LCSO: Lehigh Acres investigation underwayRock for Equality: SWFL non-profit hosts benefit concert for Palestine
lehigh acres LCSO: Lehigh Acres investigation underway The Lee County Sheriff’s Office responded to a scene in Lehigh Acres early Saturday morning.
Rock for Equality: SWFL non-profit hosts benefit concert for Palestine A Southwest Florida non-profit hosted a benefit concert on Friday night to help with humanitarian aid in Palestine.
Warm, breezy Saturday with a few showers possible The Weather Authority is forecasting a breezy, warm weekend in store across Southwest Florida, with the chance of a few showers, particularly on Saturday.
CAPE CORAL Active investigation underway in South Cape Coral Cape Coral police are investigating at a home on Southwest 49th Terrace in South Cape Coral early Saturday morning.
16 transported after 2 airboats crash in Collier County According to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, two airboats crashed south of U.S. 41 east between mile markers 74 and 75, leaving well over a dozen people injured.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA New bill filed: Auto shop and law enforcement must work together to solve hit-and-run crashes There could be new detectives on the block, located in your nearest auto shop. A new state bill aims at trying to stop hit-and-run drivers from getting away.
CAPE CORAL New leash on life; Cape Coral shelter dog beats cancer with drug being tested for humans A drug now being studied in human trials to kill cancerous tumors, is already approved and helping animals.
CAPE CORAL City of Cape Coral planning a new interchange with I-75 The city of Cape Coral is in the early stages of planning a new interchange with I-75, an idea that has been discussed for more than a decade.
Tracking invasive species after hurricanes Hurricanes Helene and Milton didn’t just bring wind and rain, they brought new threats to southwest Florida’s ecosystem.
PUNTA GORDA Woman in Punta Gorda shooting charged with 2nd degree murder A woman in a homicide investigation on Nasturtium Drive in Punta Gorda has been charged with 2nd-degree murder.
Lee County mother continuing fight to get children a bus stop The school district already told her she lives too close to the school to qualify for a bus route but she has not given up.
NORTH NAPLES Grant Thornton Invitational returns to Tiburon Golf Club Stars on the PGA and LPGA Tours are back in Southwest Florida for the Grant Thornton Invitational at Tiburon Golf Club.
FORT MYERS Black Flag brings classic punk energy to The Ranch in Fort Myers Legendary punk band Black Flag made their mark in Southwest Florida during the Fort Myers stop of their “First Four Years” tour.
Charlotte Technical College breaks ground on aviation facility The Charlotte County School District is flying high and keeping its “Space Academy” designation with a new aviation training facility for students.
CAPE CORAL Man arrested in connection with Cape Coral home invasion The Cape Coral Police Department has announced the arrest of one of three men suspected in a home invasion that took place earlier this month.
lehigh acres LCSO: Lehigh Acres investigation underway The Lee County Sheriff’s Office responded to a scene in Lehigh Acres early Saturday morning.
Rock for Equality: SWFL non-profit hosts benefit concert for Palestine A Southwest Florida non-profit hosted a benefit concert on Friday night to help with humanitarian aid in Palestine.
Warm, breezy Saturday with a few showers possible The Weather Authority is forecasting a breezy, warm weekend in store across Southwest Florida, with the chance of a few showers, particularly on Saturday.
CAPE CORAL Active investigation underway in South Cape Coral Cape Coral police are investigating at a home on Southwest 49th Terrace in South Cape Coral early Saturday morning.
16 transported after 2 airboats crash in Collier County According to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, two airboats crashed south of U.S. 41 east between mile markers 74 and 75, leaving well over a dozen people injured.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA New bill filed: Auto shop and law enforcement must work together to solve hit-and-run crashes There could be new detectives on the block, located in your nearest auto shop. A new state bill aims at trying to stop hit-and-run drivers from getting away.
CAPE CORAL New leash on life; Cape Coral shelter dog beats cancer with drug being tested for humans A drug now being studied in human trials to kill cancerous tumors, is already approved and helping animals.
CAPE CORAL City of Cape Coral planning a new interchange with I-75 The city of Cape Coral is in the early stages of planning a new interchange with I-75, an idea that has been discussed for more than a decade.
