Base camp during field work on Antarctica 2016. Photo: Benjamin Bomfleur
The Antarctic continent exposes Permian to Miocene strata, allowing a keyhole view into the evolution of Antarctic biota and ecosystems. It is an important place to understand the crucial biogeographic faunal turnover at the K/T (K/Pg) mass extinction.
The Antarctic Peninsula is also important as the dispersal corridor between South America and Australia. It is also the place to find more information about Antarctic biodiversity and paleoecology before, during, and after the dramatic Late Eocene cooling.
The goal of this project is to explore Triassic, Jurassic and Late Cretaceous to Eocene deposits for fossils, with a focus on vertebrates.
During the SWEDARP 2010/11, 2011/12, 2012/13 and 2014/15 expeditions and the GANOVEX IX 2015/16 and 2018/2919 expedition we collected thousands of vertebrate fossils as well as invertebrates and plants. As a result, the Swedish Museum of Natural History today houses one of the largest collections of Antarctic fossils. There have been several new scientific results based on this material:
Division Paleontologia de Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata, Argentina
Department of Paleontology, University Vienna, Austria
Palaeobotany Research Group, Institut für Geologie und Paläontologie, University of Münster, Germany
Institute of Biology, University of Bialystok
Polish Geological Institute-National Research Institute, Poland
Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, Hannover, Germany
Subdepartment of Evolution and Development, Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University, Sweden
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Ambiente e Vita, University of Genova, Italy
Sir John Walsh Research Institute, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Otago, New Zealand
Instituto Patagónico de Geología y Paleontología, Puerto Madryn, Argentina
JURASSICA Museum, Porrentruy, Switzerland
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. https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v38.3438
Loch, C., Buono, M., Kalthoff, D.C., Mörs, T. & Fernandez, M., 2019. Enamel microstructure in Eocene cetaceans from Antarctica (Archaeoceti and Mysticeti). Journal of Mammalian Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-018-09456-3
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): 101-110. DOI: 10.1111/pala.12121
Engelbrecht, A., Mörs, T., Reguero, M. & Kriwet, J. 2016. Revision of Eocene Antarctic carpet sharks (Elasmobranchii, Orectolobiformes) from Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2016.1266048
Engelbrecht, A., Mörs, T., Reguero, M. & Kriwet, J., 2017. New carcharhiniform sharks (Chondrichthyes, Elasmobranchii) from the early to middle Eocene of Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, e1371724.
Jadwiszczak, P. & Mörs, T., 2019. First partial skeleton of Delphinornis larseni Wiman, 1905, a slender-footed penguin from the Eocene of Antarctic Peninsula. Palaeontologia Electronica, 22 (2): 22.2.34A 1-31. https://doi.org/10.26879/933