Earliest evidence for efficient oral processing in a terrestrial herbivore

Herbivores can increase their digestion rate by mechanically reducing particle size through oral trituration. Groups of terrestrial vertebrates with the greatest capacity to reduce tough plant foods orally are also the most abundant and diverse, as exemplified by ornithopod dinosaurs during the Meso...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 2001-06, Vol.411 (6838), p.684-687
Main Authors: Reisz, Robert R, Rybczynski, Natalia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biological Evolution
Dentition
Dinosaurs
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
Food
Fossils
Herbivores
Herbivory
Humanities and Social Sciences
letter
Mastication
Mesozoic
multidisciplinary
Paleontology
Paleozoic
Plants, Edible
Prehistoric era
Reptiles - anatomy & histology
Reptiles - physiology
Science
Skull - anatomy & histology
Suminia getmanovi
Teeth
Terrestrial ecosystems
Terrestrial environments
Tooth - anatomy & histology
Tooth - physiology
Vertebrate paleontology
Vertebrates
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Summary:Herbivores can increase their digestion rate by mechanically reducing particle size through oral trituration. Groups of terrestrial vertebrates with the greatest capacity to reduce tough plant foods orally are also the most abundant and diverse, as exemplified by ornithopod dinosaurs during the Mesozoic and extant artiodactyl and perissodactyl mammals. Thus, the effective oral processing of high-fibre plant material seems to represent an evolutionary innovation of both functional and macroevolutionary significance. However, evidence for oral processing is poorly documented in the fossil record, especially during the initial stages of terrestrial vertebrate diversification. Here we report on the basal anomodont Suminia getmanovi, the only known Palaeozoic vertebrate in which unequivocal specializations in its cranium and teeth for high-fibre herbivory are well preserved. We propose that the capacity to comminute tough plant foods was critical to the diversification of anomodonts, the most diverse, widely dispersed and abundant group of Palaeozoic terrestrial vertebrates, and to the onset of modern terrestrial ecosystems.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/35079567