The planet’s earliest mammals are an important part of our evolutionary history, but remain shrouded in mystery. One of them, Mixedectes Pungens He lived in western North America during the early Ale Holocene, approximately 66-56 million years ago. It was first discovered by paleontologists over 140 years ago – and 1881 Popular science Profile Subject– Edward drinkers deal with it. But most of what we know about them came from small jawbone fragments and fossilized teeth It has been collected in a few years since.
Thanks to the preserved 62 million year old skeleton, there may be some answers. This identification Mixedectes Pungens The specimen represents a mature adult who weighs about 3 pounds, lives on a tree, feasting on the leaves, and may be one of our closer evolutionary relatives. For more information about the survey results, please see Research published in the journal on March 11th Scientific Report.
“This 62 million-year-old skeleton of quality and integrity provides novel insights into mixodectides, including a much clearer picture of evolutionary relationships,” said Eric Sargis, a study co-author and anthropologist at Yale University. said in a statement. “Our findings show that they are relatives of primates native to Southeast Asia and bitches flying around the Corgos.
Mixodectes It belonged to an extinct family known as Mixodectids He lived in the Ale during the New Celestial period. This geological period followed the Cretaceous-secondary extinction event, which killed non-bird dinosaurs about 66 million years ago. Many scientists believe this mass extinction paved the way for the rise of mammals.
The skeleton in this study was Collected in the San Juan Basin, New Mexico Research co-authors and curator of paleontology at the Museum of Natural History, New Mexico. The specimen includes a partial skull with teeth, spinal column, thoracic cage, forelimbs and hindlimbs.
By Anatomy of the hands and feet and nails; The team believes that they live in trees and can stick perpendicular to the trunks and branches of the tree. The molars have a crest used to break down abrasives, which Heavy omnivorous diet on the leaves.
“This fossil skeleton provides new evidence on how placental mammals have ecologically diversified following the extinction of dinosaurs,” said study co-author Stephen Chester, paleontologist at Brooklyn University. said in a statement. “Characteristics such as greater weight and increased dependence on leaves. Mixodectes To thrive on the same tree that is likely to be shared with other early primate relatives. ”
According to the team, Mixodectes Ale was quite large in North America during the early Holocene. for example, Mixodectes The skeleton of this study is It is significantly larger than the partial skeleton of Torrejonia Wilsoni. This small arboric mammal from an extinct group of primates called plesiadapiforms was discovered along with it. meanwhile Mixodectes I mainly ate leaves, Trehonia I mainly ate fruit. The authors believe that these distinctions in both size and diet suggest that mixodectides likely occupy a unique ecological niche of the early ale-Holocene, which set them apart from their tree-dwelling contemporaries.
So did MixoDectid Euarchontansa group of mammals made up of tressue, primates and corgos. Where to clarify Mixodectes Fitting with the evolutionary tree, the team conducted two phylogenetic analyses. In one analysis they supported them as being archaic primates, but the other not. However, the latter analysis confirmed that Mixodectids are Primatomorphans. This group Euarchonta was made up of primates and corgos, but Treschuh was not.
“This study does not completely resolve the debate about where Mixodectids belong to evolutionary trees, but it’s significantly narrower,” says Sargis.
Other deals, reviews, and purchase guides
