Early amphibians had quite a bite
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Even before fully emerging as land dwellers, Earth’s first amphibious four-legged animals attained a biting feeding style that distinguished them from their fishy ancestors and prepared them for a terrestrial existence, Harvard researchers reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The early amphibian Acanthostega, which lived 370 million years ago, had a skull structure indicating the presence of powerful jaws that could clamp down on prey. Fish, in contrast, suck in their prey. The study shed light on a key evolutionary change during a crucial time in the history of life, as vertebrates were first leaving the water and colonizing dry land.
