New partial skeletons of Palaeocene Nyctitheriidae and evaluation of proposed euarchontan affinities

Carly L. Manz; Stephen G. B. Chester; Jonathan I. Bloch; Mary T. Silcox; Eric J. Sargis

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2014.0911

New partial skeletons of Palaeocene Nyctitheriidae and evaluation of proposed euarchontan affinities

Biology Letters ◽

10.1098/rsbl.2014.0911 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 20140911 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Carly L. Manz ◽

Stephen G. B. Chester ◽

Jonathan I. Bloch ◽

Mary T. Silcox ◽

Eric J. Sargis

Keyword(s):

Fossil Record ◽

Postcranial Morphology ◽

Cladistic Analyses

Small-bodied, insectivorous Nyctitheriidae are known in the Palaeogene fossil record almost exclusively from teeth and fragmentary jaws and have been referred to Eulipotyphla (shrews, moles and hedgehogs) based on dental similarities. By contrast, isolated postcrania attributed to the group suggest arboreality and a relationship to Euarchonta (primates, treeshrews and colugos). Cretaceous–Palaeocene adapisoriculid insectivores have also been proposed as early euarchontans based on postcranial similarities. We describe the first known dentally associated nyctitheriid auditory regions and postcrania, and use them to test the proposed relationship to Euarchonta with cladistic analyses of 415 dental, cranial and postcranial characteristics scored for 92 fossil and extant mammalian taxa. Although nyctitheriid postcrania share similarities with euarchontans likely related to arboreality, results of cladistic analyses suggest that nyctitheriids are closely related to Eulipotyphla. Adapisoriculidae is found to be outside of crown Placentalia. These results suggest that similarities in postcranial morphology among nyctitheriids, adapisoriculids and euarchontans represent separate instances of convergence or primitive retention of climbing capabilities.

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New mixosaurid ichthyosaur specimen from the Middle Triassic of SW China: further evidence for the diapsid origin of ichthyosaurs

Journal of Paleontology ◽

10.1666/09-131.1 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 85 (1) ◽

pp. 32-36 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Jun Liu ◽

Jonathan C. Aitchison ◽

Yuan-Yuan Sun ◽

Qi-Yue Zhang ◽

Chang-Yong Zhou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Fossil Record ◽

Direct Evidence ◽

Middle Triassic ◽

Evolutionary Stage ◽

Temporal Region ◽

Sw China ◽

Anterior Process ◽

Cladistic Analyses

Recent cladistic analyses have all suggested a diapsid origin of ichthyosaurs. However, an intermediate evolutionary stage of the lower temporal region of ichthyosaurian skull between basal diapsids and derived ichthyosaurs has been absent from the fossil record. Here we describe the cranial skeleton of a new mixosaurid ichthyosaur specimen with a well-preserved lower temporal region from the Anisian Guanling Formation of eastern Yunnan. It is characterized by the most primitive lower temporal region within known ichthyosaurs. The primitive characters of the lower temporal region include both external and internal separation between the jugal and the quadratojugal, an anterior process of the quadratojugal, an apparent posteroventral process of the jugal, and a large lower temporal opening surrounded by the jugal, the postorbital, the squamosal, and the quadratojugal. The lower temporal region of this specimen provides the most direct evidence to the diapsid origin of ichthyosaurs. It also suggests that the disappearance of the lower temporal fenestra is caused initially by the reduction of the lower temporal arcade rather than the enlargement of the surrounding bones.

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A new lineage of Cretaceous jewel wasps (Chalcidoidea: Diversinitidae)

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.4633 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

pp. e4633 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Michael Haas ◽

Roger A. Burks ◽

Lars Krogmann

Keyword(s):

Fossil Record ◽

Morphological Characters ◽

Phylogenetic Position ◽

Burmese Amber ◽

Phylogenetic Placement ◽

New Family ◽

Early Diversification ◽

The Family ◽

Family Level ◽

Cladistic Analyses

Jewel wasps (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) are extremely species-rich today, but have a sparse fossil record from the Cretaceous, the period of their early diversification. Three genera and three species,Diversinitus attenboroughigen. & sp. n., Burminata caputaeriagen. & sp. n. andGlabiala barbatagen. & sp. n. are described in the family Diversinitidae fam. n., from Lower Cretaceous Burmese amber. Placement in Chalcidoidea is supported by the presence of multiporous plate sensilla on the antennal flagellum and a laterally exposed prepectus. The new taxa can be excluded from all extant family level chalcidoid lineages by the presence of multiporous plate sensilla on the first flagellomere in both sexes and lack of any synapomorphies. Accordingly, a new family is proposed for the fossils and its probable phylogenetic position within Chalcidoidea is discussed. Morphological cladistic analyses of the new fossils within the Heraty et al. (2013) dataset did not resolve the phylogenetic placement of Diversinitidae, but indicated its monophyly. Phylogenetically relevant morphological characters of the new fossils are discussed with reference to Cretaceous and extant chalcidoid taxa. Along with mymarid fossils and a few species of uncertain phylogenetic placement, the newly described members of Diversinitidae are among the earliest known chalcidoids and advance our knowledge of their Cretaceous diversity.

