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This ancient reptile wanted to be a whale

Fossils suggests that a dog-sized swimmer sifted prey with plates similar to baleen, in an example of convergent evolution.
Illustration of Hupehsuchus nanchangensis feeding on plankton.

The reconstruction of the skeleton of Hupehsuchus nanchangensis (artist’s impression) suggests that it gulped down plankton as it swam. Credit: Cheng Long

A small, swimming reptile with a big snout that lived some 248 million years ago could have been the world’s first filter feeder1. Modern whales didn’t develop the ability to use baleen plates to feed until about 34 million years ago.

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Nature 620, 471 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02524-6

References

  1. Fang, Z.-C. et al. BMC Ecol. Evol. 23, 36 (2023).

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