Tuesday, April 28, 2026

New insights into ancient Gondwana fossil from Antarctica

Flinders University

image:
Life reconstruction of Devonian tetrapodomorph fish Koharalepis jarviki. Original painting by Honours student and palaeoartist Thomas Turner.

view more
Credit: Flinders University

Flinders University researchers have taken a revealing look inside the head of one of the first animals to crawl from the water to live on land more than 380 million years ago.

Using high-tech neutron imaging, they scanned the skull and braincase of the only known specimen of Koharalepis jarviki, a large fossil fish found in freshwater rivers in the vast Lashly Mountains region of Antarctica which lived during the Devonian Period or 'Age of Fishes'.

“This precious fossil belongs to a group called the Canowindridae which highlights the ancient links between Australia and Antarctica,” says Flinders University Research Fellow Dr Alice Clement, coauthor of a new article in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.

“It is important to study such specimens from the Devonian Age of Fishes when the waters teemed with predatory lobe-finned fish like this that are closely related to land animals (tetrapods),” says Dr Clement, from the College of Science and Engineering.

Koharalepis is a member of the Canowindrid family, a group that lived in East Gondwana and have fossils found today across Australia and Antarctica. It is an ancestor of the first land animals or four-limbed vertebrate tetrapods.

Lead author of the new study, Corinne Mensforth, a PhD candidate from the Flinders Palaeontology Lab, says: “We chose to focus on Koharalepis as it is the only fossil in the entire family to preserve the internal bones of the skull, which gives us valuable insights into its braincase and neuroanatomy.”

“We found evidence that the brain of Koharalepis was similar to those of the fishes that straddle the vertebrate water-to-land transition.

“We also found adaptations to life near the surface of the water, including openings in the top of the skull for additional air intake and an organ within the brain that detects light and circadian rhythms.

“Koharalepis which grew to about 1 metre was an ambush predator that preyed on other smaller animals in their environment, and with relatively small eyes it must have relied heavily on its other senses to capture its prey.”

Another coauthor of the latest study, Flinders University Emeritus Professor John Long, was part of earlier research describing Koharalepis in 1992.

Professor Long says the new data generated by modern non-destructive imaging techniques describe the internal skeleton of the skull, shoulder girdle and part of the backbone.

“This has enabled us to understand some of the behaviour, adaptations and relationships of Koharalepis to its environment and to the other tetrapod-like fishes – and how fish first left the water to live on land approximately 385 million years ago,” he says.

The article, New data on the sarcopterygian Koharalepis jarviki (Tetrapodomorpha; Canowindridae) from the Late Devonian of Antarctica, revealed via synchrotron and neutron tomography (2026) by Corinne L Mensforth, John A Long, Joseph J Bevitt (Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering, ANSTO) and Alice M Clement has been in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2026.1765271.

Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the Australian Research Council (DP 200103398), with thanks to Dr Matthew McCurry (Australian Museum) for specimen loan and Anton Maksimenko for assistance with synchrotron scanning (Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation).

Photos, illustrations and captions:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MwSdOSS0DYhpQuseE-S6MRlHC6yphEOq

Journal

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

DOI

10.3389/fevo.2026.1765271

Method of Research

Imaging analysis

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

New data on the sarcopterygian Koharalepis jarviki (Tetrapodomorpha; Canowindridae) from the Late Devonian of Antarctica, revealed via synchrotron and neutron tomography

Article Publication Date

26-Apr-2026

3D model of the fossil skull of Koharalepis jarviki. The model is pictured from above, showing a roughly triangular-shaped skull with some vertebrae seen below.

Image from above of Koharalepis jarviki head showing outline of skull bones. Illustrates a life reconstruction of the fossil fish.

Credit

C Mensforth (Flinders University)

Professor John Long was part of the 1991 expedition to Antarctica when one of the first specimens was found. An earlier field trip in 1971 also found remains of the species.

Credit

J Long (Flinders University)

Dr Alice Clement and PhD Candidate Corinne Mensforth in the Flinders Palaeontology Laboratory examining a small fossil fish.

Credit

Flinders University

Giant ichthyosaur with injuries discovered in Northern Bavaria, Germany

Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns

Reconstruction of Temnodontosaurus cf. trigonodon — image:
Reconstruction of the described *Temnodontosaurus* cf. *trigonodon*.
view more
Credit: Paleoartist: Joschua Knüppe

The Mistelgau clay pit near Bayreuth, Germany, is known for its well-preserved marine fossils, particularly its abundance of ichthyosaurs. These large marine reptiles resembled modern dolphins in appearance and lived worldwide during the Early Jurassic period, around 180 million years ago. The ichthyosaur from Mistelgau now under investigation belongs to the genus Temnodontosaurus. Several parts of its skeleton have been preserved: fragments of the skull and lower jaw, the shoulder girdle, forefins, the spine, and over 100 teeth. The exceptional three-dimensional preservation allows researchers detailed insights into anatomical structures that have rarely been documented before, such as those in the palate, orbital region, and the fins. Comparisons reveal clear similarities, but also differences to Temnodontosaurus trigonodon—animals of this species are among the largest known ichthyosaurs. Based on its skull length of 1.5 meters, the animal is estimated to have been about 6.6 meters long.

“Our Temnodontosaurus fossil is one of the youngest finds of this ichthyosaur genus to date. Until now, representatives of this genus have mainly been known from older geological layers, such as the Posidonia Shale of Holzmaden. The discovery from Mistelgau now shows that these large marine reptiles survived longer in the Southwest German Basin than previously documented,” says SNSB paleontologist Dr. Ulrike Albert, author of the study. Albert conducts research at the Urwelt-Museum Oberfranken in Bayreuth, one of ten museums belonging to the Bavarian State Collections of Natural History. The team at the Urwelt-Museum Oberfranken has been conducting regular excavations in Mistelgau since 1998. The fossils recovered there are prepared at the Urwelt-Museum and subsequently subjected to scientific analysis.

Particularly striking are several modifications to the skeleton, presumably caused by injuries, including those affecting the reptile’s shoulder and jaw joints. “The injuries likely significantly limited the animal’s ability to catch prey,” explains Stefan Eggmaier, preparator at the Urwelt-Museum and also an author of the study. “The fact that it nevertheless survived is evidenced, among other things, by its heavily worn teeth and gastroliths, which we were able to identify in the abdominal region.” Gastroliths are extremely rare in ichthyosaurs such as Temnodontosaurus. Eggmaier speculates that the animal may have had to change its diet in order to survive its injuries.

The current findings are part of ongoing research into the ecology of the Jurassic Sea in Upper Franconia. Analyses of teeth and bone structures are planned, with the aim of better understanding the ecology of these animals and their habitat.

Fossil Temnodontosaurus cf. trigonodon (UMO BT 011237.00), viewed from below, showing the skull and body plate, including all isolated bones and teeth recovered from the surrounding sediment.

Credit

Urwelt-Museum Oberfranken