A rare case of fossil was call up lately from the Morrison Formation of southeastern Utah when researchers agnize they had detect preserved vomitive . Inside the pocket-sized regurgitalite was a assemblage of amphibians , let in at least one small frog and a salamander that might be the smallest ever get in the neighborhood .
Fossil vomit is a uncommon discovery in this part of America , and was find in an area known as the Jurassic Salad Bar , so name for the ancient plant textile it ’s been find to take . The sediment and the botanic and animal stay it is base to would appear to point it was a pond a few century of millions of age ago .
Back then , a thirsty predator apparently bit off more than it could chew as the amphibian remain it had get down apparently came back up in a lump of tiny bones ( some just 3 millimeters [ 0.12 inches ] long ) . Understandably , vomitthat old is n’t the easy thing to identify with the eye , but the concentration of lilliputian bones in a thickset region precede research worker to suspect they had some sick on their hands .
Jurassic Hurl: Fallen Bowfin. Tactical chunders may have been a thing for hundreds of millions of years. Image courtesy of John Foster
Contained within the heap were the cadaver of a frog ( which may have still been part - tadpole ) and at least one salamander , as well as some unidentified vertebra . The prehistoric chunder could have issue forth from a fish , turtle , or semi - aquatic mammal , but retiring come up at the website would paint bowfin fish to be the most likely perpetrator .
“ We ca n’t be sure , but among the animals of interest here , the current best match , and the one know to be at the scene , is the bowfin Pisces , ” Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum Curator and study co - source John Foster toldUtah State Parks . “ Although we ca n’t govern out other predators , a Amia calva is our current defendant , so to talk . ”
A fish may bring up its repast if it has tried to immerse too much , or it may even vomit as a misdirection proficiency when escaping larger predators , so it ’s not entirely clear why this particular soul ’s meal wound up a blob on the dodo record as a regurgitalite instead of acoprolite .
.png)
The preserved vomit bone heap. Images courtesy of John Foster
What the late vomit does however teach us is that in its prime , the Jurassic Salad Bar was home to species interaction not unlike those see in alike habitats on Earth today .
“ This fossil give us a rare glimpse into the interaction of the animals in ancient ecosystems , ” Foster tell . “ There were three creature that we still have around today , interacting in ways also make out today among those animals – prey eaten by marauder and piranha perhaps chased by other predatory animal . ”
This study was published in the journalPalaios .
