1
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Sosiak C, Cockx P, Suarez PA, McKellar R, Barden P. Prolonged faunal turnover in earliest ants revealed by North American Cretaceous amber. Curr Biol 2024; 34:1755-1761.e6. [PMID: 38521061 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2023] [Revised: 12/13/2023] [Accepted: 02/23/2024] [Indexed: 03/25/2024]
Abstract
All ∼14,000 extant ant species descended from the same common ancestor, which lived ∼140-120 million years ago (Ma).1,2 While modern ants began to diversify in the Cretaceous, recent fossil evidence has demonstrated that older lineages concomitantly occupied the same ancient ecosystems.3 These early-diverging ant lineages, or stem ants, left no modern descendants; however, they dominated the fossil record throughout the Cretaceous until their ultimate extinction sometime around the K-Pg boundary. Even as stem ant lineages appear to be diverse and abundant throughout the Cretaceous, the extent of their longevity in the fossil record and circumstances contributing to their extinction remain unknown.3 Here we report the youngest stem ants, preserved in ∼77 Ma Cretaceous amber from North Carolina, which illustrate unexpected morphological stability and lineage persistence in this enigmatic group, rivaling the longevity of contemporary ants. Through phylogenetic reconstruction and morphometric analyses, we find evidence that total taxic turnover in ants was not accompanied by a fundamental morphological shift, in contrast to other analogous stem extinctions such as theropod dinosaurs. While stem taxa showed broad morphological variation, high-density ant morphospace remained relatively constant through the last 100 million years, detailing a parallel, but temporally staggered, evolutionary history of modern and stem ants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christine Sosiak
- Biodiversity and Biocomplexity Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa 904-0495, Japan; Department of Biological Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA.
| | - Pierre Cockx
- Biology Department, University of Regina, Regina, SK S4S 0A2, Canada
| | | | - Ryan McKellar
- Biology Department, University of Regina, Regina, SK S4S 0A2, Canada; Royal Saskatchewan Museum, Regina, SK S4P 4W7, Canada.
| | - Phillip Barden
- Department of Biological Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA; Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA.
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2
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Wang H, Wang Y. Middle ear innovation in Early Cretaceous eutherian mammals. Nat Commun 2023; 14:6831. [PMID: 37884521 PMCID: PMC10603157 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42606-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2022] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 10/28/2023] Open
Abstract
The middle ear ossicles in modern mammals are repurposed from postdentary bones in non-mammalian cynodonts. Recent discoveries by palaeontological and embryonic studies have developed different models for the middle ear evolution in mammaliaforms. However, little is known about the evolutionary scenario of the middle ear in early therians. Here we report a detached middle ear preserved in a new eutherian mammal from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota. The well-preserved articulation of the malleus and incus suggest that the saddle-shaped incudomallear joint is a major apomorphy of Early Cretaceous eutherians. By contrast to the distinct saddle-like incudomallear articulation in therians, differences between the overlapping versus the half-overlapping incudomallear joints in monotremes and stem mammals would be relatively minor. The middle ear belongs to the microtype by definition, indicating its adaptation to high-frequency hearing. Current evidence indicates that significant evolutionary innovations of the middle ear in modern therians evolved in Early Cretaceous.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haibing Wang
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100044, Beijing, China.
| | - Yuanqing Wang
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100044, Beijing, China.
- College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China.
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3
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García-Girón J, Chiarenza AA, Alahuhta J, DeMar DG, Heino J, Mannion PD, Williamson TE, Wilson Mantilla GP, Brusatte SL. Shifts in food webs and niche stability shaped survivorship and extinction at the end-Cretaceous. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eadd5040. [PMID: 36475805 PMCID: PMC9728968 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.add5040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2022] [Accepted: 11/04/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
It has long been debated why groups such as non-avian dinosaurs became extinct whereas mammals and other lineages survived the Cretaceous/Paleogene mass extinction 66 million years ago. We used Markov networks, ecological niche partitioning, and Earth System models to reconstruct North American food webs and simulate ecospace occupancy before and after the extinction event. We find a shift in latest Cretaceous dinosaur faunas, as medium-sized species counterbalanced a loss of megaherbivores, but dinosaur niches were otherwise stable and static, potentially contributing to their demise. Smaller vertebrates, including mammals, followed a consistent trajectory of increasing trophic impact and relaxation of niche limits beginning in the latest Cretaceous and continuing after the mass extinction. Mammals did not simply proliferate after the extinction event; rather, their earlier ecological diversification might have helped them survive.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jorge García-Girón
- Geography Research Unit, University of Oulu, PO Box 3000, FI-90014 Oulu, Finland
- Department of Biodiversity and Environmental Management, University of León, Campus de Vegazana, 24007 León, Spain
| | - Alfio Alessandro Chiarenza
- Departamento de Ecoloxía e Bioloxía Animal, Grupo de Ecología Animal, Centro de Investigacion Mariña, Universidade de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain
| | - Janne Alahuhta
- Geography Research Unit, University of Oulu, PO Box 3000, FI-90014 Oulu, Finland
| | - David G. DeMar
- Department of Biology, University of Washington and the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, Seattle, WA 98105, USA
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA
| | - Jani Heino
- Geography Research Unit, University of Oulu, PO Box 3000, FI-90014 Oulu, Finland
| | - Philip D. Mannion
- Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, WC1E 6BT London, UK
| | | | - Gregory P. Wilson Mantilla
- Department of Biology, University of Washington and the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, Seattle, WA 98105, USA
| | - Stephen L. Brusatte
- School of GeoSciences, Grant Institute, University of Edinburgh, James Hutton Road, EH9 3FE Edinburgh, UK
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4
