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
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