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Mao F, Li Z, Wang Z, Zhang C, Rich T, Vickers-Rich P, Meng J. Jurassic shuotheriids show earliest dental diversification of mammaliaforms. Nature 2024; 628:569-575. [PMID: 38570681 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07258-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2023] [Accepted: 02/29/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024]
Abstract
Shuotheriids are Jurassic mammaliaforms that possess pseudotribosphenic teeth in which a pseudotalonid is anterior to the trigonid in the lower molar, contrasting with the tribosphenic pattern of therian mammals (placentals, marsupials and kin) in which the talonid is posterior to the trigonid1-4. The origin of the pseudotribosphenic teeth remains unclear, obscuring our perception of shuotheriid affinities and the early evolution of mammaliaforms1,5-9. Here we report a new Jurassic shuotheriid represented by two skeletal specimens. Their complete pseudotribosphenic dentitions allow reidentification of dental structures using serial homology and the tooth occlusal relationship. Contrary to the conventional view1,2,6,10,11, our findings show that dental structures of shuotheriids can be homologized to those of docodontans and partly support homologous statements for some dental structures between docodontans and other mammaliaforms6,12. The phylogenetic analysis based on new evidence removes shuotheriids from the tribosphenic ausktribosphenids (including monotremes) and clusters them with docodontans to form a new clade, Docodontiformes, that is characterized by pseudotribosphenic features. In the phylogeny, docodontiforms and 'holotherians' (Kuehneotherium, monotremes and therians)13 evolve independently from a Morganucodon-like ancestor with triconodont molars by labio-lingual widening their posterior teeth for more efficient food processing. The pseudotribosphenic pattern passed a cusp semitriangulation stage9, whereas the tribosphenic pattern and its precursor went through a stage of cusp triangulation. The two different processes resulted in complex tooth structures and occlusal patterns that elucidate the earliest diversification of mammaliaforms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fangyuan Mao
- Key Laboratory of Evolutionary Systematics of Vertebrates, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
- Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Zhiyu Li
- Inner Mongolia Museum of Natural History, Hohhot, China
| | - Zhili Wang
- Inner Mongolia Museum of Natural History, Hohhot, China
| | - Chi Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Evolutionary Systematics of Vertebrates, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Thomas Rich
- Museums Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Patricia Vickers-Rich
- Museums Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Jin Meng
- Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA.
- Earth and Environmental Sciences, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
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Tanaka Y. Rostrum morphology and feeding strategy of the baleen whale indicate that right whales and pygmy right whales became skimmers independently. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:221353. [PMID: 36425522 PMCID: PMC9682309 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.221353] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2022] [Accepted: 11/02/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Baleen whales have lost their functional teeth and begun to use their baleen plates to feed on small prey. Modern baleen whales exhibit different types of feeding strategies, such as lunging, skimming and so on. The evolution of feeding strategy in the Chaeomysticeti is an important step in considering niche partitioning and diversification, feeding efficiency and gigantism, and evolution and extinction. This study analyses the rostrum morphology to test the hypothesis that specific rostral morphologies facilitate special feeding strategies, using modern species and their observed feeding strategies. By this means, the convergence of rostral morphology can be recognized in the closest groups in the morphospace. As a result, the two linages (Balaenidae and Caperea marginata) are recognized to have convergent rostral morphology. In addition, an early member of the Chaeomysticeti, Yamatocetus canaliculatus, and most fossil species are plotted in or close to the cluster of lunge feeders. The original feeding strategy of the Chaeomysticeti could be more similar to lunge feeding than to skim feeding. Fossil relatives of the two linages showing transitional conditions indicate that they shifted to skim feeding independently. The evolution of the feeding strategy of the Chaeomysticeti is possibly more complex than that was thought.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yoshihiro Tanaka
- Osaka Museum of Natural History, Nagai Park 1-23, Higashi-Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka 546-0034, Japan
- Hokkaido University Museum, Kita 10, Nishi 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0810, Japan
- Numata Fossil Museum, 2-7-49, Minami 1, Numata town, Hokkaido 078-2225, Japan