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Wang HB, Hoffmann S, Wang DC, Wang YQ. A new mammal from the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Biota and implications for eutherian evolution. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20210042. [PMID: 35125007 PMCID: PMC8819371 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Here we report on a new Early Cretaceous eutherian represented by a partial skeleton from the Jiufotang Formation at Sihedang site, Lingyuan City, Liaoning Province that fills a crucial gap between the earliest eutherians from the Yixian Formation and later Cretaceous eutherians. The new specimen reveals, to our knowledge for the first time in eutherians, that the Meckelian cartilage was ossified but reduced in size, confirming a complete detachment of the middle ear from the lower jaw. Seven hyoid elements, including paired stylohyals, epihyals and thyrohyals and the single basihyal are preserved. For the inner ear the ossified primary lamina, base of the secondary lamina, ossified cochlear ganglion and secondary crus commune are present and the cochlear canal is coiled through 360°. In addition, plesiomorphic features of the dentition include weak conules, lack of pre- and post-cingula and less expanded protocones on the upper molars and height differential between the trigonid and talonid, a large protoconid and a small paraconid on the lower molars. The new taxon displays an alternating pattern of tooth replacement with P3 being the last upper premolar to erupt similar to the basal eutherian Juramaia. Parsimony analysis places the new taxon with Montanalestes, Sinodelphys and Ambolestes as a sister group to other eutherians. This article is part of the theme issue 'The impact of Chinese palaeontology on evolutionary research'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hai-Bing Wang
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Beijing, People's Republic of China.,Centre for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.,Key State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, People's Republic of China
| | - Simone Hoffmann
- Department of Anatomy, College of Osteopathic Medicine, New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, NY, USA
| | - Dian-Can Wang
- Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Peking University School of Stomatology, 22 South Zhongguancun Avenue, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Yuan-Qing Wang
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Beijing, People's Republic of China.,Centre for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.,College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China
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5
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Abello MA, Martin GM, Cardoso Y. Review of the extinct ‘shrew-opossums’ (Marsupialia: Caenolestidae), with descriptions of two new genera and three new species from the Early Miocene of southern South America. Zool J Linn Soc 2021. [DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
We present a systematic review of the extinct species included in the family Caenolestidae, one of the few South American metatherian groups that has survived to the present. We perform a cladistic analysis based on a data matrix consisting of all extant and extinct species that have been referred to this family, 100 morphological characters and two sets of molecular data (cytochrome b and cytochrome c oxidase I). Morphological and molecular data were analysed separately and in combination, under maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood methods. As a result, caenolestids are recovered as a monophyletic group within which we formally recognize three new taxa: Caenolestoides miocaenicus gen. & sp. nov., Gaimanlestes pascuali gen. & sp. nov. and Stilotherium parvum sp. nov. from the Early Miocene of Patagonia, Argentina. Stilotherium is the earliest diverging lineage of caenolestids followed by Gaimanlestes, while C. miocaenicus was recovered as the extinct species most closely related to extant caenolestids.
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Affiliation(s)
- María Alejandra Abello
- Laboratorio de Sistemática y Biología Evolutiva (LASBE), Unidades de investigación Anexo Museo, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo (UNLP). La Plata, Argentina
| | - Gabriel M Martin
- Centro de Investigación Esquel de Montaña y Estepa Patagónica (CIEMEP), CONICET – UNPSJB, Roca, y Laboratorio de Investigaciones en Evolución y Biodiversidad (LIEB), Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Ciencias de la Salud, UNPSJB, Chubut, Argentina
| | - Yamila Cardoso
- Laboratorio de Sistemática y Biología Evolutiva (LASBE), Unidades de investigación Anexo Museo, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo (UNLP). La Plata, Argentina
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6
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Brocklehurst N, Panciroli E, Benevento GL, Benson RBJ. Mammaliaform extinctions as a driver of the morphological radiation of Cenozoic mammals. Curr Biol 2021; 31:2955-2963.e4. [PMID: 34004143 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.04.044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2020] [Revised: 12/04/2020] [Accepted: 04/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Adaptive radiations are hypothesized as a generating mechanism for much of the morphological diversity of extant species.1-7 The Cenozoic radiation of placental mammals, the foundational example of this concept,8,9 gave rise to much of the morphological disparity of extant mammals, and is generally attributed to relaxed evolutionary constraints following the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs.10-13 However, study of this and other radiations has focused on variation in evolutionary rates,4,5,7,14 leaving the extent to which relaxation of constraints enabled the origin of novel phenotypes less well characterized.15-17 We evaluate constraints on morphological evolution among mammaliaforms (mammals and their closest relatives) using a new method that quantifies the capacity of evolutionary change to generate phenotypic novelty. We find that Mesozoic crown-group therians, which include the ancestors of placental mammals, were significantly more constrained than other mammaliaforms. Relaxation of these constraints occurred in the mid-Paleocene, post-dating the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs at the K/Pg boundary, instead coinciding with important environmental shifts and with declining ecomorphological diversity in non-theriimorph mammaliaforms. This relaxation occurred even in small-bodied Cenozoic mammals weighing <100 g, which are unlikely to have competed with dinosaurs. Instead, our findings support a more complex model whereby Mesozoic crown therian evolution was in part constrained by co-occurrence with disparate mammaliaforms, as well as by the presence of dinosaurs, within-lineage incumbency effects, and environmental factors. Our results demonstrate that variation in evolutionary constraints can occur independently of variation in evolutionary rate, and that both make important contributions to the understanding of adaptive radiations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Neil Brocklehurst
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3AN, UK.
