Fruitafossor

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Fruitafossor
Temporal range: Late Jurassic, Kimmeridgian–Tithonian
Forelimb model at the Smithsonian
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Theriimorpha
Genus: †Fruitafossor
Luo and Wible, 2005
Species:
†F. windscheffeli
Binomial name
†Fruitafossor windscheffeli
Luo and Wible, 2005

Fruitafossor was a

mya).[1]

The description is based on a complete skeleton of a chipmunk-sized animal.[1] It was discovered on March 31, 2005, in Fruita, Colorado.The genus name, Fruitafossor, comes from Fruita, Colorado, where it was discovered. The suffix "fossor" indicates the fossorial, or digging, specialization of the forelimbs. The specific epithet, windscheffeli, is in honor of Wally Windscheffel, who discovered the specimen along with Charles E. Safris of Des Moines, Iowa.

It resembled an

aardwolves, aardvarks, pangolins, and echidnas
.

Description

In 2009, a study by J. R. Foster was published that estimated the body masses of mammals from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation by using the ratio of dentary length to body mass of modern marsupials as a reference. Foster concludes that Fruitafossor was the least massive of the formation at 6 grams, much lower than the average Morrison mammal of 48.5 grams.[2]

Description and Ecology

Life restoration

The teeth of Fruitafossor bear a striking resemblance to modern armadillos and aardvarks. They were open-rooted, peg-like teeth without enamel. This type of tooth is present today in insectivorous mammals, particularly those that are highly specialized to feed on colonial insects. This is termed "myrmecophagy". Since ants had not yet evolved at the time of Fruitafossor, it is assumed that these animals fed on termites, which are considered to have evolved in the Jurassic,[3] although some studies consider they appeared in Early Cretaceous instead.[4] Morrison Formation yields fossil of social insect nests, possibly built by termites.[5]

Fruitafossor has been nicknamed

gophers, and spiny anteaters. The olecranon
process was highly enlarged indicating the forelimb had powerful muscles. This feature also supports the idea that they were myrmecophagous, as modern mammals employ this technique to break into termite mounds.

Its vertebral column is also very similar to armadillos, sloths, and anteaters (Xenarthra). It had extra points of contact among

vertebrae
similar to the xenarthrous process that are only known in these modern forms. These processes generate a rigid and relatively inflexible backbone, which is good for digging.

This find is an important discovery in mammal evolution, because of where it fits in the evolutionary tree of mammals and because of its

eutriconodont Spinolestes may have also occupied a similar ecological niche, and like Fruitafossor it has xenarthrous vertebrae convergent with those of xenarthrans.[6]

Classification and phylogeny

Fruitafossor has no modern relatives. It is an early offshoot of the mammal tree, considered to be a basal branch of Theriimorpha.[7]

See also

References

  1. ^
    S2CID 7031381
    .
  2. ^ Foster, J.R. 2009. Preliminary body mass estimates for mammalian genera of the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic, North America). PaleoBios 28(3):114-122.
  3. PMID 26200914
    .
  4. PMID 30963947
    .
  5. ISSN 2380-7601
    .
  6. S2CID 205245235
    .
  7. ^ Hughes EM, Wible JR, Spaulding M, Luo ZX. Mammalian petrosal from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Fruita, Colorado. Ann Carnegie Mus. 2015;83: 1–17.

External links

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