The oesophagus describes the part of the alimentary canal from the mouth to the stomach. “Ammonites used their radula to trap the food in the mouth and convey it through the oesophagus.” This image was created by synchrotron radiation microtomographic slices.Ĭommenting on the images, lead author, Kruta explained: In this study different types of ammonite teeth were identified, from slender ones to sabre-like or even ones shaped like the teeth on a comb.Įach colour in the computer images produced shown above shows a different type of tooth on the radula-like structure of the Late Cretaceous ammonite Baculites. Garden snails have radulas, their affect can be seen if you leave a lettuce leaf out in the garden on a wet summers evening. The researchers determined ammonites possessed jaws and a radula, which is like a tongue covered with teeth. These images have provided new information about ammonites, including providing some data on the types of prey that certain genera may have consumed. Using a technique called synchrotron X-ray microtomography, an advanced form of CT scanning, three-dimensional images of several ammonite fossils were created. The French and American researchers have been able to reveal the lives and deaths of a number of different ammonite specimens in amazing detail. It revealed the last prey consumed was a small larval snail and three tiny crustaceans. Lead author of this new paper, Isabelle Kruta of the Musee National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris) commented on using very powerful X-ray beams to see inside the fossilised remains of a Baculites ammonite. It seems that the larval stage of snails and tiny crustaceans were on this particular cephalopods menu. based scientists, published in the scientific journal “Science” provides fresh evidence on the diet of one particular ammonite. Wild Safari Prehistoric World Models and Figures.Ī new study by a joint team of French and U.S. To view the Safari Ltd prehistoric animal model range and dinosaur toys: Safari Ltd. Just how many ichthyosaurs fed on ammonites is a bit of a mute point, as many genera had toothless beaks, perhaps better suited to tackling soft-bodied cephalopods rather than hard-shelled ones. The Safari Ltd Carnegie Collection Ichthyosaurus Such is the connection between marine reptiles and ammonites that Safari, the American based figure manufacturer, recently introduced a new model of an ichthyosaur that had an ammonite in its mouth. With the extinction of the ammonites 65 million years ago, did this also mean the end of the mosasaurs that relied on them as prey?

They did form an important part of the diet of many of the larger animals that shared the ammonite’s marine environment, scientists believe that many types of marine reptiles, such as mosasaurs and ichthyosaurs fed on ammonites. For example, without any soft parts of the animal fossilised, it is very difficult to determine what these creatures fed on, where in the food chain did they fit? We think this is an example of Dactylioceras commune.Ī beautiful ammonite (Dactylioceras?) preserved as a pyretic specimen from the English coast.Īlthough very common as fossils, there is still a great deal that scientists have yet to learn about these ancient relatives of squid and cuttlefish. An ammonite partially eroded out of a nodule.

Ammonite diet