MAY 22, 2016
by Susanna Pilny
Hundreds of millions of years
ago, marine reptiles like the ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs ruled the seas—but
researchers were never quite sure about their origins, or their rise to
dominance. Now, research published from paleobiologists from the University of
Bristol has shed some light on their mysterious past.
As told in their paper in Paleobiology, the scientists have uncovered evidence that
during the Mesozoic-- an era about 252 to 66 million years ago—these predators
suddenly burst onto the scene, instead of a slow evolution into their
environment.
"We show that when marine
reptiles first entered the oceans in the Triassic period, they rapidly became
very diverse and had many morphological adaptations related to feeding on
varied prey,” said the lead author of the study, Dr. Tom Stubbs, in a statement.
“Within a relatively short space
of time, marine reptiles began feeding on hard-shelled invertebrates,
fast-moving fish and other large marine reptiles. The range of feeding-related
morphological adaptations seen in Triassic marine reptiles was never exceeded
later in the Mesozoic."
Studying the fossil record
The team came to these
conclusions after carefully studying the fossil record of Mesozoic marine
reptiles and using statistic to quantify the variation in the shape and
function of jaws and teeth across these predators. Before now, studies had
mostly been based on estimates of biodiversity across time. But this new study
shook things up by tying the shape of jaws and teeth to their different modes
of life (like their different modes of feeding).
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