A 100-Million-Year-Old Fossil Captures a Three-Level Sea Food Chain
A find at a public fossil site in Queensland
Fossil hunters Mike and Cathy Freeman, along with Gary and Barb Flewelling, discovered a large set of fossilized bones in 2019 at a public fossicking site near Richmond, in outback Queensland, Australia. The area was once covered by the Eromanga Sea, more than 100 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period when dinosaurs roamed the land.
The bones belonged to an ichthyosaur, Platypterygius australis, a dolphin-shaped marine reptile that measured about 6 to 7 meters long.
A pterosaur's jaw inside its stomach
Preparing the fossil took more than 600 hours. Researchers used imaging technology at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) to look inside round, rock-like nodules found with the skeleton without breaking them open. Inside, they found jaw bone fragments from a pterosaur, a flying reptile — direct evidence that the ichthyosaur had eaten one.
The fossil also showed bite marks suggesting the ichthyosaur itself was later eaten or scavenged by an even larger marine reptile, Kronosaurus queenslandicus, which grew to more than 10 meters long.
Three levels, one fossil
Together, the evidence captures three levels of a food chain in a single fossil: a pterosaur eaten by an ichthyosaur, which was in turn eaten by a much larger marine reptile. According to the research team, this is the first time such a three-tier predator relationship has been directly documented in one specimen.
Paleontologist Dean Lomax, who took part in the research, called it "one of the clearest examples of three-tier predator interactions" ever found. The findings were published in the journal Gondwana Research.
A Fossil Shows Who Ate Whom, 100 Million Years Ago
📰 Full story: A 100-Million-Year-Old Fossil Captures a Three-Level Sea Food Chain
One fossil tells a story about three sea creatures.
💡 The gist
- A single fossil found in Australia shows three animals in one feeding chain
- A flying reptile was eaten by a sea reptile called an ichthyosaur
- Then an even bigger sea reptile ate the ichthyosaur — a world first
Fossil hunters in Queensland, Australia, found big bones at a public dig site in 2019. The area used to be under the sea, more than 100 million years ago.
The bones came from an ichthyosaur, a dolphin-shaped sea reptile about 6 to 7 meters long. Scientists scanned the fossil without breaking it open. Inside its stomach, they found jaw bones from a pterosaur, a flying reptile. That showed the ichthyosaur had eaten one.
The fossil also had bite marks. They came from an even bigger sea reptile called Kronosaurus, which grew past 10 meters long. That means the ichthyosaur was eaten too.
So one fossil shows three steps: a flying reptile was eaten by a sea reptile, and that sea reptile was eaten by an even bigger one. Scientists say this is the first time all three steps were found together in a single fossil.
The Fossil That Shows Who Ate Whom
📰 Full story: A 100-Million-Year-Old Fossil Captures a Three-Level Sea Food Chain
Scientists found a very old bone.
Long, long ago, animals lived in the sea.
One animal was a big reptile. It was called an ichthyosaur. It was about 6 to 7 meters long.
The ichthyosaur ate a flying reptile. That reptile was called a pterosaur.
But then something bigger ate the ichthyosaur. That animal was more than 10 meters long.
Eaten, then eaten again. All of it was in one single fossil.
Scientists said, "We never saw this before!"