[Geology2] Tracks may tell tale of reptilian land conquest

Tracks may tell tale of reptilian land conquest:

Scaly pioneers were the first to inhabit continental interiors, some
scientists say.

http://www.world-science.net/othernews/100730_reptiles

Newfound footprints in Canada show that reptiles were the first
backboned animals to conquer dry continental interiors, researchers say.
These scaly pioneers some 318 million years ago, they add, paved the way
for the dinosaurs and for today's diverse land ecosystems.

Scientists published the findings this week in the research journal
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. "The footprints date
from the Carboniferous Period when a single super-continent, Pangaea,
dominated the world," said Mike Benton of the University of Bristol,
U.K., one of the investigators. "At first life was restricted to coastal
swamps where lush rainforest existed, full of giant ferns and
dragonflies. However, when reptiles came on the scene they pushed back
the frontiers, conquering the dry continental interiors." Reptiles
evolved into dinosaurs later, by the Mesozoic Era starting about 250
million years ago. Research group member Howard Falcon-Lang of the
University of London was credited with finding the prints in seacliffs
on the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick, Canada. It has long been suspected
that reptiles were the first to make the continental interiors their
home. This is because reptiles don't need to return to water to breed,
unlike their amphibian cousins. The new discovery proves this theory,
Falcon-Lang and colleagues said; the rocks bearing the tracks show that
these reptiles lived on dry river plains hundreds of miles from the sea.
The same research team reported the oldest known reptile footprints from
a different site in New Brunswick in 2007. The new discovery is of
similar age, and may be even older, the group claimed.

"The Bay of Fundy is such an amazing place to hunt for fossils. The
sea-cliffs are rapidly eroding and each rock-fall reveals exciting new
fossils. You just never know what will turn up next," Falcon-Lang said.

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