新英格兰大学研究团队在澳大利亚昆士兰州西北部发现了一具1亿年前的化石群，记录了鱼龙、翼龙和克罗诺龙之间的捕食关系链。[1]这一发现被认为是有记录以来最清晰的"三层捕食者互动"证据。[1]该化石群于2019年由Mick和Cathy Freeman发现，新英格兰大学副研究员Matt White和Richmond Kronosaurus Korner博物馆策展人Kevin Petersen主导了相关研究。[1]
化石遗骸显示了一连串的捕食事件：翼龙首先被长6-7米的鱼龙捕食，随后这条鱼龙又遭长14米的克罗诺龙部分摄食。[1]鱼龙遗骸上留有超过30处咬痕，其胃部保存有翼龙遗骸，这是首次记录到鱼龙捕食翼龙的直接证据。[1]发现地点曾是古代埃罗芒加海，翼龙翼展达12米。[1]英国古生物学家Dean Lomax评价这一发现为"发现过的最清晰的三层捕食者互动例子"，该研究已发表在《冈瓦纳研究》期刊上。[1]
Researchers have uncovered compelling evidence of a dramatic predatory chain preserved in a 100-million-year-old fossil assemblage from northwestern Queensland, Australia.[1] The discovery, made in 2019 by Mick and Cathy Freeman, reveals the remains of three distinct marine predators—a 6-to-7-meter ichthyosaur, a pterosaur with a 12-meter wingspan, and a 14-meter kronosaur—that appear to have engaged in a fatal sequence of predation.[1]
The fossil record tells a striking story of successive predation.[1] The ichthyosaur bears evidence of over 30 bite marks on its skeleton, while its stomach cavity preserves the remains of the pterosaur—marking the first documented instance of such a discovery.[1] Paleontologists from the University of New England, including researcher Matt White and curator Kevin Petersen, determined that the kronosaur subsequently fed partially on the ichthyosaur.[1] British paleontologist Dean Lomax characterized the find as "the clearest example of three-tier predator interaction that we have discovered," underscoring its global scientific significance.[1] The research has been published in the journal Gondwana Research, establishing this site, once part of the Eromanga Sea, as a crucial window into Cretaceous marine predator dynamics.[1]