A unique predator in a unique ecosystem: modelling the apex predator within a Late Cretaceous crocodyliform‐dominated fauna from Brazil
A unique predator in a unique ecosystem: modelling the apex predator within a Late Cretaceous crocodyliform‐dominated fauna from Brazil
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独特生态系统中的独特捕食者：对白垩纪晚期巴西鳄形动物群中的顶级捕食者进行建模
DOI：
10.1111/joa.13192
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发表时间：
2020
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
Butler, Richard J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Montefeltro, Felipe C.;Lautenschlager, Stephan;Godoy, Pedro L.;Ferreira, Gabriel S.;Butler, Richard J.
兽脚类恐龙在巴西东南部晚白垩世生态系统中相对稀少。相反，被称为鲍鲁鳄科的超肉食性鳄形目数量丰富，可能占据了顶级捕食者的生态角色。Baurusuchids表现出一系列的形态学适应假设与这种生态作用，但迄今为止缺乏定量的生物力学分析，其形态。在这里，我们采用生物力学建模方法，应用有限元分析（FEA）的头骨和下颌骨的baurusuchid标本的模型。这使我们能够表征baurusuchids的颅下颌装置，以及比较的功能形态的组与其他主龙类食肉动物，如兽脚亚目和鳄鱼。我们的研究结果支持baurusuchids作为专门的顶端捕食者在南美洲大陆晚白垩世生态系统的生态作用。由于咬合力相对较弱（约600 N），鲍鲁鳄类的捕食策略可能依赖于其他形态学特征，如锯齿牙列和强壮的颈部肌肉系统。应力分布和规模的其他捕食者（theropod异特龙fragilisand生活crocodylianAlligator mississippiensis）的比例模型的比较评估一致显示不同的反应负载相同的功能场景下，这些动物的不同的捕食行为。巴西东南部干旱至半干旱的晚白垩世生态系统中独特的选择性压力，主要是鳄鱼形类，可能推动了baurusuchids中生物力学特征的出现和演变，这与以前报道的其他捕食性类群不同。
Theropod dinosaurs were relatively scarce in the Late Cretaceous ecosystems of southeast Brazil. Instead, hypercarnivorous crocodyliforms known as baurusuchids were abundant and probably occupied the ecological role of apex predators. Baurusuchids exhibited a series of morphological adaptations hypothesized to be associated with this ecological role, but quantitative biomechanical analyses of their morphology have so far been lacking. Here, we employ a biomechanical modelling approach, applying finite element analysis (FEA) to models of the skull and mandibles of a baurusuchid specimen. This allows us to characterize the craniomandibular apparatus of baurusuchids, as well as to compare the functional morphology of the group with that of other archosaurian carnivores, such as theropods and crocodylians. Our results support the ecological role of baurusuchids as specialized apex predators in the continental Late Cretaceous ecosystems of South America. With a relatively weak bite force (~600 N), the predation strategies of baurusuchids likely relied on other morphological specializations, such as ziphodont dentition and strong cervical musculature. Comparative assessments of the stress distribution and magnitude of scaled models of other predators (the theropodAllosaurus fragilisand the living crocodylianAlligator mississippiensis) consistently show different responses to loadings under the same functional scenarios, suggesting distinct predatory behaviors for these animals. The unique selective pressures in the arid to semi‐arid Late Cretaceous ecosystems of southeast Brazil, which were dominated by crocodyliforms, possibly drove the emergence and evolution of the biomechanical features seen in baurusuchids, which are distinct from those previously reported for other predatory taxa.
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影响因子：
4.6
作者：
Gignac PM;Erickson GM
通讯作者：
Erickson GM
影响因子：
2.6
作者：
Gignac P;O'Brien H
通讯作者：
O'Brien H
模仿兽脚亚目鳄鱼的包鲁鳄：来自 Stratiotosuchus maxhechti（巴西上白垩纪）头骨和附肢形态的线索
DOI：
--
发表时间：
2011
期刊：
影响因子：
--
作者：
D. Riff;A. Kellner
通讯作者：
A. Kellner
掠食性虚骨龙牙齿的穿刺和拉动生物力学
影响因子：
9.2
作者：
A. Torices;Ryan Wilkinson;Victoria M. Arbour;J. Ruiz;P. Currie
通讯作者：
P. Currie
鳄鳄目 (Mesoeucrocodylia, Notosuchia) 的骨皮
影响因子：
1.4
作者：
F. Montefeltro
通讯作者：
F. Montefeltro