Morganucodon

Morganucodon
Temporal range: Late Triassic–Early Jurassic
Restoration of M. watsoni
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
(unranked): Amniota
Class: Mammalia sensu lato
Order: Morganucodonta
Family: Morganucodontidae
Genus: Morganucodon
Kühne, 1949
species
  • M. heikuopengensis
  • M. oehleri
  • M. peyeri
  • M. watsoni (type)

Morganucodon ("Glamorgan tooth") is an early mammaliaform genus that lived during the late Triassic period. It first appeared about 205 million years ago. Unlike many other early mammals, Morganucodon is well represented by abundant and well preserved, though in the vast majority of cases disarticulated, material. Most of this comes from Glamorgan in Wales (Morganucodon watsoni), but fossils have also been found in Yunnan Province in China (Morganucodon oehleri) and various parts of Europe and North America. Some at least closely related animals (Megazostrodon) are known from exquisite fossils from South Africa.[1]

The name comes from a Latinization of Morganuc, "South Glamorgan in the Domesday Book", the county where it was discovered by Walter Georg Kühne,[2] so it means "Glamorgan tooth". It has acquired the nickname Morgie in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.[3]

Biology

Lower jaw of M. watsoni, Natural History Museum, London

Morganucodon was a small, plantigrade animal. The tail was moderately long. According to Kemp (2005), "the skull was 2-3 cm in length and a presacral body length of about 10 cm [4 inches]. In general appearance, it would have looked like a shrew or mouse".[4] There is evidence that it had specialized glands used for grooming, which may indicate that, like present day mammals, it had fur.[5]

Like present day mammals of similar size and presumed habit, Morganucodon was likely nocturnal and spent the day in a burrow. There is no direct fossil evidence, but several lines of evidence point to a nocturnal bottleneck in the evolution of the mammal class, and almost all modern mammals of similar size to Morganucodon are still nocturnal.[6][7] Likewise, burrowing was widespread both in the cynodonts and in primitive mammals.[8][9] The logics of phylogenetic bracketing would make Morgunacodon nocturnal and burrowing too.

The diet appears to have been insects and other small animals, again much like a modern shrew. Like most modern mammal insectivores, it grew fairly quickly to adult size. Unlike its therapsid ancestors, Morganucodon likely lived a rather short life, similar to those of most small mammals today.[10] Its eggs were probably small and leathery, a condition still found in monotremes.[11]

The teeth grew in mammalian fashion, with deciduous teeth being replaced by permanent teeth that were retained throughout the rest of the animal's life.[12] The combination of rapid growth in juveniles and a toothless stage at infancy strongly suggests that Morganucodon raised its young by lactation; indeed, it may have been among the very first animals to do so.[13] The molars in the adult had a series of raised humps and edges that fit into each other, allowing for efficient chewing. However, unlike the situation in most later mammals, the upper and lower molars did not occlude properly when they first met; as they wore against each other, however, their shapes were modified by wear to produce a precise fit.[14]

Classification

Morganucodon is the type genus for the order Morganucodonta, a group of generally similar mammals or pre-mammals from Late Triassic to Middle Jurassic time[15] of the close relatives. All were small and mainly insectivores. Of the small bodied relatives, Morganucodon is the best preserved and best understood find.

