New suction-mouthed species which lived in UK 1,700,000 years ago discovered

Ontocetus posti might have died out when it got trapped in our waters during the Ice Age (Picture: Jaime Bran/SWNS)

A new ancient mammal which lived in the North Sea two million years ago has been discovered.

The extinct species was similar to modern-day walruses, and fed by ‘suctioning’ food like shellfish into its mouth like a vacuum.

Study leader Dr. Mathieu Boisville uncovered the new species of the extinct genus Ontocetus from Lower Pleistocene (Ice Age) deposits in the North Atlantic.

He said it could help us understand how modern walruses evolved, as it fed in a similar way.

Fossils of Ontocetus posti from Norwich and Antwerp, Belgium were reexamined which allowed researchers to work out they were from an entirely new species.

The species died out around 1.7 million years ago, with authors theorising it could have got trapped in the North Sea by rising levels of sea ice.

Additionally, it ‘may have been overly specialized in suction-feeding for molluscivorous diet, rendering it more vulnerable to rapid changes in sea level oscillation and the general global cooling during this period’.

Fossils of the new species show it had fed using a ‘suction’ technique (Picture: PeerJ)

Dr Boisville, of the University of Tsukuba, Japan, said: ‘These remains were initially thought to belong to another species, Ontocetus emmonsi.

‘However, detailed analysis of the mandibles revealed a unique combination of features that distinguish it as a new species.

‘Such anatomical characteristics suggest that Ontocetus posti was quite well adapted to suction-feeding, somewhat similar to its modern relative, the walrus.’

The fossil from Britain was discovered at Easton Bavents in Suffolk, East Anglia, and analysis revealed it had originated from Norwich.

Researchers published their findings yesterday, saying mandibles (lower jaws) of the animals showed them to have ‘four post-canine teeth, a larger lower canine, and a fused and short mandibular symphysis’.

Originating from the North Pacific Ocean, Dr Boisville explained that the Ontocetus genus was able to spread to the Atlantic.

He said: ‘This migration was probably facilitated by the Central American Seaway, a crucial oceanic passage before the closure of the Isthmus of Panama.

‘The resulting global cooling starting during the Late Pliocene significantly impacted marine life, contributing to the extinction of Ontocetus posti during the Early Pleistocene and allowing the cold-adapted Odobenus rosmarus to emerge and eventually dominate.’

He says the discovery, published in the journal PeerJ Life & Environment, sheds new light on the evolutionary history of walruses.

Dr Boisville added: ‘The convergence of feeding adaptations between Ontocetus posti and the modern walrus illustrates the dynamic evolutionary processes that occur across different eras and environments.’

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