The research group is performing excavations at the Hammerschmiede under the instructions of Professor Madelaine Böhme from the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen. It has actually already recovered more than 130 various types of extinct vertebrates from river deposits associated to the Ancient Guenz. Much of these types are adjusted to life in and around water. The detection of a Vishnu otter in Bavaria was unanticipated, because agents of this genus had actually formerly just been known from regions outside Europe.
Dispersal of the Vishnu otters
One in six types these dayss predatory mammals lives aquatically, either in the oceans, such as seals, or in freshwater, such as otters. The evolutionary history of the 13 otter types that occur today is still relatively unexplored. Vishnu otters (Vishnuonyx) are mid-sized predators with a weight of 10 to 15 kgs that were very first found in sediments in the foothills of the Himalayas. They lived 14 to 12.5 million years back in the major rivers of Southern Asia.
The lower jaw of the brand-new otter types, Vishnuonyx neptuni, with an in-depth view of its teeth in a 3D model taken through a micro-CT scanner. Credit: Nikos Kargopoulos
Recent finds revealed that Vishnu otters reached East Africa about 12 million years ago. The discovery in the now 11.4-million-year-old layers of the Hammerschmiede is the first proof that they likewise took place in Europe– potentially spreading from India throughout the whole Old World. Like all otters, the Vishnu otter depends on water; it can not take a trip cross countries over land. Its enormous dispersal of more than 6,000 kilometers across 3 continents was enabled by the geographic situation 12 million years ago: recently formed range of mountains from the Alps in the west to the Iranian Elbrus Mountains in the east separated a big ocean basin from the Tethys Ocean, the forerunner of the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean.
This produced the Paratethys, a huge Eurasian body of water that extended from Vienna to beyond todays Aral Sea in Kazakhstan. Twelve million years earlier, it had only a narrow connection to the Indian Ocean, the so-called Araks Strait in the location of modern-day Armenia. The scientists assume that Neptunes Vishnu otter followed this connection to the west and reached southern Germany, the Ancient Guenz, and the Hammerschmiede by means of the emerging delta of the Ancient Danube to the west of what is now the city of Vienna.
The fish predators teeth
At the just recently established Center for Visualization, Digitization, and Replication in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Tübingen, researchers used computer-tomographic techniques to visualize the finest details in the fossils tooth structure. This strategy permitted the accurate observation of extremely little structures in the otters dentition. The pointed cusps, cutting blades, and restricted grinding locations suggest a diet based mostly on fish. Environmentally, Neptunes Vishnu otter is therefore more comparable to the Eurasian otter than to the Pacific sea otter or the Asian and african clawless otters– both groups prefer crustaceans or shellfish over fish in their diet.
Recommendation: “New early Late Miocene species of Vishnuonyx (Carnivora, Lutrinae) from the hominid region of Hammerschmiede, Bavaria, Germany” 16 September 2021, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.DOI: 10.1080/ 02724634.2021.1948858.
Vishnu otters (Vishnuonyx) are mid-sized predators with a weight of ten to 15 kilograms that were very first discovered in sediments in the foothills of the Himalayas. Current finds revealed that Vishnu otters reached East Africa about 12 million years back. Like all otters, the Vishnu otter depends on water; it can not take a trip long ranges over land. The researchers presume that Neptunes Vishnu otter followed this connection to the west and reached southern Germany, the Ancient Guenz, and the Hammerschmiede through the emerging delta of the Ancient Danube to the west of what is now the city of Vienna.
Ecologically, Neptunes Vishnu otter is hence more similar to the Eurasian otter than to the Pacific sea otter or the African and Asian clawless otters– both groups prefer crustaceans or shellfish over fish in their diet.
The dispersal of the Vishnuonyx otters from the Indian subcontinent to Africa and Europe about 13 million years ago. The star (HAM 4) shows the position of the Hammerschmiede fossil site. Credit: Nikos Kargopoulos
An Indian Otter found at Hammerschmiede: Neptunes Vishnu otter showed up 11.4 million years earlier from Southeast Asia.
Scientists from the Universities of Tübingen and Zaragoza have actually found a previously unidentified types of otter from 11.4-million-year-old strata at the Hammerschmiede fossil site.
The excavation website in the Allgäu region of Germany became world-renowned in 2019 for discoveries of the bipedal ape Danuvius guggenmosi. The brand-new species, released today in the Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology, was named Vishnuonyx neptuni, indicating Neptunes Vishnu otter. The Vishnu otter genus was previously known only from Asia and Africa.