Megapiranha
Name:
Megapiranha
(Big piranha).
Phonetic: Meg-ah-pee-raan-ha.
Named By: Alberto Luis Cione, Wasila M, Dahdul,
John G. Lundberg & Antonio Machado-Allison - 2009.
Classification: Chordata, Actinopterygii,
Characiformes, Characidae, Serrasalminae.
Species: M. paranensis
(type).
Diet: Uncertain, probably carnivorous, but teeth
could have been used for a herbivorous diet.
Size: Estimated up to 1 meter long.
Known locations: Argentina.
Time period: Tortonian of the Miocene.
Fossil representation: Premaxillae teeth.
Large
and bioengineered Piranha have been staple components for B-movies
since the 1970s, but to find real monster piranha that once really
existed you just have to look into the fossil record of South America
during the Miocene.
Unfortunately
the only currently known remains of Megapiranha are
the teeth from the
premaxilla, the most forward portion of the upper jaw. Comparison
of these teeth to other living Piranha species however has come to the
conclusion, that assuming it had a similar body form (and not just
an oversized mouth) it was up to one meter long, much bigger than
modern piranha.
Originally
found in 1900, and ‘rediscovered’ in the 1980s before being
formally described and named in 2009, these teeth were serrated and
arranged in a single zigzag line across the front jaw. While these
teeth can lean towards a carnivorous diet, they are not exactly like
those of carnivorous piranha, and are in fact intermediate between
carnivorous piranha and the pacu, herbivorous fish of the Colossoma
genus that are related to piranha. Because of this we cannot yet be
certain if Megapiranha represented a monstrous
carnivore or a peaceful
herbivore, with further complications coming from the fact that the
river systems of South America could have supported either lifestyle.
The
Miocene of South America seems to have been populated with familiar yet
oversized animals. These include one of the biggest crocodiles
known to have existed, Purussaurus,
and also what may be the
largest flying bid, Argentavis.
Further reading
- Megapiranha paranensis, a new genus and species
of Serrasalmidae
(Characiformes, Teleostei) from the upper Miocene of Argentina. -
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29(2):350-358. - L. A. Cione, W. M.
Dahdul, J. G. Lundberg & A. Machado-Allison - 2009.
- Mega-Bites: Extreme jaw forces of living and extinct piranhas
(Serrasalmidae). - Scientific Reports. 2: 1009. - J. R. Grubich, S.
Huskey, S. Crofts, G. Orti & J. Porto - 2012.
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