On the 23rd, Chinese and British paleontologists announced that they had found very rare frog stomach fossils in the Cretaceous strata of the eastern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The research was led by Xing Lida, Associate Professor of China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Niu Kecheng, Executive Director of The Natural Museum of Stone Sciences of Yingliang World, and Professor Susan M. Lee of University College London, UK. E. Evans co-researched. His research papers have been published in Scientific Reports, an internationally renowned academic journal owned by Nature Group.
↑ Poke the video and watch experts interpret the tragic predation process of this prehistoric frog
The fossil discovery allows us to learn for the first time about the amazing predatory relationship between prehistoric amphibians, which is of great scientific significance. Fossils show that the salamander swallowed by this frog retained a complete skeleton, which can be said to be buried in the instant after the frog swallowed the salamander, becoming a tragic prehistoric predator, and was buried deep in the ground just after eating enough.
The study was conducted by Associate Professor Xing Lida of China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Mr. Niu Kecheng, Executive Director of the Yingliang World Stone Natural History Museum, and Susan M. Lee of University College London, UK. Professor Susan E. Evans co-researched. His research papers have been published in Scientific Reports, an internationally renowned academic journal owned by Nature Group.
Scenes of predation between Cretaceous amphibians are revealed for the first time
The fossils published this time are from the Molidawada Huer Autonomous Banner in the Hulunbuir area of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the fossil origin of the area is an important fossil site newly discovered in recent years, in the 120 million years ago in the Early Cretaceous Longjiang Basin Guanghua Formation formation, here contains rich Fossils of Thermo River biota, the main types are fish, turtles, amphibians and other vertebrates, as well as rich invertebrate fossils, such as insects, leaf limbs and so on. Due to special geological conditions, there are many fossil phyla, and the conditions for endowment are intact, which is currently another important fossil production area known to the Rehe biota in western Liaoning.
"The fossils found in the Longjiang Basin are like lifelike prehistoric snapshots, revealing the morphology and behavior of organisms hundreds of millions of years ago, and this discovery is the first to show the predation between Cretaceous amphibians, which has important research and ornamental value." Liu Liang, director of the Yingliang World Stone Natural History Museum in Fujian, introduced it to reporters.
The owner of this stomach is the 120 million Genibatrachus frog, its body length is about 7.5 cm, the skull is 2.4 cm long, the overall preservation is very exquisite, you can clearly see that each side of the maxilla has about 50 small teeth closely arranged, and its well-preserved body soft tissue outline depicts a large frog: the body is wide, thick, and the thigh muscles are strong.
The origin of this rare specimen is purely accidental, Mr. Niu Kecheng told reporters: "In the process of searching for the collection, I accidentally saw this specimen from the hands of collectors in the place of origin, which made me suddenly think of a scene in the animal documentary I watched when I was a child. In the documentary, bullfrogs, the typical opportunist predator, swallow a highly poisonous salamander in one bite and are eventually poisoned to death by the salamander. Bullfrogs' illiterate predation strategy has always puzzled animal behaviorists, and the fossil in front of me is so similar to a scene in the documentary, does this mean that their ancestors developed such behavioral tendencies 100 million years ago? ”
Predators retained intact bones
Since then, Xing Lida and other scholars have begun to conduct detailed research on the stomach volume of the Gurney frog, and the salamander skeleton in the frog stomach volume is clearly visible, preserving the skull, spine and part of the forelimbs and hind limbs. The bones of this dinner extend from under the frog's left shoulder strap to the anterior spine area on the left side of the frog and pass through the frog's belt area from the ventral side to the tail rod bone. The salamander's tail is curled up along the right side of the frog's abdomen, but the distal end is not preserved.
"In terms of skeletal morphology, such as body proportions, spine shapes, and limb morphology, this stomach volume may be classified as Nuominerpeton," said Susan M. Thompson. Professor E. Evans said. It is also the only salamander found in fossil-producing areas, a species similar to the salamander family.
Xing Lida said: "I have studied a number of specimens of stomach contents, but this is a very impressive one for me. Frogs are highly typical opportunistic predators that eat everything they feel they can eat. At the end of the long bone that never healed, the lack of ossified joints, the Gurney frog is not yet fully adult. Live terrestrial salamanders are eaten by a variety of predators, including snakes, birds, small mammals, turtles, frogs, and other salamanders, whose defense mechanisms include color or toxic skin secretions, but whether these features appeared in Cretaceous salamanders is unknown. ”
The salamander skeletons in the Yingliang frog specimen are largely intact, and the bones are hinged together. This indicates that it was swallowed by the frog in its entirety, and depending on the position of the skeleton, its tail is likely to remain outside the frog's mouth, that is, it is buried the moment after the frog swallows the salamander. Moreover, predators and predators are very close in size, and they are likely to have experienced a fight. Such coincidentally preserved fossils are important for us to understand the feeding habits and behaviors of archaic frogs, as well as to reconstruct food webs and energy flows in paleo ecosystems.
[Reporter] Wang Tengteng
【Video Clip】 Wang Shikun
【Author】 Wang Tengteng; Wang Shikun
【Source】 Southern Press Media Group South + Client Nanfang Number ~ Depth ~ Scientific and Technological Visibility