Untangling the evolution of feeding strategies in ancient crocodiles

Ancient aquatic crocodiles fed on softer and smaller prey than their modern counterparts and the evolution of skull shape and function allowed them to spread into new habitats, reveal paleobiology researchers from the University of Bristol and UCL. For the study, published today in Paleontology , the team digitally reconstructed the skull of an extinct species of marine crocodile and compared it to similar living species to gain new insights into the diet of ancient crocodiles and their role in ecosystems around 230 million years ago. Modern crocodiles are known for their characteristic anatomy and apex predator role in semiaquatic ecosystems but their ancient ancestors, which lived side-by-side with the first dinosaurs in the Late Triassic period, were tiny land-dwellers that soon gave rise to a great diversity of forms. One group, the thalattosuchians, went into the sea and became marine specialists. They had long, thin snouts, resembling that of the living gharial, which feeds on fish in rivers in India. An early member of this group, Pelagosaurus typus , inhabited shallow marine environments in what is now Europe during the Early Jurassic. By looking at the different shapes of their skulls, scientists were able to work out what crocodiles were eating.