Long-necked reptiles that lived at the same time as dinosaurs may have been decapitated by predators, fossil evidence suggests.
While the marine creatures’ extremely long necks may have been an evolutionary strategy, palaeontologists long suspected that their long-necked bodies made them vulnerable to predators.
But researchers say that after almost 200 years of continued research, direct fossil evidence confirms this scenario for the first time in the most graphic way imaginable.
In the new study, researchers looked at the unusual necks of two Triassic species of Tanystropheus, a type of reptile distantly related to crocodiles, birds, and dinosaurs.
The necks end abruptly, indicating they were completely severed by another animal during a particularly violent event, as the presence of tooth traces evinces— Dr Eudald Mujal
The species had unique necks composed of 13 extremely elongated vertebrae and strut-like ribs.
The experts suggest these marine reptiles likely possessed stiffened necks and waited to ambush their prey.
One was a small species, about a metre and a half in length, likely feeding on soft-shelled animals like shrimp, and a much larger species of up to six metres long that fed on fish and squid.
Based on the shape of the skull, Tanystropheus likely spent most of its time in the water.
However, the animal’s predators apparently also took advantage of the long neck for their own gain.
Analyses of their fossilised bones now shows that the necks of two existing specimens representing different species with severed necks have clear bite marks on them.
In one case these marks appear right where the neck was broken.
Researchers suggest the findings offer gruesome and exceedingly rare evidence for predator-prey interactions in the fossil record going back over 240 million years ago.
Stephan Spiekman of the Staatliches Museum fur Naturkunde Stuttgart, Germany, said: “Paleontologists speculated that these long necks formed an obvious weak spot for predation, as was already vividly depicted almost 200 years ago in a famous painting by Henry de la Beche from 1830.
“Nevertheless, there was no evidence of decapitation – or any other sort of attack targeting the neck – known from the abundant fossil record of long-necked marine reptiles until our present study on these two specimens of Tanystropheus.”
It was known that the two specimens of these species had well-preserved heads and necks that abruptly ended.
And while it had been speculated that these necks were bitten off, no one had studied this in detail.
In the new study, Dr Spiekman teamed up with Eudald Mujal, also of the Stuttgart Museum, and a research associate at the Institut Catala de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Spain.
After spending an afternoon examining the two specimens at the Paleontological Museum of the University of Zurich, they concluded that the necks had clearly been bitten off.
Dr Mujal said: “Something that caught our attention is that the skull and portion of the neck preserved are undisturbed, only showing some disarticulation due to the typical decay of a carcass in a quiet environment.
“Only the neck and head are preserved; there is no evidence whatsoever of the rest of the animals.
“The necks end abruptly, indicating they were completely severed by another animal during a particularly violent event, as the presence of tooth traces evinces.”
He added: “The fact that the head and neck are so undisturbed suggests that when they reached the place of their final burial, the bones were still covered by soft tissues like muscle and skin.
“They were clearly not fed on by the predator.
“Although this is speculative, it would make sense that the predators were less interested in the skinny neck and small head, and instead focused on the much meatier parts of the body.
“Taken together, these factors make it most likely that both individuals were decapitated during the hunt and not scavenged, although scavenging can never be fully excluded in fossils that are this old.”
According to the study, the findings confirm earlier interpretations that the ancient reptiles’ necks represent a completely unique evolutionary structure that was much narrower and stiffer than those of long-necked plesiosaurs, according to the researchers.
They also indicate that evolving a long neck as a sea reptile came with potential downsides.
Nevertheless, they note, elongated necks were clearly a highly successful evolutionary strategy, found in many different marine reptiles over a time span of 175 million years.
Dr Spiekman concluded: “In a very broad sense, our research once again shows that evolution is a game of trade-offs.
“The advantage of having a long neck clearly outweighed the risk of being targeted by a predator for a very long time.
“Even Tanystropheus itself was quite successful in evolutionary terms, living for at least 10 million years and occurring in what is now Europe, the Middle East, China, North America, and possibly South America.”
The findings are published in the Current Biology journal.