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Huehuecuetzpalli mixtecus gen. et sp. nov: a basal squamate (Reptilia) from the Early Cretaceous of Tepexi de Rodríguez, Central México

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.1998.0224 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 353 (1367) ◽

pp. 477-500 ◽

Cited By ~ 54

Author(s):

Víctor-Hugo Reynoso

Keyword(s):

Early Cretaceous ◽

Fossil Record ◽

Late Jurassic ◽

Central Mexico ◽

Extensive Review ◽

First Report ◽

Parietal Foramen ◽

Cladistic Analyses ◽

Basal Position

Huehuecuetzpalli mixtecus gen. et sp. nov. is characterized by a combination of characters unlike those of any of the previously described Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous lizards. It has most of the synapomorphies common to modern squamates, but still retains primitive features rare in living taxa. Autapomorphic characters include an anteroposteriorly elongated premaxilla that results in the elongation of the snout and the apparent retraction of the external nares. A small rounded postfrontal and a parietal foramen on the frontoparietal suture suggest affinities with iguanians, but the retention of divided premaxillae, amphicoelous vertebrae, thoracolumbar intercentra, entepicondylar foramen, and a second distal tarsal supports the hypothesis that Huehuecuetzpalli has a more basal position relative to the extant squamates. Although its appearance is late in the fossil record of lizards, Huehuecuetzpalli is the first report of a basal squamate. It provides important information on early transformation of characters in lizard evolution. Many primitive characters present in some modern squamates are usually explained by paedomorphosis; however, these characters are common in early lizards suggesting that derived states may have been fixed later in lizard evolution. If Huehuecuetzpalli is an iguanian, then it would be the earliest known representative of this lineage and extends their fossil record into the Albian. This paper presents an extensive review of the characters and character states used in previously published cladistic analyses of the Squamata.

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Phylogeny and taxonomy of the Patagonian Miocene falcon Thegornis musculosus Ameghino, 1895 (Aves: Falconidae)

Journal of Paleontology ◽

10.1666/10-122.1 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 85 (6) ◽

pp. 1089-1104 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Jorge I. Noriega ◽

Juan I. Areta ◽

Sergio F. Vizcaíno ◽

M. Susana Bargo

Keyword(s):

South America ◽

Plant Communities ◽

Fossil Record ◽

Early Miocene ◽

Santa Cruz ◽

Postcranial Morphology ◽

Phylogenetic Placement ◽

The Family ◽

Basal Clade ◽

Early Neogene

The fossil record of the family Falconidae is poor and fragmentary. Extinct representatives from South America include the late early Miocene (Santacrucian) Thegornis musculosus and Thegornis debilis. Both species were originally described as Falconidae and afterwards moved to Accipitridae Circinae or Buteoninae. The analysis of a very well preserved and complete specimen of T. musculosus with similar stratigraphic and geographic provenances of the type material (lower levels of Santa Cruz Formation, coast of Patagonia, Argentina) corroborates the validity of the genus and its falconid affinities. The skull and postcranial morphology exhibit strong resemblances with the open-savannah inhabiting Herpetotheres and the forest-dwelling Micrastur (Herpetotherinae) but differ substantially from Falconinae (Falconini plus Caracarini). Detailed comparisons with a broad arrange of falconiform taxa in a cladistic framework, confirm its phylogenetic placement within the Herpetotherinae and sister to H. cachinnans. The ecotonal margins produced by the vanishing of humid forests that developed during changes in Patagonian plant communities throughout early Neogene times are hypothesized as a plausible scenario to understand the evolution of this basal clade of falcons.

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Does the fossil record of spiders track that of their principal prey, the insects?

Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Earth Sciences ◽

10.1017/s026359330300018x ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 94 (03) ◽

pp. 275 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Keyword(s):

Fossil Record

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Molecular clock tied to fossil record

Nature ◽

10.1038/news041011-2 ◽

2004 ◽

Author(s):

Emma Marris

Keyword(s):

Molecular Clock ◽

Fossil Record

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Darwin's two competing phylogenetic trees: marsupials as ancestors or sister taxa?

Archives of Natural History ◽

10.3366/anh.2012.0091 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 39 (2) ◽

pp. 217-233 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

J. David Archibald

Keyword(s):

Fossil Record ◽

Evolutionary Biology ◽

Phylogenetic Trees ◽

Charles Darwin ◽

The Other ◽

Charles Lyell ◽

Single Origin ◽

Molecular Studies ◽

Richard Owen ◽

First Time

Studies of the origin and diversification of major groups of plants and animals are contentious topics in current evolutionary biology. This includes the study of the timing and relationships of the two major clades of extant mammals – marsupials and placentals. Molecular studies concerned with marsupial and placental origin and diversification can be at odds with the fossil record. Such studies are, however, not a recent phenomenon. Over 150 years ago Charles Darwin weighed two alternative views on the origin of marsupials and placentals. Less than a year after the publication of On the origin of species, Darwin outlined these in a letter to Charles Lyell dated 23 September 1860. The letter concluded with two competing phylogenetic diagrams. One showed marsupials as ancestral to both living marsupials and placentals, whereas the other showed a non-marsupial, non-placental as being ancestral to both living marsupials and placentals. These two diagrams are published here for the first time. These are the only such competing phylogenetic diagrams that Darwin is known to have produced. In addition to examining the question of mammalian origins in this letter and in other manuscript notes discussed here, Darwin confronted the broader issue as to whether major groups of animals had a single origin (monophyly) or were the result of “continuous creation” as advocated for some groups by Richard Owen. Charles Lyell had held similar views to those of Owen, but it is clear from correspondence with Darwin that he was beginning to accept the idea of monophyly of major groups.

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