|
That is what life was like in the lush Peruvian Amazon basin
13 million years ago. It featured Earth's all-time croc bloc:
the most crocodilian species dwelling in the same place and time
in our planet's history, scientists said on Tuesday.
The scientists unearthed the croc remains in two small fossil
bone beds near the northeastern Peruvian city of Iquitos.
One of the strangest was Gnatusuchus pebasensis, a 5-foot
(1.6-meter) caiman with a shellfish fondness. Its shovel-like
snout let it bury its head in muddy wetland bottoms and root
around for prey. Its bulbous teeth were perfect for crushing
shells of mollusks like clams.
"This highly specialized anatomy and lifestyle was previously
unknown in any other crocodile," said paleontologist John Flynn
of New York's American Museum of Natural History.
The discoveries are helping scientists better understand both
the origins of modern Amazonian biodiversity and the ancient
assortment of life before the Amazon River formed 10.5 million
years ago. The region 13 million years ago boasted immense
wetlands abounding with lakes, swamps and rivers.
"Regarding the Amazon, we are just grasping the surface of an
extremely complex and fascinating history," said Rodolfo
Salas-Gismondi, vertebrate paleontology chief at Lima's Natural
History Museum also affiliated with France's University of
Montpellier.
The researchers said seven croc species could coexist because
they shared an elaborate environment with plenty of food and
were not all chasing the same prey.
"This mega-wetlands system fostered unusually rich communities
of aquatic prey species. Over time, crocodiles evolved a
dazzling array of skull shapes, feeding adaptations and body
sizes," Flynn said.
With powerful jaws and teeth, 26-foot Purussaurus neivensis was
the neighborhood bully. Later Purussaurus species reached 43
feet (13 meters).
Mourasuchus atopus, also 26 feet, was a weird filter-feeder akin
to a whale shark or baleen whale, using rows of small teeth to
sift huge quantities of small prey.
There were two other clam-crunching caimans and a species of the
existing caiman genus Paleosuchus. The only non-caiman was a
gavial resembling modern ones in India, with a long, thin snout
for fish-catching.
The findings appear in the scientific journal Proceedings of the
Royal Society B.
(Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
