Exceptionally Preserved 240-Million-Year-Old Amphibian Found in Australian Garden Wall

Thu, 07 May 2026 00:54:00 +0200

A fossil hidden in a garden retaining wall for decades has been identified as Arenaerpeton supinatus, a 240-million-year-old amphibian. Unearthed in the 1990s by a retired chicken farmer who used rocks from a local quarry, the fossil was donated to the Australian Museum in Sydney. Paleontologists from UNSW Sydney and the Australian Museum describe the specimen as exceptionally well-preserved, including nearly the entire skeleton and traces of skin, making it a rare example of Triassic-era temnospondyls. Arenaerpeton likely inhabited freshwater rivers in what is now the Sydney Basin, preying on ancient fish such as Cleithrolepis. Measuring about 1.2 meters in length, it resembled a giant salamander but was more robust and equipped with fang-like tusks on the roof of its mouth. Its unusual size may have contributed to its long lineage, which survived for over 120 million years and through multiple mass extinction events. Researchers emphasize the importance of this discovery for understa