Discovered by and named after Brian Hebert of Nova Scotia, Tyrannoroter heberti is a new species of animal known as a microsaur that lived around 307 million years ago. Although typical in appearance externally, after CT scanning the specimen to get a look inside the skull, the team of researchers led by former Carleton students Arjan Mann and Zifang Xiong, supervised by Hillary Maddin, were surprised to see an additional set of teeth inside the mouth that were adapted to slicing and grinding tough plants. Upon further investigation, similar teeth were found in an even older relative of Tyrannoroter, suggesting this lineage began evolving the ability to eat plants even earlier than previously thought.
Please see the full research article here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-025-02929-8
For recent CBC and Reuters articles, see here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/tyrannoroter-fossil-herbivore-9.7094046 and here: https://www.reuters.com/science/canadian-fossil-reveals-one-first-plant…
