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| a caimanine alligatorid (Purussaurus neivensis) preying/scavenging on a large phorusrhacid bird. in Link, Moreno-Bernal, Degrange, Cooke, ... et Salas-Gismondi, 2025. Illustrations by Julian Bayona Becerra. |
Abstract
Direct evidence of predation and other trophic relationships provide valuable information about trophic interactions between species in palaeo-communities. Data on ecological interactions amongst extant apex predators open a unique opportunity to better understand how sympatric apex predators coexisted or interacted with each other in the past. Here, we describe direct evidence of a predation or scavenging event in which we hypothesize that a medium-sized caiman (possibly Purussaurus neivensis) consumed (either through scavenging or through direct predation) a large terror bird. The distal part of a left tibiotarsus from a phorusrhacid had four pits inflicted on the cortical bone, and no signs of healing, suggesting it did not survive this trophic event. This record contributes to our current understanding of prey consumed by P. neivensis in the wetlands of the Pebas System of South America and indicates that large phorusrhacids might have had higher predation risk than previously expected. This study provides evidence of a trophic relation between apex predators and the complexity of trophic interactions in the diverse vertebrate palaeo-community of La Venta in the Middle Miocene of northern South America.
Keywords: apex predators, Phorusrhacidae, Purussaurus, superpredation, taphonomy, Caimaninae, scavenging
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| (a) Superimposed 3D models of MT−0200 and a skull of extant black caiman (Melanosuchus niger UF-Herp-53600). Both models at the same scale, the M. niger model is archived on Morphosource (https://doi.org/10.17602/M2/M359353). Total length estimated for the specimen of M. niger is 4.84 meters and is used here as an analogy to a medium sized Purussaurus (skull or mandible not available) [49]. Scale bar is 50 mm. (b) Detail of the superimposed model, showing the close match between the teeth of UF-Herp-53600 and the tooth marks on MT-0200. Scale bar is 50 mm. (c) Artistic representation of a caimanine alligatorid (Purussaurus neivensis) preying on a large phorusrhacid bird. (d) Artistic representation of a caimanine alligatorid (Purussaurus neivensis) scavenging on a large phorusrhacid bird. Illustrations by Julian Bayona Becerra. |
Andres Link, Jorge Wilson Moreno-Bernal, Federico Javier Degrange, Siobhan B. Cooke, Luis Gonzalo Ortiz-Pabon, Cesar Augusto Perdomo-Rojas and Rodolfo Salas-Gismondi. 2025. Direct Evidence of Trophic Interaction between a crocodyliform and a large terror bird in the Middle Miocene of La Venta, Colombia. Biol. Lett. 21; 20250113. DOI: doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2025.0113 [23 July 2025]
