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Scientists Describe Tyrannoroter Heberti, a 307-Million-Year-Old Plant-Chewing Tetrapod

CT scans reveal plant-processing teeth that push the origin of herbivory deeper into tetrapod history.

Overview

  • The species is formally described from a single skull found on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, and dated to about 307 million years ago.
  • High‑resolution micro‑CT of the closed jaw exposed an extra palatal tooth row and teeth on the coronoids with wear consistent with grinding tough plants.
  • The research team interprets the animal as an early land vertebrate with herbivorous adaptations that revise views of when plant eating evolved.
  • Only the skull is known, but comparisons suggest a stout body around 30 centimeters long, and the diet was likely omnivorous rather than strictly vegetarian.
  • The fossil was discovered in 2023 by hobby paleontologist Brian Hebert, for whom the species is named, and the study appears in Nature Ecology & Evolution.