Overview
- A peer‑reviewed revision in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology finds the Kimberley material represents at least two trematosaurids rather than a single species.
- An original skull fragment mislabelled in a Berkeley collection was located in 2024, enabling direct reexamination and now being repatriated to Australia.
- Archival detective work paired with high‑resolution 3D imaging distinguished Erythrobatrachus from Aphaneramma in the Noonkanbah assemblage.
- Erythrobatrachus shows a broad, robust skull consistent with a top predator, whereas Aphaneramma bears a long, narrow snout adapted for catching small fish.
- Identifying Aphaneramma in Western Australia adds Southern Hemisphere evidence for rapid Early Triassic diversification and intercontinental shoreline dispersal, with comparable fossils known from Svalbard, the Russian Far East, Pakistan and Madagascar.