The world’s smallest footprints have been discovered at the Joggins Fossil Cliffs in Nova Scotia. The footprints are thought to belong to a miniature amphibian estimated to measure only eight millimetres long.
Thought to be similar to a salamander, the official name of this miniature amphibian is Batrachichnus salamandroides. The footprints were discovered during a walk by local amateur paleontologist Gloria Melanson, and studied in further detail by paleontologists at Saint Mary’s University in Nova Scotia and the New Mexico Museum of Natural History.
The creature’s tiny front feet were found to be roughly 1.6 millimetres long, while its back feet almost double the size at 2.4 millimetres long. The trackway, which itself was only 48 mm long, includes roughly 30 miniscule footprints that show the creature went from initially walking to running within the short distance.
The abrupt change is thought to have occurred when the animal, which was likely taking its first steps on land after transforming from a tadpole, suddenly started chasing some smaller prey, or possibly fleeing from a larger predator.
The Joggins Fossil Cliffs, Canada’s 15th UNESCO world heritage site, are one of the most complete fossil records from the coal age, roughly 315 million years ago. It is known for fossil records of a variety of small amphibians (such as temnospondyls and microsaurs), as well as the oldest known reptile, Hylonomus lyelli.
Source: Ichnos
