Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Stuttgart, D-70191, Germany.
Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Stuttgart, D-70191, Germany; Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP-CERCA), Cerdanyola del Vallès, Catalonia, E-08193, Spain.
Curr Biol. 2023 Jul 10;33(13):R708-R709. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.04.027. Epub 2023 Jun 20.
Extreme neck elongation was a common evolutionary strategy among Mesozoic marine reptiles, occurring independently in several lineages. Despite its evolutionary success, such an elongate neck might have been particularly susceptible to predation, but direct evidence for this possibility has been lacking. Composed of only 13 hyperelongate vertebrae and associated strut-like ribs, the configuration of the long neck of the Triassic archosauromorph Tanystropheus is unique among tetrapods. It was probably stiffened and used to catch prey through an ambush-strategy. Here, we show that the neck was completely severed in two Tanystropheus specimens (Figure 1), most likely due to a predatory attack, providing vivid evidence of predator-prey interactions among Mesozoic marine reptiles that are rarely preserved in the fossil record. The recurring incidence of decapitation suggests that the elongate neck was a functional weak spot in Tanystropheus, and possibly the long-necked marine reptile bauplan more generally.
极度伸长的颈部是中生代海洋爬行动物的一种常见进化策略，在多个谱系中独立出现。尽管这种伸长的颈部具有进化上的优势，但它可能特别容易受到捕食者的攻击，但缺乏直接的证据来证明这种可能性。由仅 13 个超伸长的脊椎骨和相关的支柱状肋骨组成，三叠纪槽齿类主龙形类 Tanystropheus 的长颈部结构在四足动物中是独一无二的。它可能是通过伏击策略来保持僵硬并捕捉猎物。在这里，我们展示了两个 Tanystropheus 标本的颈部完全断裂（图 1），很可能是由于捕食者的攻击，为中生代海洋爬行动物之间的捕食者-猎物相互作用提供了生动的证据，而这些证据在化石记录中很少保存下来。反复发生的斩首现象表明，伸长的颈部是 Tanystropheus 的一个功能性弱点，可能也是长颈海洋爬行动物的一般形态。
