Antarctic flora are a distinct community of vascular plants which evolved millions of years ago on the supercontinent of Gondwana. Presently, species of Antarctica flora reside on several now separated areas of the Southern Hemisphere, including southern South America, southernmost Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and New Caledonia. Joseph Dalton Hooker was the first to notice similarities in the flora and speculated that Antarctica had served as either a source or a transitional point, and that land masses now separated might formerly have been adjacent.
The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martín in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctica.
Alexander Island, which is also known as Alexander I Island, Alexander I Land, Alexander Land, Alexander I Archipelago, and Zemlja Alexandra I, is the largest island of Antarctica. It lies in the Bellingshausen Sea west of Palmer Land, Antarctic Peninsula from which it is separated by Marguerite Bay and George VI Sound. The George VI Ice Shelf entirely fills George VI Sound and connects Alexander Island to Palmer Land. The island partly surrounds Wilkins Sound, which lies to its west. Alexander Island is about 390 kilometres (240 mi) long in a north–south direction, 80 kilometres (50 mi) wide in the north, and 240 kilometres (150 mi) wide in the south. Alexander Island is the second-largest uninhabited island in the world, after Devon Island.
The South Polar region of the Cretaceous comprised the continent of East Gondwana–modern day Australia, Zealandia, and Antarctica–a product of the break-up of Gondwana in the Cretaceous Period. The southern region, during this time, was much warmer than it is today, ranging from perhaps 4–8 °C (39–46 °F) in the latest Cretaceous Maastrichtian in what is now southeastern Australia. This prevented permanent ice sheets from developing and fostered polar forests, which were largely dominated by conifers, cycads, and ferns, and relied on a temperate climate and heavy rainfall. Major fossil-bearing geological formations that record this area are: the Santa Marta and Sobral Formations of Seymour Island off the Antarctic Peninsula; the Snow Hill Island, Lopez de Bertodano, and the Hidden Lake Formations on James Ross Island also off the Antarctic Peninsula; and the Eumeralla and Wonthaggi Formations in Australia.
Vegavis is a genus of extinct bird that lived in Antarctica during the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous, around 66.5 million years ago. The type species is Vegavis iaai. Vegavis was considered to be a member of Anseriformes within Galloanserae, but this claim has not been supported by recent studies.
The geology of Antarctica covers the geological development of the continent through the Archean, Proterozoic and Phanerozoic eons.
Seymour Island or Marambio Island, is an island in the chain of 16 major islands around the tip of the Graham Land on the Antarctic Peninsula. Graham Land is the closest part of Antarctica to South America. It lies within the section of the island chain that resides off the west side of the peninsula's northernmost tip. Within that section, it is separated from Snow Hill Island by Picnic Passage, and sits just east of the larger key, James Ross Island, and its smaller, neighboring island, Vega Island.
The natural history of New Zealand began when the landmass Zealandia broke away from the supercontinent Gondwana in the Cretaceous period. Before this time, Zealandia shared its past with Australia and Antarctica. Since this separation, the New Zealand landscape has evolved in physical isolation, although much of its current biota has more recent connections with species on other landmasses. The exclusively natural history of the country ended in about 1300 AD, when humans first settled, and the country's environmental history began. The period from 1300 AD to today coincides with the extinction of many of New Zealand's unique species that had evolved there.
The Paleocene, or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek παλαιός palaiós meaning "old" and the Eocene Epoch, translating to "the old part of the Eocene".
The Lopez de Bertodano Formation is a geological formation in the James Ross archipelago of the Antarctic Peninsula. The strata date from the end of the Late Cretaceous to the Danian stage of the lower Paleocene, from about 70 to 65.5 million years ago, straddling the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary.
The Santa Marta Formation is a geologic formation in Antarctica. It, along with the Hanson Formation and the Snow Hill Island Formation, are the only formations yet known on the continent where dinosaur fossils have been found. The formation outcrops on James Ross Island off the coast of the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. In its entirety, the Santa Marta Formation is on average one kilometer thick.
The Hidden Lake Formation is a Late Cretaceous geologic formation in Antarctica. The sandstones and siltstones of the formation were deposited in a deltaic environment.
The Snow Hill Island Formation is an Early Maastrichtian geologic formation found on James Ross Island, James Ross Island group, Antarctica. Remains of a paravian theropod Imperobator antarcticus have been recovered from it, as well as the elasmarian ornithopods Trinisaura santamartaensis, Biscoveosaurus and Morrosaurus antarcticus, the ankylosaurian Antarctopelta oliveroi, and the shark Notidanodon sp. Alongside these described genera are also the remains of indeterminate elasmosaurids, lithostrotian titanosaurs and an indeterminate pterosaur.
Trinisaura is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur that lived during the late Campanian stage of the Upper Cretaceous, around 73 to 72 million years ago in what is now James Ross Island off the coast of northern Antarctica near Patagonia. It is known from a single, incomplete postcranial skeleton that includes several vertebrae, a partial pelvis, and nearly complete right hindlimb. The fossils were collected in 2008 by paleontologists Juan Moly and Rodolfo Coria from the sandstone of the Snow Hill Island Formation. It remained undescribed in the collections of the Museo de La Plata until its description by Coria and colleagues in 2013, being the basis of the novel genus and species Trinisaura santamartaensis. The genus name is to commemorate the efforts of Argentine geologist Trinidad "Trini" Diaz and the Latin root -sauros, meaning "lizard". The species name is after Santa Marta Cove, where the fossils were collected.
The La Meseta Formation is a sedimentary sequence deposited during the Eocene on Seymour Island off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is noted for its fossils, which include both marine organisms and the only terrestrial vertebrate fossils from the Cenozoic of Antarctica.
Kaikaifilu is an extinct genus of large mosasaurs that lived during the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) in what is now northern Antarctica. The only species known, K. hervei, was described in 2017 from an incomplete specimen discovered in the López de Bertodano Formation, in Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula. The taxon is named in reference to Coi Coi-Vilu, a reptilian ocean deity of the Mapuche cosmology. Early observations of the holotype classify it as a member of the subfamily Tylosaurinae. However, later observations note that several characteristics show that this attribution is problematic.
Vegaviidae is an extinct family of ornithurine dinosaurs of uncertain phylogenetic placement, which existed during the Late Cretaceous and possibly the Paleocene. Definitive fossils attributed to the family have only been found in Antarctica, though other fossils from the Southern Hemisphere including Chile and New Zealand may represent this group. The putative Campanian vegaviid from Canada known as Maaqwi, more likely belongs to the Procellariformes.
The Mawson Formation is a geological formation in Antarctica, dating to roughly between 182 and 177 million years ago and covering the Toarcian stages of the Jurassic Period in the Mesozoic Era. Vertebrate remains are known from the formation. The Mawson Formation is the South Victoria Land equivalent of the Karoo Large Igneous Province in South Africa, as well the Lonco Trapial Formation and the Cañadón Asfalto Formation of Argentina. The Volcanic material was likely sourced from the Antarctic Peninsula´s Ellsworth Land Volcanic Group.
Acteon inflatus is an extinct species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Acteonidae.