| | - Elsa Panciroli
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3AN, UK; Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PW, UK
| | - Gemma Louise Benevento
- School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
| | - Roger B J Benson
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3AN, UK
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7
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Andrade-Silva B, Vilela R, Lopes-Torres E, Costa-Neto S, Maldonado A. Boehmiella wilsoni (Nematoda, Heligmosomoidea, Boehmiellidae fam. nov.), found in Amazonian rodents. Int J Parasitol Parasites Wildl 2020; 13:119-129. [PMID: 32995268 PMCID: PMC7508696 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2020.08.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2020] [Revised: 08/17/2020] [Accepted: 08/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
The genus Boehmiella was initially described as a member of the family Trichostrongylidae. Subsequently, it was assigned to the subfamily Haemonchinae in the family Haemonchidae. We analyzed parasites of spiny tree-rats, Mesomys hispidus, collected in the Amazon rainforest, which were identified as B. wilsoni based on integrative taxonomy. Using morphology, morphometry, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), we added new data to the original description of the species. We also inferred phylogenetic hypotheses for its relationships within the Trichostrongylina, based on partial nuclear 18S and 28S rRNA genes, through Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian analyses. In conclusion, B. wilsoni does not belong to the family Haemonchidae, nor is it closely related to any other trichostrongylin family, and therefore, we propose the establishment of a new family, Boehmiellidae fam. nov., to which the genus Boehmiella is allocated. Helminth found in arboreal rodent of the Amazon region, with description of new host, new geographical distribution, new taxonomic data, and proposal of a new family to allocate the genus according to molecular and morphological analyses.
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Affiliation(s)
- B.E. Andrade-Silva
- Programa de Pós-graduação em Biologia Parasitária, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Brazil
- Laboratório de Biologia e Parasitologia de Mamíferos Silvestres Reservatórios, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Brazil
| | - R.V. Vilela
- Laboratório de Biologia e Parasitologia de Mamíferos Silvestres Reservatórios, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Brazil
- Corresponding author. Laboratório de Biologia e Parasitologia de Mamíferos Silvestres Reservatórios, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Av. Brasil 4365, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 21040, Brazil.
| | - E.J. Lopes-Torres
- Laboratório de Helmintologia Romero Lascasas Porto, Departamento de Microbiologia, Imunologia EParasitologia, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Centro Biomédico, Universidade Do Estado Do Rio de Janeiro – UERJ, Brazil
| | - S.F. Costa-Neto
- Campus Fiocruz Mata Atlântica, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz – FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - A. Maldonado
- Laboratório de Biologia e Parasitologia de Mamíferos Silvestres Reservatórios, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Brazil
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8
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Albert TG, Schiel N, Souto A. The white-eared opossum failed to understand the parallel strings task: studying a primitive mammal under natural conditions. Anim Cogn 2020; 23:871-880. [PMID: 32394147 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-020-01392-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2019] [Revised: 02/23/2020] [Accepted: 04/29/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The present study aimed to investigate if the white-eared opossum under natural conditions is capable of spontaneously solving the parallel string task. The experimental study with this primitive mammal was carried out on fifteen naïve animals of both sexes in northeastern Brazil. The parallel strings task was arranged in apparatuses with a vertical and a horizontal arrangement. A food reward (a slice of banana) was connected at the extremity of one string. A total of 505 videos were recorded using trap cameras. Despite the observed interest in obtaining the bait, the number of attempts to reach it and the use of the strings as support (trying to directly reach the bait in the vertical apparatus), the individuals were unable to pull any of the strings, suggesting that they could not understand the problem. The present study points to the relevance of using the species Didelphis albiventris and other species from this family (e.g., D. virginiana) to broaden our knowledge about the cognitive capacity of mammalian species. In addition, the opossums might represent an advisable path to better understand the evolution of cognition in this group.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tatiani G Albert
- Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Recife, Brasil
| | - Nicola Schiel
- Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Recife, Brasil
| | - Antonio Souto
- Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Avenida Professor Moraes Rego, 1235, Cidade Universitária, 50670-901, Recife, PE, Brasil.