Tracking invasive species after hurricanes Hurricanes Helene and Milton didn’t just bring wind and rain, they brought new threats to southwest Florida’s ecosystem.
PUNTA GORDA Woman in Punta Gorda shooting charged with 2nd degree murder A woman in a homicide investigation on Nasturtium Drive in Punta Gorda has been charged with 2nd-degree murder.
Lee County mother continuing fight to get children a bus stop The school district already told her she lives too close to the school to qualify for a bus route but she has not given up.
NORTH NAPLES Grant Thornton Invitational returns to Tiburon Golf Club Stars on the PGA and LPGA Tours are back in Southwest Florida for the Grant Thornton Invitational at Tiburon Golf Club.
FORT MYERS Black Flag brings classic punk energy to The Ranch in Fort Myers Legendary punk band Black Flag made their mark in Southwest Florida during the Fort Myers stop of their “First Four Years” tour.
Charlotte Technical College breaks ground on aviation facility The Charlotte County School District is flying high and keeping its “Space Academy” designation with a new aviation training facility for students.
CAPE CORAL Man arrested in connection with Cape Coral home invasion The Cape Coral Police Department has announced the arrest of one of three men suspected in a home invasion that took place earlier this month.
Body configurations of the predator (Ichthyosaur) and prey (thalattosaur). Paleontologists in southwestern China recently discovered a nearly complete skeleton of a prehistoric marine reptile known as an ichthyosaur. But they also found something completely unexpected — a well-preserved, extremely long reptile inside that creature’s belly. Ichthyosaurs were giant, dolphin-like carnivores that lived during the time of the dinosaurs, thriving during the Mesozoic era. In a study published Thursday in the journal iScience, researchers documented finding one with a fossil in its stomach belonging to a four-meter-long, lizard-like aquatic reptile called a thalattosaur. It’s one of the longest fossils ever found in the stomach of a prehistoric marine reptile. Researchers said the predator likely died soon after ingesting its prey, which could be why it is so well preserved. This last meal back took place back in the Middle Triassic period, roughly 237 million to 247 million years ago. It’s quite rare to find fossils within the stomach of other fossils, so researchers typically rely on tooth and jaw shapes to deduce the diets of prehistoric species. While apex predators tend to have large, sharp teeth, those of ichthyosaurs were blunter, leading researchers to believe they mostly fed on small prey like cephalopods. “If you look across all the similar marine reptiles that lived in the age of dinosaurs, we’ve actually never found something articulated like this in the stomach,” study co-author Ryosuke Motani, a professor of paleobiology at the University of California, Davis, said in a press release. “At first, we just didn’t believe it, but after spending several years visiting the dig site and looking at the same specimens, we finally were able to swallow what we were seeing.” Body configurations of the predator (Ichthyosaur) and prey (thalattosaur). This image shows a closeup of the ichthyosaur’s stomach area. This image shows the ichthyosaur’s teeth. The new discovery could reclassify the species as “apex megapredators” — predators at the top of the food chain. “Now, we can seriously consider that they were eating big animals, even when they had grasping teeth,” Motani said. “It’s been suggested before that maybe a cutting edge was not crucial, and our discovery really supports that. It’s pretty clear that this animal could process this large food item using blunt teeth.” It’s still unclear, however, whether the ichthyosaur killed the thalattosaur or simply scavenged it. “Nobody was there filming it,” Motani joked. But researchers doubt that this was a case of scavenging, given how intact they found the fossil of the thalattosaur. If it was a case of scavenging, they said, its limbs would have decayed; however, its limbs were at least partially attacked and it appears its tail was ripped off. Researchers said that, regardless of how exactly the ichthyosaur consumed its final meal, the discovery marks the oldest direct evidence that the species ate animals larger than modern humans. “We now have a really solid articulated fossil in the stomach of a marine reptile for the first time,” Motani said. “Before, we guessed that they must have eaten these big things, but now, we can say for sure that they did eat large animals. This also suggests that megapredation was probably more common than we previously thought.” Researchers have been studying the quarry where the pair of fossils was found for more than a decade. It has been opened as a museum, but the excavation projects are still ongoing. “Still, new things are coming out,” Motani said. “At this point, it’s beyond our initial expectations, and we’ll just have to see what we’ll discover next.”