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- Title
Predatory synapsid ecomorphology signals growing dynamism of late Palaeozoic terrestrial ecosystems.
- Authors
Singh, Suresh A.; Elsler, Armin; Stubbs, Thomas L.; Rayfield, Emily J.; Benton, Michael J.
- Abstract
Terrestrial ecosystems evolved substantially through the Palaeozoic, especially the Permian, gaining much new complexity, especially among predators. Key among these predators were non-mammalian synapsids. Predator ecomorphology reflect interactions with prey and competitors, which are key controls on carnivore diversity and ecology. Therefore, carnivorous synapsids may offer insight on wider ecological evolution as the first complex, tetrapod-dominated, terrestrial ecosystems formed through the late Palaeozoic. Using morphometric and phylogenetic comparative methods, we chart carnivorous synapsid trophic morphology from the latest Carboniferous to the earliest Triassic (307-251.2 Ma). We find a major morphofunctional shift in synapsid carnivory between the early and middle Permian, via the addition of new feeding modes increasingly specialised for greater biting power or speed that captures the growing antagonism and dynamism of terrestrial tetrapod predator-prey interactions. The further evolution of new hypo- and hypercarnivorous synapsids highlight the nascent intrinsic pressures and complexification of terrestrial ecosystems across the mid-late Permian. An ecometric study of carnivorous stem mammals across their heyday in the late Palaeozoic finds distinct shifts in their feeding anatomy that suggest increasingly dynamic behaviours and interactions, akin to modern mammalian predators.
- Subjects
PREDATION; ECOSYSTEMS; COMPARATIVE method; CARNIVOROUS animals; PREDATORY animals
- Publication
Communications Biology, 2024, Vol 7, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
2399-3642
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/s42003-024-05879-2