike, https://palaeontologie.univie.ac.at/en/
External link.
- Division Paleontologia de Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata, Argentina, https://www.museo.fcnym.unlp.edu.ar/div_paleovertebrados
External link.
- Institute of Biology, University of Bialystok, https://uwb.edu.pl/en/university/faculties/faculty-of-biology
External link.
- Palaeobotany Research Group, Institut für Geologie und Paläontologie, University of Münster, Tyskland, https://www.uni-muenster.de/GeoPalaeontologie/en/palaeobotanik/forschung/index.html
External link.
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