Mammalian evolution. An arboreal docodont from the Jurassic and mammaliaform ecological diversification.
Science. 2015 Feb 13; 347(6223):764-8.Sci

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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Authors+Show Affiliations

Meng QJ
Beijing Museum of Natural History, Beijing 100050 China.
Ji Q
Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China.
Zhang YG
Beijing Museum of Natural History, Beijing 100050 China.
Liu D
Beijing Museum of Natural History, Beijing 100050 China.
Grossnickle DM
Committee on Evolutionary Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
Luo ZX
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. zxluo@uchicago.edu.

MeSH

Animal FeedAnimalsBiodiversityChinaCuspidDentitionForelimbHerbivoryIncisorMammalsMandiblePhylogeny

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Language

eng

PubMed ID

25678661