Scientists have just found insect parts stuck between the teeth of two Paleozoic reptiles. This strongly suggests that the pre-Dinosaur Era equivalent of today's lizards feasted on insects, and it's the first known evidence for this behavior among vertebrates.
The prehistoric reptiles represent a new, as of yet unnamed, species that lived 280 million years ago.
(Image "a" shows one of the studied fossilized skulls. The remains of this and the other reptile are now at The Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. Image "b" provides a closeup of the insect parts that were stuck in the reptiles' teeth. The parts shown here are said to be an insect antenna and cuticle. Credit: The Royal Society, Sean Modesto, Diane Scott, Robert Reisz.)
"We envision the new acleistorhinid reptile as feeding primarily on
small invertebrates, but also, as perhaps occasional opportunities
arose, preying upon tetrapods that were small enough to swallow whole," wrote lead author Sean Modesto and his colleagues in a recent Royal Society Biology Letters.
I wonder what their four-legged prey might have been at this early date? Maybe future work will provide more details.
Modesto, a Cape Breton University biologist, and his team discovered the insect parts after analyzing the remains for the reptiles, which were found in a hilly, and now mostly deserted, part of Oklahoma.
The researchers concluded, "The compelling evidence of insectivory in this fossil reptile provides strong support for the hypothesis that the origins and earliest stages of higher vertebrate evolution are associated with relatively small terrestrial insectivores. We can conclude, therefore, that the subsequent diversification of Palaeozoic amniotes and the rise of small and large omnivorous, herbivorous and predatory forms arose from these modest beginnings."
You can read the entire journal paper online.
Tags: Extinct Animals, Paleontology, Prehistoric Animals, Prehistoric Era
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