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9
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Magalhaes ILF, Azevedo GHF, Michalik P, Ramírez MJ. The fossil record of spiders revisited: implications for calibrating trees and evidence for a major faunal turnover since the Mesozoic. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2020; 95:184-217. [PMID: 31713947 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12559] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2019] [Revised: 09/06/2019] [Accepted: 09/10/2019] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Studies in evolutionary biology and biogeography increasingly rely on the estimation of dated phylogenetic trees using molecular clocks. In turn, the calibration of such clocks is critically dependent on external evidence (i.e. fossils) anchoring the ages of particular nodes to known absolute ages. In recent years, a plethora of new fossil spiders, especially from the Mesozoic, have been described, while the number of studies presenting dated spider phylogenies based on fossil calibrations increased sharply. We critically evaluate 44 of these studies, which collectively employed 67 unique fossils in 180 calibrations. Approximately 54% of these calibrations are problematic, particularly regarding unsupported assignment of fossils to extant clades (44%) and crown (rather than stem) dating (9%). Most of these cases result from an assumed equivalence between taxonomic placement of fossils and their phylogenetic position. To overcome this limitation, we extensively review the literature on fossil spiders, with a special focus on putative synapomorphies and the phylogenetic placement of fossil species with regard to their importance for calibrating higher taxa (families and above) in the spider tree of life. We provide a curated list including 41 key fossils intended to be a basis for future estimations of dated spider phylogenies. In a second step, we use a revised set of 23 calibrations to estimate a new dated spider tree of life based on transcriptomic data. The revised placement of key fossils and the new calibrated tree are used to resolve a long-standing debate in spider evolution - we tested whether there has been a major turnover in the spider fauna between the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. At least 17 (out of 117) extant families have been recorded from the Cretaceous, implying that at least 41 spider lineages in the family level or above crossed the Cretaeous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary. The putative phylogenetic affinities of families known only from the Mesozoic suggest that at least seven Cretaceous families appear to have no close living relatives and might represent extinct lineages. There is no unambiguous fossil evidence of the retrolateral tibial apophysis clade (RTA-clade) in the Mesozoic, although molecular clock analyses estimated the major lineages within this clade to be at least ∼100 million years old. Our review of the fossil record supports a major turnover showing that the spider faunas in the Mesozoic and the Cenozoic are very distinct at high taxonomic levels, with the Mesozoic dominated by Palpimanoidea and Synspermiata, while the Cenozoic is dominated by Araneoidea and RTA-clade spiders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivan L F Magalhaes
- División Aracnología, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia" - CONICET, Av. Ángel Gallardo 470, Buenos Aires, C1405DJR, Argentina
| | - Guilherme H F Azevedo
- División Aracnología, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia" - CONICET, Av. Ángel Gallardo 470, Buenos Aires, C1405DJR, Argentina
| | - Peter Michalik
- Zoologisches Institut und Museum, Universität Greifswald, Loitzer Straβe 26, Greifswald, D-17489, Germany
| | - Martín J Ramírez
- División Aracnología, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia" - CONICET, Av. Ángel Gallardo 470, Buenos Aires, C1405DJR, Argentina
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10
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Abstract
Marsupial genomes, which are packaged into large chromosomes, provide a powerful resource for studying the mechanisms of genome evolution. The extensive and valuable body of work on marsupial cytogenetics, combined more recently with genome sequence data, has enabled prediction of the 2n = 14 karyotype ancestral to all marsupial families. The application of both chromosome biology and genome sequencing, or chromosomics, has been a necessary approach for various aspects of mammalian genome evolution, such as understanding sex chromosome evolution and the origin and evolution of transmissible tumors in Tasmanian devils. The next phase of marsupial genome evolution research will employ chromosomics approaches to begin addressing fundamental questions in marsupial genome evolution and chromosome evolution more generally. The answers to these complex questions will impact our understanding across a broad range of fields, including the genetics of speciation, genome adaptation to environmental stressors, and species management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janine E Deakin
- Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2617, Australia;
| | - Rachel J O'Neill
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Institute for Systems Genomics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, USA;
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11
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A Nearly Complete Juvenile Skull of the Marsupial Sparassocynus derivatus from the Pliocene of Argentina, the Affinities of “Sparassocynids”, and the Diversification of Opossums (Marsupialia; Didelphimorphia; Didelphidae). J MAMM EVOL 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s10914-019-09471-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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12
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Babot MJ, Rougier GW, García-Lopez D, Davis BM. New Small Bunodont Metatherian from the Late Eocene of the Argentinean Puna. J MAMM EVOL 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s10914-019-09468-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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13
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Eldridge MDB, Beck RMD, Croft DA, Travouillon KJ, Fox BJ. An emerging consensus in the evolution, phylogeny, and systematics of marsupials and their fossil relatives (Metatheria). J Mammal 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/jmammal/gyz018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Mark D B Eldridge
- Australian Museum Research Institute, Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Robin M D Beck
- School of Environment and Life Sciences, University of Salford, Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - Darin A Croft
- School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | | | - Barry J Fox