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Krause DW, Hoffmann S, Lyson TR, Dougan LG, Petermann H, Tecza A, Chester SGB, Miller IM. New Skull Material of Taeniolabis taoensis (Multituberculata, Taeniolabididae) from the Early Paleocene (Danian) of the Denver Basin, Colorado. J MAMM EVOL 2021; 28:1083-1143. [PMID: 34924738 PMCID: PMC8667543 DOI: 10.1007/s10914-021-09584-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Taeniolabis taoensis is an iconic multituberculate mammal of early Paleocene (Puercan 3) age from the Western Interior of North America. Here we report the discovery of significant new skull material (one nearly complete cranium, two partial crania, one nearly complete dentary) of T. taoensis in phosphatic concretions from the Corral Bluffs study area, Denver Formation (Danian portion), Denver Basin, Colorado. The new skull material provides the first record of the species from the Denver Basin, where the lowest in situ specimen occurs in river channel deposits ~730,000 years after the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, roughly coincident with the first appearance of legumes in the basin. The new material, in combination with several previously described and undescribed specimens from the Nacimiento Formation of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico, is the subject of detailed anatomical study, aided by micro-computed tomography. Our analyses reveal many previously unknown aspects of skull anatomy. Several regions (e.g., anterior portions of premaxilla, orbit, cranial roof, occiput) preserved in the Corral Bluffs specimens allow considerable revision of previous reconstructions of the external cranial morphology of T. taoensis. Similarly, anatomical details of the ascending process of the dentary are altered in light of the new material. Although details of internal cranial anatomy (e.g., nasal and endocranial cavities) are difficult to discern in the available specimens, we provide, based on UCMP 98083 and DMNH.EPV 95284, the best evidence to date for inner ear structure in a taeniolabidoid multituberculate. The cochlear canal of T. taoensis is elongate and gently curved and the vestibule is enlarged, although to a lesser degree than in Lambdopsalis.
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Affiliation(s)
- David W. Krause
- Department of Earth Sciences, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Boulevard, Denver, CO 80205 USA
- Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-8081 USA
| | - Simone Hoffmann
- Department of Anatomy, College of Osteopathic Medicine, New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, NY 11568 USA
| | - Tyler R. Lyson
- Department of Earth Sciences, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Boulevard, Denver, CO 80205 USA
| | - Lindsay G. Dougan
- Department of Earth Sciences, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Boulevard, Denver, CO 80205 USA
| | - Holger Petermann
- Department of Earth Sciences, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Boulevard, Denver, CO 80205 USA
| | - Adrienne Tecza
- Department of Earth Sciences, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Boulevard, Denver, CO 80205 USA
| | - Stephen G. B. Chester
- Department of Anthropology, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, 2900 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11210 USA
- Department of Anthropology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016 USA
- New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, 200 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024 USA
| | - Ian M. Miller
- Department of Earth Sciences, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Boulevard, Denver, CO 80205 USA
- National Geographic Society, 1145 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20036 USA
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Grossnickle DM, Weaver LN, Jäger KRK, Schultz JA. The evolution of anteriorly directed molar occlusion in mammals. Zool J Linn Soc 2021. [DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
In non-mammalian synapsids and early mammals, evolutionary transformations in the feeding and hearing apparatuses are posited to have been prerequisites for the radiation of extant mammals. Unlike most vertebrates, including many early synapsids, mammals have precise dental occlusion, a lower jaw composed of one bone, and middle ear ossicles derived from ancestral jaw bones. We illuminate a related functional transition: therian mammals (eutherians and metatherians) evolved anteriorly directed chewing strokes, which are absent in other synapsid lineages. Anteriorly directed jaw movement during occlusion necessitates anteriorly directed muscle force vectors, and we posit that a shift in muscle orientation is reflected in the fossil record by the evolutionary appearance of a posteriorly positioned angular process in cladotherians (therians and their close kin). Anteriorly directed occlusion might have been absent in earlier synapsids because of the presence of attached middle ear elements in the posterior region of the jaw that prohibited the posterior insertion of jaw musculature. These changes to the masticatory apparatus in cladotherians are likely to have permitted the evolution of novel masticatory movements, including grinding in both the anterior and medial directions (e.g. rodents and ungulates, respectively). Thus, this evolutionary transition might have been a crucial prerequisite for the dietary diversification of therians.
