Friday 07 July 2023 02:11 AM
Friday, July 7, 2023 02:11 AM
Researchers at the University of Bristol have revealed new insights into the existence of a prehistoric rhinosaurus kind of reptile It inhabited the earth about 225 to 250 million years ago, before the era of the dinosaurs.
Rhynchosaurs, a still somewhat obscure group of reptiles, were about the size of sheep and thrived during the Triassic period, an era characterized by its warm climate and harsh vegetation.
In the new study, the researchers studied specimens from Devon and used CT scans to see how the teeth wore down as they fed, and how new teeth were added at the back of the dental rows as the animals grew in size, according to scitechdaily.
The findings, recently published in the Journal of Paleobiology, show that these early herbivores likely eventually starved to death in old age, and that vegetation took its toll on their teeth.
Team leader Professor Mike Benton from Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences said: “I first studied rhinosaurids years ago and was astonished to find that in many cases they dominated their ecosystems, and if you find one fossil you will find hundreds, and yet they had dental systems.” A specialist apparently adapted to handle lumps of tough plant foods.”
We don’t think rhynchosaurs lived that long, but their plant food was such a severe test that their jaws simply wore out and they supposedly eventually starved to death.”
Rhynchosaurs were an important part of the ecosystems on Earth during the Triassic period, when life was recovering from the world’s largest mass extinction, at the end of the preceding Permian period, and these animals were part of that recovery and paved the way for new species of ecology when the first dinosaurs and later mammals became the dominant, as the modern world was slowly being built.
By comparing examples of earlier rhynchosaurs, such as those from Devon, with later ones from Scotland and Argentina, the team was also able to show how their teeth evolved through time, and how their unique teeth enabled them to diversify twice, in the middle and then the late Triassic, but In the end, it seems that climate change, and especially changes in the available vegetation, enabled the dinosaurs to take over as the rhynchosaurs became extinct.
Source: Technology News: A new study reveals a type of reptile that inhabited the Earth 250 million years ago
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