Utah
150M-year-old vomit found in Utah offers ‘rare glimpse’ into prehistoric ecosystems
An artist rendering of a bowfin fish making an attempt to sneak up on a frog floating on the floor of a pond whereas one other bowfin regurgitates a part of a latest meal of frogs and a salamander. The bowfin fish is the suspected predator of a 150 million-year-old vomit fossil found in southeast Utah. (Brian Engh by way of Utah Division of State Parks)
Estimated learn time: 3-4 minutes
VERNAL — A lately found fossil in southeast Utah seems to point out the kind of prey that predators feasted on again within the age of dinosaurs and when the area wasn’t fairly the desert it’s at the moment.
Utah paleontologists found a pile of amphibian bones that they are saying seem to have been puked out by some kind of predator. This prehistoric vomit is believed to be 150 million years previous, in line with paleontologists with the Utah Geological Survey, Utah Division of State Parks and the Flying Heritage & Fight Armor Museum in Washington.
Their findings have been revealed within the journal Palaios final month.
“This fossil offers us a uncommon glimpse into the interactions of the animals in historic ecosystems,” mentioned John Foster, the curator of the Utah Area Home of Pure Historical past State Park Museum and one of many research’s co-authors, in an announcement Tuesday.
The staff found the fossil whereas scouring the Morrison Formation, a well-known paleontological website identified for its fossils from the late Jurassic age, which ranges from about 148 million years in the past to 155 million years in the past. It is largely identified for its dinosaur bones nevertheless it’s additionally the place scientists have discovered all types of different animals, reminiscent of fish, salamanders and frogs.
Southeast Utah’s part of the formation largely options prehistoric vegetation like ginkgoes, ferns and conifers; nevertheless, paleontologists have additionally discovered amphibians and bowfin fish there, too. These discoveries are why they consider the area was as soon as house to both a pond or a small lake.
However throughout a latest survey, the staff found an oddly organized fossil. It was a cluster of bones that included “parts” of not less than one small frog or tadpole and can be the “smallest reported salamander specimen from the formation,” the researchers wrote within the research. A few of these bones have been solely 0.12 inches lengthy, that are among the many smallest set of bones inside the formation.
They added that the chemical and bone construction of the fossil indicated that it is a regurgitalite, which is a fossilized type of vomit. The staff famous that it is the first discovering of its type inside the Morrison Formation and likewise inside North America’s Jurassic interval.
What’s nonetheless not clear 150 million years later is what killed the species inside the regurgitalite. Foster factors out that previous analysis places bowfin fish within the area on the time, which he views because the “present greatest match” for the predator behind the fossil. Scientists have found fish, salamanders and frog species within the Morrison Formation for nicely over a century.
“Though we will not rule out different predators, a bowfin is our present suspect, so to talk,” he mentioned, explaining that fish — and different animals — do generally regurgitate their latest meals when they’re pursued or need to distract a possible predator.
“There have been three animals that we nonetheless have round at the moment, interacting in methods additionally identified at the moment amongst these animals — prey eaten by predators and predators maybe chased by different predators,” he added. “That itself reveals how comparable some historic ecosystems have been to locations on Earth at the moment.”
The discovering is the staff’s most up-to-date within the area. Two of the research’s three co-authors additionally assist uncover a large 151 million-year-old water bug, which led to a paper that was revealed in 2020.
James Kirkland, the state paleontologist, who co-authored each of the research, mentioned that paleontologists plan to proceed to look the positioning the place the prehistoric vomit was found to see if they’ll discover extra proof of the area’s previous ecosystem.
“I used to be so excited to have discovered this website, as Higher Jurassic plant localities are so uncommon,” he mentioned, in an announcement. “We should now rigorously dissect the positioning seeking extra tiny wonders in among the many foliage.”