Liu Jun, Hu Shi-Xue, Rieppel Olivier, Jiang Da-Yong, Benton Michael J, Kelley Neil P, Aitchison Jonathan C, Zhou Chang-Yong, Wen Wen, Huang Jin-Yuan, Xie Tao, Lv Tao
1] Chengdu Center, China Geological Survey, Chengdu 610081, China [2] School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China [3] State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, CAS, Nanjing 210008, China.
Chengdu Center, China Geological Survey, Chengdu 610081, China.
Sci Rep. 2014 Nov 27;4:7142. doi: 10.1038/srep07142.
The presence of gigantic apex predators in the eastern Panthalassic and western Tethyan oceans suggests that complex ecosystems in the sea had become re-established in these regions at least by the early Middle Triassic, after the Permian-Triassic mass extinction (PTME). However, it is not clear whether oceanic ecosystem recovery from the PTME was globally synchronous because of the apparent lack of such predators in the eastern Tethyan/western Panthalassic region prior to the Late Triassic. Here we report a gigantic nothosaur from the lower Middle Triassic of Luoping in southwest China (eastern Tethyan ocean), which possesses the largest known lower jaw among Triassic sauropterygians. Phylogenetic analysis suggests parallel evolution of gigantism in Triassic sauropterygians. Discovery of this gigantic apex predator, together with associated diverse marine reptiles and the complex food web, indicates global recovery of shallow marine ecosystems from PTME by the early Middle Triassic.
在东泛大洋和西特提斯洋出现巨型顶级捕食者，这表明在二叠纪-三叠纪大灭绝（PTME）之后，至少到中三叠世早期，这些区域海洋中的复杂生态系统已经重新建立。然而，由于在晚三叠世之前，东特提斯洋/西泛大洋地区明显缺乏此类捕食者，所以不清楚从PTME中恢复的海洋生态系统在全球范围内是否同步。在此，我们报道了来自中国西南部罗平（东特提斯洋）中三叠世早期的一种巨型幻龙，它拥有三叠纪鳍龙超目中已知最大的下颌。系统发育分析表明，三叠纪鳍龙超目动物的巨型化是平行演化的。这种巨型顶级捕食者的发现，连同相关的多样海洋爬行动物和复杂的食物网，表明到中三叠世早期，浅海生态系统已从PTME中实现全球范围的恢复。
