Dietary differences in archosaur and lepidosaur reptiles revealed by dental microwear textural analysis.

ABSTRACT: Reptiles are key components of modern ecosystems, yet for many species detailed characterisations of their diets are lacking. Data currently used in dietary reconstructions are limited either to the last few meals or to proxy records of average diet over temporal scales of months to years, providing only coarse indications of trophic level(s). Proxies that record information over weeks to months would allow more accurate reconstructions of reptile diets and better predictions of how ecosystems might respond to global change drivers. Here, we apply dental microwear textural analysis (DMTA) to dietary guilds encompassing both archosaurian and lepidosaurian reptiles, demonstrating its value as a tool for characterising diets over temporal scales of weeks to months. DMTA, involving analysis of

SUBMITTER: Bestwick J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6690991 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature