Skull of 340 million year old predatory amphibian digitally recreated

Researchers from UCL and the University of Bristol have used cutting-edge techniques to digitally reconstruct the skull of one of the earliest limbed animals, revealing how it would have bit into its prey. The study, which was recently published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, depicts the reconstructed skull of a prehistoric amphibian, the 340-million year old Whatcheeria deltae , to reveal what this animal looked like and how it may have fed. First discovered in Iowa in 1995, the fossils of Whatcheeria were originally squashed flat after being buried by mud at the bottom of an ancient swamp, but palaeontologists were able to use computational methods to restore the bones to their original arrangement. The fossils were put through a CT scanner to create exact digital copies, and software was used to separate each bone from the surrounding rock. These digital bones were then repaired and reassembled to produce a 3D model of the skull as it would have appeared while the animal was alive. The authors found that Whatcheeria possessed a tall and narrow skull quite unlike many other early tetrapods that were alive at the time.Tetrapods include mammals, reptiles and amphibians - everything from salamanders to humans. Their origin represents a crucial time in animal evolution, from the development of limbs with digits and the shift from water on to land.