- School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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14
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CARNEIRO LEONARDOM. A new protodidelphid (Mammalia, Marsupialia, Didelphimorphia) from the Itaboraí Basin and its implications for the evolution of the Protodidelphidae. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2019; 91Suppl 2:e20180440. [DOI: 10.1590/0001-3765201820180440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2018] [Accepted: 07/19/2018] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- LEONARDO M. CARNEIRO
- Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Laboratório de Paleontologia e Paleoecologia da Sociedade de História Natural, Portugal
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15
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Brannick AL, Wilson GP. New Specimens of the Late Cretaceous Metatherian Eodelphis and the Evolution of Hard-Object Feeding in the Stagodontidae. J MAMM EVOL 2018. [DOI: 10.1007/s10914-018-9451-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
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16
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17
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An Early Cretaceous eutherian and the placental–marsupial dichotomy. Nature 2018; 558:390-395. [DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0210-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2018] [Accepted: 05/10/2018] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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18
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Abstract
AbstractThe first fossil potentially assignable to the extant hard tick genus Haemaphysalis CL Koch (1844) (Ixodida: Ixodidae) is described from the Late Cretaceous (ca. 99 Ma) Burmese amber of Myanmar. Haemaphysalis (Alloceraea) cretacea sp. nov. is the oldest and only fossil representative of this genus; living members of which predominantly feed on mammals. Their typical hosts are known since at least the Jurassic and the discovery of a mid-Cretaceous parasite, which might have fed on mammals raises again the question of to what extent ticks are coupled to their (modern) host groups. An inferred Triassic split of Argasidae (soft ticks) into the bird-preferring Argasinae and mammal-preferring Ornithodorinae dates to about the time when dinosaurs (later including birds) and mammaliaforms as potential hosts were emerging. Ixodidae may have split into Prostriata and Metastriata shortly after the end-Permian mass extinction, an event which fundamentally altered the terrestrial vertebrate fauna. Prostriata (the genus Ixodes) prefer birds and mammals today, and some may have used groups like cynodonts in the Triassic. Basal metastriate ticks (e.g. Amblyomma) prefer reptiles, but derived metastriates (including Haemaphysalis) again prefer mammals. Here, we may be looking at a younger (Cretaceous?) shift associated with more recent mammalian radiations.
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Branstetter MG, Childers AK, Cox-Foster D, Hopper KR, Kapheim KM, Toth AL, Worley KC. Genomes of the Hymenoptera. CURRENT OPINION IN INSECT SCIENCE 2018; 25:65-75. [PMID: 29602364 PMCID: PMC5993429 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2017.11.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2017] [Accepted: 11/16/2017] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Hymenoptera is the second-most sequenced arthropod order, with 52 publically archived genomes (71 with ants, reviewed elsewhere), however these genomes do not capture the breadth of this very diverse order (Figure 1, Table 1). These sequenced genomes represent only 15 of the 97 extant families. Although at least 55 other genomes are in progress in an additional 11 families (see Table 2), stinging wasps represent 35 (67%) of the available and 42 (76%) of the in progress genomes. A more comprehensive catalog of hymenopteran genomes is needed for research into the evolutionary processes underlying the expansive diversity in terms of ecology, behavior, and physiological traits within this group. Additional sequencing is needed to generate an assembly for even 0.05% of the estimated 1 million hymenopteran species, and we recommend premier level assemblies for at least 0.1% of the >150,000 named species dispersed across the order. Given the haplodiploid sex determination in Hymenoptera, haploid male sequencing will help minimize genome assembly issues to enable higher quality genome assemblies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael G Branstetter
- Pollinating Insect-biology, Management, Systematics Research Unit, USDA-ARS, Logan, UT 84322, United States
| | - Anna K Childers
- Bee Research Laboratory, USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD 20705, United States
| | - Diana Cox-Foster
- Pollinating Insect-biology, Management, Systematics Research Unit, USDA-ARS, Logan, UT 84322, United States
| | - Keith R Hopper
- Beneficial Insects Introduction Research Unit, USDA-ARS, Newark, DE 19713, United States
| | - Karen M Kapheim
- Utah State University, Department of Biology, Logan, UT 84322, United States
| | - Amy L Toth
- Iowa State University, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology and Department of Entomology, Ames, IA 50011, United States
| | - Kim C Worley
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, and Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, United States
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20
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Nasrullah Q, Renfree MB, Evans AR. Three-dimensional mammalian tooth development using diceCT. Arch Oral Biol 2018; 85:183-191. [DOI: 10.1016/j.archoralbio.2017.10.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2017] [Revised: 10/02/2017] [Accepted: 10/19/2017] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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21
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Maga AM, Beck RMD. Skeleton of an unusual, cat-sized marsupial relative (Metatheria: Marsupialiformes) from the middle Eocene (Lutetian: 44-43 million years ago) of Turkey. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0181712. [PMID: 28813431 PMCID: PMC5559079 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0181712] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2016] [Accepted: 06/09/2017] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