There is currently controversy about whether or not to classify Morganucodon as a mammal or as a non-mammalian mammaliaform. Some researchers limit the term "mammal" to the crown group mammals, which would not include Morganucodon and its relatives. Others, however, define "mammals", as a group, by the possession of a special, secondarily evolved jaw joint between the dentary and the squamosal bones, which has replaced the primitive one between the articular and quadrate bones in all modern mammalian groups. Under this definition, Morganucodon would be a mammal. Nevertheless, its lower jaw retains some of the bones found in its non-mammalian ancestors in a very reduced form rather than being composed solely of the dentary. Furthermore, the primitive reptile-like jaw joint between the articular and quadrate bones, which in modern mammals has moved into the middle ear and become part of the ear ossicles as malleus and incus, is still to be found in Morganucodon.[16] Morgunacodon also suckled (it may have been the earliest animal to do so), had only two sets of teeth and grew rapidly to adult size and stopped growing thereafter, all typical mammalian traits.[17]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Pages 21-33, 174 in Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska, Richard L. Cifelli, and Zhe-Xi Luo, Mammals from the Age of Dinosaurs: Origins, Evolution, and Structure, Columbia University Press, New York, 2004 ISBN 0-231-11918-6
  2. ↑ Walter G. Kühne, "On a Triconodont tooth of a new pattern from a Fissure-filling in South Glamorgan", Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, volume 119 (1949-1950) pages 345-350
  3. ↑ National Museum of Natural History: Photographs of the new Kenneth E. Behring Family Hall of Mammals
  4. ↑ Kemp T.S. 2005. The origin and evolution of mammals, Oxford University Press, page 143. ISBN 0-19-850760-7.
  5. ↑ Ruben, J.A.; Jones, T.D. (2000). "Selective Factors Associated with the Origin of Fur and Feathers" (PDF). American Zoologist 40 (4): 585–596. doi:10.1093/icb/40.4.585.
  6. ↑ Hall, M. I.; Kamilar, J. M.; Kirk, E. C. (24 October 2012). "Eye shape and the nocturnal bottleneck of mammals". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 279 (1749): 4962–4968. doi:10.1098/rspb.2012.2258. PMID 23097513. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  7. ↑ Muchlinski, Magdalena N. (June 2010). "A comparative analysis of vibrissa count and infraorbital foramen area in primates and other mammals". Journal of Human Evolution 58 (6): 447–473. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.01.012. PMID 20434193. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  8. ↑ Damiani, R.; Modesto, S.; Yates, A.; Neveling, J. (22 August 2003). "Earliest evidence of cynodont burrowing". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 270 (1525): 1747–1751. doi:10.1098/rspb.2003.2427. PMC 1691433. PMID 12965004. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  9. ↑ KIELAN, ZOFIA; GAMBARYAN, PETR P. (December 1994). "Postcranial anatomy and habits of Asian multituberculate mammals". Lethaia 27 (4): 300–300. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.1994.tb01578.x. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  10. ↑ Chinsamy, A.; Hurum, J.H. (2006). "Bone microstructure and growth patterns of early mammals" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 51 (2): 325–338. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  11. ↑ Parente, Raphael Câmara Medeiros; Bergqvist, Lílian Paglarelli; Soares, Marina Bento; Filho, Olimpio Barbosa Moraes (2011). "The history of vaginal birth". Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics 284 (1): 1–11. doi:10.1007/s00404-011-1918-6. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  12. ↑ Alexander F. H. van Nievelt and Kathleen K. Smith, "To replace or not to replace: the significance of reduced functional tooth replacement in marsupial and placental mammals", Paleobiology, Volume 31, Issue 2 (June 2005) pages 324–346
  13. ↑ Kielan-Jaworowska, Zofia; Cifelli,, Richard L.; Luo, Zhe-Xi (2004). Mammals from the age of dinosaurs : origins, evolution, and structure. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 148–153. ISBN 0231119186.
  14. ↑ Crompton, A. W.; Jenkins, F., Jr. (1968). "Molar occlusion in late Triassic mammals". Biological Reviews 43: 427–458. doi:10.1111/j.1469-185x.1968.tb00966.x.
  15. ↑ pages 511-512, Malcolm C. McKenna and Susan K. Bell, Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level, Columbia University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-231-11012-X
  16. ↑ K. A. Kermack, Frances Mussett, and H. W. Rigney, "The skull of Morganucodon", Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, volume 71 number 1 (January 1981), pages 1-158. "The middle ear and jaw articulation of Morganucodon" pages 107-112
  17. ↑ Mammals of the Mesozoic: The least mammal-like mammals
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