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Affiliation(s)
- David M Grossnickle
- Department of Biology, Life Sciences Building, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Lucas N Weaver
- Department of Biology, Life Sciences Building, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Kai R K Jäger
- Section Palaeontology, Institute of Geosciences, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Nussallee 8, Bonn, Germany
| | - Julia A Schultz
- Section Palaeontology, Institute of Geosciences, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Nussallee 8, Bonn, Germany
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Panciroli E, Benson RBJ, Fernandez V, Butler RJ, Fraser NC, Luo ZX, Walsh S. New species of mammaliaform and the cranium of Borealestes (Mammaliformes: Docodonta) from the Middle Jurassic of the British Isles. Zool J Linn Soc 2021. [DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Docodonta are one of the earliest diverging groups of mammaliaforms, and their morphology provides key information on the transition between non-mammalian cynodonts and Mammalia. We describe the partial skulls of two docodontans Borealestes serendipitus and Borealestes cuillinensis sp. nov. from the Kilmaluag Formation (Middle Jurassic: Bathonian), Isle of Skye, Scotland. We visualize their cranial anatomy using laboratory and synchrotron X-ray micro-CT. The skulls belong to two partial skeletons, currently comprising the most complete Mesozoic mammal fossils reported from the British Isles. The associated upper and lower dentitions show that the lower dentition of Borealestes is not diagnostic to species level. We establish, B. cuillinensis, based on upper molar characters, and re-identify upper molars previously assigned to ‘Borealestes’ mussettae as belonging to B. cuillinensis. ‘Borealestes’ mussettae, based on distinctive lower molars, is found to be morphologically and phylogenetically distinct from Borealestes, necessitating assignment to a new genus, Dobunnodon gen. nov. The skulls of Borealestes retain many plesiomorphic features seen in Morganucodon but absent in more crownward mammaliaforms. Our study highlights that generic and species taxonomy of docodontans are more reliable when based on both upper and lower teeth, while lower molar morphology may underrepresent the true diversity of Mesozoic mammaliaforms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elsa Panciroli
- Natural Science Department, National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
- School of Geosciences, Grant Institute, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, England, UK
| | - Roger B J Benson
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, England, UK
| | - Vincent Fernandez
- European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), Beamline, Grenoble, France
- Natural History Museum, London, UK
| | - Richard J Butler
- School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK
| | - Nicholas C Fraser
- Natural Science Department, National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
- School of Geosciences, Grant Institute, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
| | - Zhe-Xi Luo
- Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Stig Walsh
- Natural Science Department, National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
- School of Geosciences, Grant Institute, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
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Tanaka Y, Furusawa H, Kimura M. A new member of fossil balaenid (Mysticeti, Cetacea) from the early Pliocene of Hokkaido, Japan. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2020; 7:192182. [PMID: 32431893 PMCID: PMC7211833 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.192182] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2019] [Accepted: 03/19/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
The family Balaenidae includes two genus and four extant species. Extinct balaenids are known for at least four genus and 10 species. The oldest known record of members of the Balaenidae is known from the early Miocene, but still need more early members of the family to provide better phylogenetic hypotheses. FCCP 1049 from the lower part of the Chippubetsu Formation, Fukagawa Group (3.5-5.2 Ma, Zanclean, early Pliocene) was preliminary described and identified as Balaenula sp. by Furusawa and Kimura in 1982. Later works discussed that FCCP 1049 is different from the genus, and is placed in different clade from Balaenula astensis. The result of our phylogenetic analysis places FCCP 1049 basal to Balaenella brachyrhynus, and is again separated from B. astensis. In this study, FCCP 1049 is re-described and named as Archaeobalaena dosanko gen. et sp. nov. Archaeobalaena dosanko is distinguishable from other balaenids by having a deep promontorial groove of the pars cochlearis of the periotic. Archaeobalaena dosanko can be differentiated from other balaenids, except Morenocetus parvus by having a slender zygomatic process, and posteriorly oriented postorbital process in dorsal view. Archaeobalaena dosanko adds detailed skull, periotic and bulla morphologies for the earlier balaenids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yoshihiro Tanaka
- Osaka Museum of Natural History, Nagai Park 1-23, Higashi-Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka 546-0034, Japan
- Division of Academic Resources and Specimens, Hokkaido University Museum, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
- Numata Fossil Museum, Numata, Hokkaido, Japan
| | | | - Masaichi Kimura
- Numata Fossil Museum, Numata, Hokkaido, Japan
- Hokkaido University of Education, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
