大型のメソゾイク期の哺乳類は,若い恐竜を食べた
Yaoming Hu1, Jin Meng, Yuanqing Wang
1Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology & Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 643, Beijing 100044, China. yhu@amnh.org
Nature
|January 15, 2005
まとめ
Repenomamusのような中生期の哺乳類は,以前考えられていたよりも大きく,多様性がありました. 一部の肉食動物は,幼い恐竜を捕食し,恐竜に挑戦した.
科学分野:
- パレオントロジー・パレオントロジー
- 脊椎動物学 脊椎動物学
背景:
- 中生期の哺乳類は,恐竜の影に隠された小さな昆虫食動物として描かれることが多い.
- 大量の遺骸を保持した,今までに知られている中生期の最大の哺乳類は,レペノーマス・ロバストス (Repenomamus robustus) である.
研究 の 目的:
- 新しい,より大きな種のレペノーマス (Repenomamus) を記述するために.
- 中世哺乳類の食生活と生態学的役割を調査する.
主な方法:
- ほぼ完全な関節骨格に基づいた新しい化石哺乳類種の記述.
- Repenomamus robustusの標本から採取した胃内部の分析.
主要な成果:
- 新種のレペノマムスが発見され,R. robustus.より大きくなった.
- 化石の証拠は,R. robustusの胃の内容物の中に幼いピスタコサウルス (恐竜) を明らかにした.
- これは,恐竜を含む小さな脊椎動物を食う肉食トリコノドント哺乳類の最初の直接的な証拠を提供します.
結論:
- 中生期の哺乳類は,これまで考えられていたより大きな体格の多様性を示していた.
- 中世の大型哺乳類は肉食動物であり,多様な生態系ニッチを占め,恐竜と競合する可能性がある.
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