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Comprehending food cycle in ancient environments is among the objectives of paleoecology. Direct proof for these interactions is uncommon and consists of fossils with stomach contents and bite/tooth marks. Paleontologists from the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, the University of Reading and the University of New England have actually recorded an uncommon event of a bite mark to the neck vertebra of a juvenile fossil specimen of a huge azhdarchid pterosaur from the Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada, around 76 million years back. Based upon the shapes and size of the tooth mark, and contrast with contemporary animals, the authors recommend that a crocodylian bit the pterosaur, however they were not able to figure out whether this was active predation or scavenging. Feeding traces on huge pterosaurs are uncommon, so this supplies unique information on how they suit this ancient community.
The fossilized neck bone of a juvenile of Cryodrakon boreas programs telltale indications (best part of the specimen in 2 and 8)of being bitten by a crocodile-like animal 76 million years back. Image credit: Brown et aldoi: 10.1017/ jpa.2024.12.
The 76-million-year-old neck vertebra was uncovered July 2023 in the Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta, Canada.
The maintained(i.e., insufficient )length of the specimen is 5.8 cm; the approximated overall length of the vertebra is 9.4 cm.
The specimen bears a circular 4-mm-wide leak mark from a crocodilian tooth.
“Pterosaur bones are extremely fragile– so discovering fossils where another animal has actually plainly taken a bite is remarkably unusual,” stated Dr. Caleb Brown, a paleontologist at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology.
“This specimen being a juvenile makes it much more uncommon.”
The punctured vertebra comes from a juvenile (approximated wingspan of 2 m) of Cryodrakon boreasa types of huge azhdarchid pterosaur that lived throughout the Late Cretaceous date in what is now Canada.
Grownups of this types would have been as high as a giraffe with a wingspan in the area of 10 m.
“With an approximated wingspan equivalent to a few of the biggest azhdarchids, Cryodrakon and other large-bodied azhdarchids were most likely considerable terrestrial foragers,” the paleontologists stated
“Bite marks, ingrained teeth, and stomach contents suggest that azhdarchid pterosaurs were fed on by velociraptorine theropods and crocodylomorphs.”
Cryodrakon boreasImage credit: David Maas.
In the research study, they utilized micro-CT scans and contrasts with other pterosaur bones to verify the leak is not an outcome of damage throughout fossilization or excavation, however a real crocodilian bite.
“Bite traces assist to record types interactions from this duration,” stated Dr. Brian Pickles, a paleontologist at the University of Reading.
“We can’t state if the pterosaur lived or dead when it was bitten however the specimen reveals that crocodilians periodically victimized, or scavenged, juvenile pterosaurs in ancient Alberta over 70 million years earlier.”
The research study was released online today in the Journal of Paleontology
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Caleb M. Brown et alA juvenile pterosaur vertebra with putative crocodilian bite from the Campanian of Alberta, Canada. Journal of Paleontologyreleased online January 23, 2025; doi: 10.1017/ jpa.2024.12
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