Tag Archives: Mesozoic

A new Mesozoic mammal from South America

All,

Say hello to _Cronopio dentiacutus_

Rougier, G. W., Apesteguia, S. & Gaetano, L. C., 2011: Highly specialized
mammalian skulls from the Late Cretaceous of South America.
–Nature: Vol. 479, #7371, pp. 98-102 [doi: 10.1038/nature10591]

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v479/n7371/abs/nature10591.html
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v479/n7371/abs/nature10591.html#supplem
entary-information

Abstract:
“Dryolestoids are an extinct mammalian group belonging to the
lineage leading to modern marsupials and placentals1,2. Dryolestoids
are known by teeth and jaws from the Jurassic period of North
America and Europe2,3, but they thrived in South America up to the
end of the Mesozoic era and survived to the beginnings of the
Cenozoic2,4–7. Isolated teeth and jaws from the latest Cretaceous of
South America provide mounting evidence that, at least in western
Gondwana, dryolestoids developed into strongly endemic groups by
the Late Cretaceous4–9. However, the lack of pre-Late Cretaceous
dryolestoid remains made study of their origin and early diversification
intractable. Here we describe the first mammalian remains
from the early Late Cretaceous of South America, including two
partial skulls and jaws of a derived dryolestoid showing dental
and cranial features unknown among any other group of
Mesozoic mammals, such as single-rooted molars preceded by
double-rooted premolars, combined with a very long muzzle,
exceedingly long canines and evidence of highly specialized
masticatory musculature. On one hand, the new mammal shares
derived features of dryolestoids1–3 with forms from the Jurassic of
Laurasia, whereas on the other hand, it is very specialized and
highlights the endemic, diverse dryolestoid fauna from the
Cretaceous of South America. Our specimens include only the
second mammalian skull known for the Cretaceous of Gondwana,
bridging a previous 60-million-year gap in the fossil record, and
document the whole cranial morphology of a dryolestoid, revealing
an unsuspected morphological and ecological diversity for nontribosphenic
mammals.”

–Mikko

Juramaia, Jurassic eutherian from China

This message was seen in DINOSAUR mailing list… Of all things…

–Mikko

—–Original Message—–

A Mesozoic mammal of interest:

Zhe-Xi Luo, Chong-Xi Yuan, Qing-Jin Meng & Qiang Ji (2011)
Jurassic eutherian mammal and divergence of marsupials and placentals.
Nature 476: 442-445
doi:10.1038/nature10291
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v476/n7361/full/nature10291.html

Placentals are the most abundant mammals that have
diversified into every niche for vertebrates and
dominated the world’s terrestrial biotas in the Cenozoic.
A critical event in mammalian history is the divergence
of eutherians, the clade inclusive of all living
placentals, from the metatherian-marsupial clade. Here we
report the discovery of a new eutherian of 160 Myr from
the Jurassic of China, which extends the first appearance
of the eutherian-placental clade by about 35 Myr from the
previous record, reducing and resolving a discrepancy
between the previous fossil record and the molecular
estimate for the placental-marsupial divergence. This
mammal has scansorial forelimb features, and provides the
ancestral condition for dental and other anatomical
features of eutherians.

News Stories:
http://www.carnegiemnh.org/press/11-jul-sep/082511fossil.htm
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-08/cmon-doa081911.php
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_753170.html

Brain evolution and other Mesozoic mammal stuff

Some new meso-mammal-papers picked up from Dinosaur Discussion List… 🙂

–Mikko H.

Some recent items about Mesozoic mammals.