We describe a near-complete, three-dimensionally preserved skeleton of a metatherian (relative of modern marsupials) from the middle Eocene (Lutetian: 44–43 million years ago) Lülük member of the Uzunçarşıdere Formation, central Turkey. With an estimated body mass of 3–4 kg, about the size of a domestic cat (Felis catus) or spotted quoll (Dasyurus maculatus), it is an order of magnitude larger than the largest fossil metatherians previously known from the Cenozoic of the northern hemisphere. This new taxon is characterised by large, broad third premolars that probably represent adaptations for hard object feeding (durophagy), and its craniodental morphology suggests the capacity to generate high bite forces. Qualitative and quantitative functional analyses of its postcranial skeleton indicate that it was probably scansorial and relatively agile, perhaps broadly similar in locomotor mode to the spotted quoll, but with a greater capacity for climbing and grasping. Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of a total evidence dataset comprising 259 morphological characters and 9kb of DNA sequence data from five nuclear protein-coding genes, using both undated and “tip-and-node dating” approaches, place the new taxon outside the marsupial crown-clade, but within the clade Marsupialiformes. It demonstrates that at least one metatherian lineage evolved to occupy the small-medium, meso- or hypo-carnivore niche in the northern hemisphere during the early Cenozoic, at a time when there were numerous eutherians (placentals and their fossil relatives) filling similar niches. However, the known mammal fauna from Uzunçarşıdere Formation appears highly endemic, and geological evidence suggests that this region of Turkey was an island for at least part of the early Cenozoic, and so the new taxon may have evolved in isolation from potential eutherian competitors. Nevertheless, the new taxon reveals previously unsuspected ecomorphological disparity among northern hemisphere metatherians during the first half of the Cenozoic.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Murat Maga
- Division of Craniofacial Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America.,Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America.,Center for Developmental Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Robin M D Beck
- School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Salford, Manchester, Salford, United Kingdom.,School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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22
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Karantanis N, Rychlik L, Herrel A, Youlatos D. Arboreality in acacia rats (
Thallomys paedulcus
; Rodentia, Muridae): gaits and gait metrics. J Zool (1987) 2017. [DOI: 10.1111/jzo.12473] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- N.‐E. Karantanis
- Department of Zoology School of Biology Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Greece
| | - L. Rychlik
- Department of Systematic Zoology Institute of Environmental Biology Faculty of Biology Adam Mickiewicz University Poznań Poland
| | - A. Herrel
- Département d'Ecologie et de Gestion de la Biodiversité Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle Paris France
| | - D. Youlatos
- Department of Zoology School of Biology Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Greece
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23
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Tennant JP, Mannion PD, Upchurch P, Sutton MD, Price GD. Biotic and environmental dynamics through the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous transition: evidence for protracted faunal and ecological turnover. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2017; 92:776-814. [PMID: 26888552 PMCID: PMC6849608 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12255] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2015] [Revised: 01/18/2016] [Accepted: 01/20/2016] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous interval represents a time of environmental upheaval and cataclysmic events, combined with disruptions to terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Historically, the Jurassic/Cretaceous (J/K) boundary was classified as one of eight mass extinctions. However, more recent research has largely overturned this view, revealing a much more complex pattern of biotic and abiotic dynamics than has previously been appreciated. Here, we present a synthesis of our current knowledge of Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous events, focusing particularly on events closest to the J/K boundary. We find evidence for a combination of short-term catastrophic events, large-scale tectonic processes and environmental perturbations, and major clade interactions that led to a seemingly dramatic faunal and ecological turnover in both the marine and terrestrial realms. This is coupled with a great reduction in global biodiversity which might in part be explained by poor sampling. Very few groups appear to have been entirely resilient to this J/K boundary 'event', which hints at a 'cascade model' of ecosystem changes driving faunal dynamics. Within terrestrial ecosystems, larger, more-specialised organisms, such as saurischian dinosaurs, appear to have suffered the most. Medium-sized tetanuran theropods declined, and were replaced by larger-bodied groups, and basal eusauropods were replaced by neosauropod faunas. The ascent of paravian theropods is emphasised by escalated competition with contemporary pterosaur groups, culminating in the explosive radiation of birds, although the timing of this is obfuscated by biases in sampling. Smaller, more ecologically diverse terrestrial non-archosaurs, such as lissamphibians and mammaliaforms, were comparatively resilient to extinctions, instead documenting the origination of many extant groups around the J/K boundary. In the marine realm, extinctions were focused on low-latitude, shallow marine shelf-dwelling faunas, corresponding to a significant eustatic sea-level fall in the latest Jurassic. More mobile and ecologically plastic marine groups, such as ichthyosaurs, survived the boundary relatively unscathed. High rates of extinction and turnover in other macropredaceous marine groups, including plesiosaurs, are accompanied by the origin of most major lineages of extant sharks. Groups which occupied both marine and terrestrial ecosystems, including crocodylomorphs, document a selective extinction in shallow marine forms, whereas turtles appear to have diversified. These patterns suggest that different extinction selectivity and ecological processes were operating between marine and terrestrial ecosystems, which were ultimately important in determining the fates of many key groups, as well as the origins of many major extant lineages. We identify a series of potential abiotic candidates for driving these patterns, including multiple bolide impacts, several episodes of flood basalt eruptions, dramatic climate change, and major disruptions to oceanic systems. The J/K transition therefore, although not a mass extinction, represents an important transitional period in the co-evolutionary history of life on Earth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan P. Tennant
- Department of Earth Science and EngineeringImperial College LondonSouth KensingtonLondonSW7 2AZU.K.