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Zhou CF, Bhullar BAS, Neander AI, Martin T, Luo ZX. New Jurassic mammaliaform sheds light on early evolution of mammal-like hyoid bones. Science 2019; 365:276-279. [DOI: 10.1126/science.aau9345] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2018] [Accepted: 06/12/2019] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Chang-Fu Zhou
- Paleontological Museum of Liaoning, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang Liaoning 110034, China
- College of Earth Science and Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, Shandong 266590, China
| | - Bhart-Anjan S. Bhullar
- Department of Geology and Geophysics and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - April I. Neander
- Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Thomas Martin
- Section Paleontology, Institute of Geosciences, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, 53115 Bonn, Germany
| | - Zhe-Xi Luo
- Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
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Re-examination of the Jurassic Mammaliaform Docodon victor by Computed Tomography and Occlusal Functional Analysis. J MAMM EVOL 2017. [DOI: 10.1007/s10914-017-9418-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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Grossnickle DM. The evolutionary origin of jaw yaw in mammals. Sci Rep 2017; 7:45094. [PMID: 28322334 PMCID: PMC5359619 DOI: 10.1038/srep45094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2016] [Accepted: 02/17/2017] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Theria comprises all but three living mammalian genera and is one of the most ecologically pervasive clades on Earth. Yet, the origin and early history of therians and their close relatives (i.e., cladotherians) remains surprisingly enigmatic. A critical biological function that can be compared among early mammal groups is mastication. Morphometrics and modeling analyses of the jaws of Mesozoic mammals indicate that cladotherians evolved musculoskeletal anatomies that increase mechanical advantage during jaw rotation around a dorsoventrally-oriented axis (i.e., yaw) while decreasing the mechanical advantage of jaw rotation around a mediolaterally-oriented axis (i.e., pitch). These changes parallel molar transformations in early cladotherians that indicate their chewing cycles included significant transverse movement, likely produced via yaw rotation. Thus, I hypothesize that cladotherian molar morphologies and musculoskeletal jaw anatomies evolved concurrently with increased yaw rotation of the jaw during chewing cycles. The increased transverse movement resulting from yaw rotation may have been a crucial evolutionary prerequisite for the functionally versatile tribosphenic molar morphology, which underlies the molars of all therians and is retained by many extant clades.
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Affiliation(s)
- David M Grossnickle
- University of Chicago, Committee on Evolutionary Biology, Chicago, 60637, USA
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Meng QJ, Ji Q, Zhang YG, Liu D, Grossnickle DM, Luo ZX. Mammalian evolution. An arboreal docodont from the Jurassic and mammaliaform ecological diversification. Science 2015; 347:764-8. [PMID: 25678661 DOI: 10.1126/science.1260879] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
A new docodontan mammaliaform from the Middle Jurassic of China has skeletal features for climbing and dental characters indicative of an omnivorous diet that included plant sap. This fossil expands the range of known locomotor adaptations in docodontans to include climbing, in addition to digging and swimming. It further shows that some docodontans had a diet with a substantial herbivorous component, distinctive from the faunivorous diets previously reported in other members of this clade. This reveals a greater ecological diversity in an early mammaliaform clade at a more fundamental taxonomic level not only between major clades as previously thought.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qing-Jin Meng
- Beijing Museum of Natural History, Beijing 100050 China
| | - Qiang Ji
- Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China
| | | | - Di Liu
- Beijing Museum of Natural History, Beijing 100050 China
| | - David M Grossnickle
- Committee on Evolutionary Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Zhe-Xi Luo
- Committee on Evolutionary Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
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Luo ZX, Meng QJ, Ji Q, Liu D, Zhang YG, Neander AI. Evolutionary development in basal mammaliaforms as revealed by a docodontan. Science 2015; 347:760-4. [DOI: 10.1126/science.1260880] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
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Ji Q, Luo ZX, Yuan CX, Tabrum AR. A Swimming Mammaliaform from the Middle Jurassic and Ecomorphological Diversification of Early Mammals. Science 2006; 311:1123-7. [PMID: 16497926 DOI: 10.1126/science.1123026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 120] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
A docodontan mammaliaform from the Middle Jurassic of China possesses swimming and burrowing skeletal adaptations and some dental features for aquatic feeding. It is the most primitive taxon in the mammalian lineage known to have fur and has a broad, flattened, partly scaly tail analogous to that of modern beavers. We infer that docodontans were semiaquatic, convergent to the modern platypus and many Cenozoic placentals. This fossil demonstrates that some mammaliaforms, or proximal relatives to modern mammals, developed diverse locomotory and feeding adaptations and were ecomorphologically different from the majority of generalized small terrestrial Mesozoic mammalian insectivores.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiang Ji
- Department of Earth Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 200017, China
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