Early giant reveals faster evolution of large body size in ichthyosaurs than in cetaceans

作者：P. Martin Sander, Eva Maria Griebeler, Nicole Klein, Jorge Vélez‐Juarbe, Tanja Wintrich, Liam J. Revell, Lars Schmitz · 发表于：Science · 年份：2021 · DOI：10.1126/science.abf5787 · 被引用次数：99 · 研究领域：Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology、Evolution and Paleontology Studies、Ichthyology and Marine Biology

Early marine giant The largest animals to have ever lived occupied the marine environment. Modern cetaceans evolved their large size over tens of millions of years in response to the increased productivity of cold marine waters. However, whales were not the first marine giants to evolve. Sanderet al. describe a 244-million-year-old fossil ichthyosaur that would have rivaled modern cetaceans in size (see the Perspective by Delsett and Pyenson). The animal existed at most 8 million years after the emergence of the first ichthyosaurs, suggesting a much more rapid size expansion that may have been fueled by processes after the Permian mass extinction. —SNV