| | - Philip D. Mannion
- Department of Earth Science and EngineeringImperial College LondonSouth KensingtonLondonSW7 2AZU.K.
| | - Paul Upchurch
- Department of Earth SciencesUniversity College LondonLondonWC1E 6BTU.K.
| | - Mark D. Sutton
- Department of Earth Science and EngineeringImperial College LondonSouth KensingtonLondonSW7 2AZU.K.
| | - Gregory D. Price
- School of Geography, Earth and Environmental SciencesPlymouth UniversityPlymouthPL4 8AAU.K.
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24
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Wilson GP, Ekdale EG, Hoganson JW, Calede JJ, Vander Linden A. A large carnivorous mammal from the Late Cretaceous and the North American origin of marsupials. Nat Commun 2016; 7:13734. [PMID: 27929063 PMCID: PMC5155139 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13734] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2016] [Accepted: 10/28/2016] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Marsupial mammal relatives (stem metatherians) from the Mesozoic Era (252-66 million years ago) are mostly known from isolated teeth and fragmentary jaws. Here we report on the first near-complete skull remains of a North American Late Cretaceous metatherian, the stagodontid Didelphodon vorax. Our phylogenetic analysis indicates that marsupials or their closest relatives evolved in North America, as part of a Late Cretaceous diversification of metatherians, and later dispersed to South America. In addition to being the largest known Mesozoic therian mammal (node-based clade of eutherians and metatherians), Didelphodon vorax has a high estimated bite force and other craniomandibular and dental features that suggest it is the earliest known therian to invade a durophagous predator-scavenger niche. Our results broaden the scope of the ecomorphological diversification of Mesozoic mammals to include therian lineages that, in this case, were linked to the origin and evolution of marsupials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gregory P. Wilson
- Department of Biology and Burke Museum, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA
| | - Eric G. Ekdale
- Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California 92182, USA
- Department of Paleontology, San Diego Natural History Museum, San Diego, California 92101, USA
| | - John W. Hoganson
- North Dakota Geological Survey, Bismarck, North Dakota 58505, USA
| | - Jonathan J. Calede
- Department of Biology and Burke Museum, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA
| | - Abby Vander Linden
- Graduate Program in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA
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25
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Selva C, Ladevèze S. Computed microtomography investigation of the skull of Cuvier's famous ‘opossum’ (Marsupialiformes, Herpetotheriidae) from the Eocene of Montmartre. Zool J Linn Soc 2016. [DOI: 10.1111/zoj.12495] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Charlène Selva
- Centre de Recherche sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements (CR2P, UMR 7207); Sorbonne Universités MNHN CNRS UPMC-Paris 6, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle; 57 rue Cuvier CP 38 F-75005 Paris France
| | - Sandrine Ladevèze
- Centre de Recherche sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements (CR2P, UMR 7207); Sorbonne Universités MNHN CNRS UPMC-Paris 6, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle; 57 rue Cuvier CP 38 F-75005 Paris France
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26
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Goswami A, Randau M, Polly PD, Weisbecker V, Bennett CV, Hautier L, Sánchez-Villagra MR. Do Developmental Constraints and High Integration Limit the Evolution of the Marsupial Oral Apparatus? Integr Comp Biol 2016; 56:404-15. [PMID: 27260858 PMCID: PMC4990707 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icw039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Developmental constraints can have significant influence on the magnitude and direction of evolutionary change, and many studies have demonstrated that these effects are manifested on macroevolutionary scales. Phenotypic integration, or the strong interactions among traits, has been similarly invoked as a major influence on morphological variation, and many studies have demonstrated that trait integration changes through ontogeny, in many cases decreasing with age. Here, we unify these perspectives in a case study of the ontogeny of the mammalian cranium, focusing on a comparison between marsupials and placentals. Marsupials are born at an extremely altricial state, requiring, in most cases, the use of the forelimbs to climb to the pouch, and, in all cases, an extended period of continuous suckling, during which most of their development occurs. Previous work has shown that marsupials are less disparate in adult cranial form than are placentals, particularly in the oral apparatus, and in forelimb ontogeny and adult morphology, presumably due to functional selection pressures on these two systems during early postnatal development. Using phenotypic trajectory analysis to quantify prenatal and early postnatal cranial ontogeny in 10 species of therian mammals, we demonstrate that this pattern of limited variation is also apparent in the development of the oral apparatus of marsupials, relative to placentals, but not in the skull more generally. Combined with the observation that marsupials show extremely high integration of the oral apparatus in early postnatal ontogeny, while other cranial regions show similar levels of integration to that observed in placentals, we suggest that high integration may compound the effects of the functional constraints for continuous suckling to ultimately limit the ontogenetic and adult disparity of the marsupial oral apparatus throughout their evolutionary history.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anjali Goswami
- *Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Marcela Randau
- *Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - P David Polly
- Department of Geological Sciences, 1001 E. 10th Street, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA
| | - Vera Weisbecker
