A newly discovered creature, approximately the size of a football, exhibited herbivorous traits that were unprecedented for its time. This creature, named Tyrannoroter heberti, lived around 307 million years ago during the late Carboniferous Period in a lush, fern-covered swamp on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. Unlike most tetrapods of its era that primarily consumed insects and other animals due to their inability to digest plant matter, Tyrannoroter heberti possessed specialized teeth suitable for a plant-based diet, as revealed in a recent study.
Belonging to the microsaur group, Tyrannoroter was a small reptile-like creature that predated the existence of reptiles and mammals. Fossilized remains of this species, including a significant portion of its skull, were entangled within the roots of a massive petrified tree stump discovered on Cape Breton Island. The stump, measuring around three to four meters in diameter, was unearthed by award-winning amateur paleontologist Brian Hebert, who the species name heberti honors.
Arjan Mann, the lead author of the study and a curator at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, highlighted the unique dental structure of Tyrannoroter. The creature’s teeth, resembling “Hershey-kiss” shapes, were adept at consuming plant material, featuring multiple rows that provided ample grinding surface. This adaptation indicated an early specialization towards a plant-based diet among this group of animals.
The researchers inferred that the ability to digest cellulose, essential for herbivory, might have originated in ancestors of creatures like Tyrannoroter through consuming insects. The wide, robust bodies of pantylids, a group to which Tyrannoroter likely belonged, suggested the presence of cellulose-digesting microbes in their guts. This finding sheds light on the early exploration of herbivorous diets by ancient animals and its implications on plant ecosystems.
Robert Reisz, a paleontologist at the University of Toronto Mississauga, commended the study’s significance for Canadian paleontology and emphasized the need for further investigation into Tyrannoroter’s herbivorous tendencies. While acknowledging the wear patterns on the creature’s teeth, Reisz suggested exploring additional evidence to confirm its herbivorous nature, such as analyzing tooth scratches and body morphology.
This discovery challenges previous timelines of herbivore evolution, potentially pushing back the origins of herbivory, albeit marginally, compared to known herbivorous tetrapods like Desmatodon from a slightly later period. The study not only enriches our understanding of early herbivorous adaptations but also underscores the intricate relationships between ancient animals and their plant-based diets.