Evidence of Trophic Interactions Among Apex Predators in the Late Triassic

Let's get back into the swing of things Chinle with this new paper that shows how badass phytosaurs were. I'd love to see someone recreate this fight scene for a film.

Drumheller, S. K., Stocker, M. R., and S. J. Nesbitt. 2014. Direct evidence of trophic interactions among apex predators in the Late Triassic of western North America. Naturwissenschaften (advance online publication) DOI: 10.1007/s00114-014-1238-3

 Abstract - Hypotheses of feeding behaviors and community structure are testable with rare direct evidence of trophic interactions in the fossil record (e.g., bite marks). We present evidence of four predation, scavenging, and/or interspecific fighting events involving two large paracrocodylomorphs (='rauisuchians') from the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation (~220–210 Ma). The larger femur preserves a rare history of interactions with multiple actors prior to and after death of this ~8–9-m individual. A large embedded tooth crown and punctures, all of which display reaction tissue formed through healing, record evidence of a failed attack on this individual. The second paracrocodylomorph femur exhibits four unhealed bite marks, indicating the animal either did not survive the attack or was scavenged soon after death. The combination of character states observed (e.g., morphology of the embedded tooth, ‘D’-shaped punctures, evidence of bicarination of the marking teeth, spacing of potentially serial marks) indicates that large phytosaurs were actors in both cases. Our analysis of these specimens demonstrates phytosaurs targeted large paracrocodylomorphs in these Late Triassic ecosystems. Previous distinctions between 'aquatic' and 'terrestrial' Late Triassic trophic structures were overly simplistic and built upon mistaken paleoecological assumptions; we show they were intimately connected at the highest trophic levels. Our data also support that size cannot be the sole factor in determining trophic status. Furthermore, these marks provide an opportunity to start exploring the seemingly unbalanced terrestrial ecosystems from the Late Triassic of North America, in which large carnivores far outnumber herbivores in terms of both abundance and diversity.

Bite Traces on Dicynodont Bones and the Early Evolution of Large Terrestrial Predators

Niedźwiedzki, G., Gorzelak, P. & Sulej, T. 2010: Bite traces on dicynodont bones and the early evolution of large terrestrial predators. Lethaia, DOI: 10.1111/j.1502-3931.2010.00227.x.


Abstract - Dicynodont (Synapsida: Anomodontia) bones from the Late Triassic (late Norian ⁄ early Rhaetian) of Poland yield characteristic tooth marks that can be attributed to three ichnotaxa (Linichnus serratus, Knethichnus parallelum and Nihilichnus nihilicus). The general shape and dimension of these traces perfectly match the dental morphology of a co-occurring carnivorous dinosaur. It is therefore concluded that early carnivorous dinosaurs were feeding on dicynodonts. This discovery constitutes one of the oldest evidence of dinosaur predator–prey interaction. It is suggested that an evolutionary increase in the size of dicynodonts across the Late Triassic may have been driven by selection pressure to reach a size refuge from early dinosaur predators.