- School of Biological Sciences, Goddard Building 8, University of Queensland, St. Lucia 4072, Australia
| | - C Verity Bennett
- *Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Lionel Hautier
- Laboratoire de Paléontologie, Institut des Sciences de l'Èvolution de Montpellier (CNRS, UM, IRD, EPHE), c.c. 064, Université Montpellier 2, Place Eugène Bataillon, F-34095 Montpellier, Cedex 5 , France
| | - Marcelo R Sánchez-Villagra
- Palaeontological Institute and Museum, University of Zürich, Karl-Schmid-Strasse 4, CH-8006, Zürich, Switzerland
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27
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Halliday TJD, Goswami A. Eutherian morphological disparity across the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2015. [DOI: 10.1111/bij.12731] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Thomas John Dixon Halliday
- Department of Earth Sciences; University College London; Gower Street London WC1E 6BT UK
- Department of Genetics, Evolution, and Environment; University College London; Gower Street London WC1E 6BT UK
| | - Anjali Goswami
- Department of Earth Sciences; University College London; Gower Street London WC1E 6BT UK
- Department of Genetics, Evolution, and Environment; University College London; Gower Street London WC1E 6BT UK
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28
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Bi S, Jin X, Li S, Du T. A new Cretaceous Metatherian mammal from Henan, China. PeerJ 2015; 3:e896. [PMID: 25893149 PMCID: PMC4400878 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.896] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2015] [Accepted: 03/27/2015] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
We report a new deltatheroidan mammal from the Upper Cretaceous of Henna, China. The new taxon, Lotheridium mengi, is based on a nearly complete skull and associated lower jaws with full adult dentition. Deltatheroidans are known mostly from fragmentary specimens from Asia and North America. Previous views on deltatheroidan relationships were diverse, but recent studies favored their metatherian affinity. The new specimen represents the most complete skull known for deltatheroidans and provides additional evidence that deltatheroidans already had the distinctive metatherian dental formula and replacement pattern and several other derived metatherian features, supporting the metatherian status for this clade. The new species also indicates that deltatheroidan mammals were more diverse and had broader geographical distributions than previously thought.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shundong Bi
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing , China ; Department of Biology, Indiana University of Pennsylvania , Indiana, PA , United States of America
| | - Xingsheng Jin
- Zhejiang Museum of Natural History , Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province , China
| | - Shuo Li
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing , China
| | - Tianming Du
- Zhejiang Museum of Natural History , Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province , China
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29
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Csiki-Sava Z, Buffetaut E, Ősi A, Pereda-Suberbiola X, Brusatte SL. Island life in the Cretaceous - faunal composition, biogeography, evolution, and extinction of land-living vertebrates on the Late Cretaceous European archipelago. Zookeys 2015; 469:1-161. [PMID: 25610343 PMCID: PMC4296572 DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.469.8439] [Citation(s) in RCA: 136] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2014] [Accepted: 11/20/2014] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The Late Cretaceous was a time of tremendous global change, as the final stages of the Age of Dinosaurs were shaped by climate and sea level fluctuations and witness to marked paleogeographic and faunal changes, before the end-Cretaceous bolide impact. The terrestrial fossil record of Late Cretaceous Europe is becoming increasingly better understood, based largely on intensive fieldwork over the past two decades, promising new insights into latest Cretaceous faunal evolution. We review the terrestrial Late Cretaceous record from Europe and discuss its importance for understanding the paleogeography, ecology, evolution, and extinction of land-dwelling vertebrates. We review the major Late Cretaceous faunas from Austria, Hungary, France, Spain, Portugal, and Romania, as well as more fragmentary records from elsewhere in Europe. We discuss the paleogeographic background and history of assembly of these faunas, and argue that they are comprised of an endemic 'core' supplemented with various immigration waves. These faunas lived on an island archipelago, and we describe how this insular setting led to ecological peculiarities such as low diversity, a preponderance of primitive taxa, and marked changes in morphology (particularly body size dwarfing). We conclude by discussing the importance of the European record in understanding the end-Cretaceous extinction and show that there is no clear evidence that dinosaurs or other groups were undergoing long-term declines in Europe prior to the bolide impact.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zoltán Csiki-Sava
- Department of Geology, Faculty of Geology and Geophysics, University of Bucharest, 1 N. Bălcescu Blvd, 010041 Bucharest, Romania
| | - Eric Buffetaut
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 8538, Laboratoire de Géologie de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure, 24 rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
| | - Attila Ősi
- MTA-ELTE Lendület Dinosaur Research Group, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/c, Budapest, 1117, Hungary
| | - Xabier Pereda-Suberbiola
- Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, Facultad de Ciencia y Tecnología, Departamento de Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Apartado 644, 48080 Bilbao, Spain
| | - Stephen L. Brusatte
- School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Grant Institute, King’s Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JW, UK
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