In the new issue of Science:

R. Glenn Northcutt (2011)
Perspective Paleontology: Evolving Large and Complex Brains.
Science 332 (6032): 926-927 (20 May 2011):
DOI: 10.1126/science.1206915
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/332/6032/926.summary

Summary
During the Mesozoic (∼250 million to 65 million years ago), two
distantly related groups of reptiles-the cynodont (or mammal-like) reptiles
and the coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs-gave rise to mammals and birds,
respectively. Both mammals and birds evolved brains some 10 times as large,
relative to a given body weight, as those of their ancestors (1). In both
groups, these brains contributed to the evolution of the ability to control
body temperature (endothermy) and complex social interactions, including
parental care and a reliance on learning that even involves tool use (2,
3). The size of most parts of the brain increased in birds and mammals, but
the cerebral hemispheres and cerebellum, both of which are involved in
sensory and motor integration, underwent particularly spectacular
development (see the figure). Although mammals and birds evolved from
distantly related groups of reptiles, the higher integrative centers and
circuitry of their cerebral hemispheres are very similar, and comparative
neurobiologists continue to vigorously debate whether these centers evolved
from the same ancestral neural centers (4, 5) or from different ones (6-8).
Speculation about the evolutionary steps leading to large and complex
mammalian and avian brains is equally contentious and unresolved, in part
because of the rarity of fossil skulls and, until recently, the need to
destroy such skulls in order to expose the endocasts (casts molded by the
cranial cavity). Typically, endocasts are the only record of the brain’s
outward appearance in a transitional form, because brains themselves are
rarely fossilized.

Timothy B. Rowe, Thomas E. Macrini, and Zhe-Xi Luo (2011)
Fossil Evidence on Origin of the Mammalian Brain.
Science 332(6032): 955-957 (20 May 2011):
DOI: 10.1126/science.1203117
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/332/6032/955.abstract

Abstract
Many hypotheses have been postulated regarding the early evolution of the
mammalian brain. Here, x-ray tomography of the Early Jurassic mammaliaforms
Morganucodon and Hadrocodium sheds light on this history. We found that
relative brain size expanded to mammalian levels, with enlarged olfactory
bulbs, neocortex, olfactory (pyriform) cortex, and cerebellum, in two
evolutionary pulses. The initial pulse was probably driven by increased
resolution in olfaction and improvements in tactile sensitivity (from body
hair) and neuromuscular coordination. A second pulse of olfactory
enhancement then enlarged the brain to mammalian levels. The origin of
crown Mammalia saw a third pulse of olfactory enhancement, with ossified
ethmoid turbinals supporting an expansive olfactory epithelium in the nasal
cavity, allowing full expression of a huge odorant receptor genome.

J. David Archibald, Yue Zhang, Tony Harper and Richard L. Cifelli (2011)
Protungulatum, Confirmed Cretaceous Occurrence of an Otherwise Paleocene
Eutherian (Placental?) Mammal.
Journal of Mammalian Evolution (advance online publication)
DOI: 10.1007/s10914-011-9162-1
http://www.springerlink.com/content/n661405803q511n8/

Neither pre-Cenozoic crown eutherian mammals (placentals) nor archaic
ungulates (“condylarths”) are known with certainty based on the fossil
record. Herein we report a new species of the Paleocene archaic ungulate
(“condylarth”) Protungulatum from undisputed Late Cretaceous aged rocks in
Montana USA based on an isolated last upper premolar, indicating rare
representatives of these common early Tertiary mammals appeared in North
America a minimum of 300 k  years before the extinction of non-avian
dinosaurs. The other 1200 mammal specimens from the locality are
characteristic Late Cretaceous taxa. This discovery overturns the current
hypothesis that archaic ungulates did not appear in North America until
after the Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) boundary and also suggests that other
reports of North American Late Cretaceous archaic ungulates may be correct.
Recent studies, including ours, cannot determine whether Protungulatum does
or does not belong to the crown clade Placentalia.

A few months old but its free–pdf of short survey article about Chinese
Mesozoic mammals:
http://english.ivpp.cas.cn/rh/as/201012/P020101207396650166902.pdf

A. O. Averianov and A. V. Lopatin (2011)
Phylogeny of triconodonts and symmetrodonts and the origin of extant
mammals.
Doklady Biological Sciences 436(1): 32-35,
DOI: 10.1134/S0012496611010042
http://www.springerlink.com/content/3x027744038g6866/
(no abstract)