One of the most impactful stories in evolution is getting a rewrite, thanks to the exciting discovery of the earliest known set of reptile footprints. Craig A. Eury and John Eason, two amateur paleontologists exploring the fossil-rich Snowy Plains Formation in Australia,

The creature could lay eggs on land, unlike amphibians. It was part of a large group known as “amniotes,” which would evolve into dinosaurs, birds, and mammals.

Seventeen footprints preserved in a slab of sandstone discovered in southeastern Australia dating to about 355 million years ago are rewriting the history of the evolution of land vertebrates, showing that reptiles arose much earlier than previously known.