Kuehneotherium
Kuehneotherium | |
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Upper and lower molars of Kuehneotherium | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Synapsida |
Clade: | Therapsida
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Clade: | Cynodontia
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Clade: | Mammaliaformes |
Family: | †Kuehneotheriidae |
Genus: | †Kuehneotherium D.M. Kermack et al., 1968 |
Type species | |
†Kuehneotherium praecursoris D.M. Kermack et al., 1968
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Other species | |
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Kuehneotherium is an early
Kuehneotherium is thought to be an insectivore that could consume only soft-bodied insects such as moths. Its teeth were shaped for vertical shearing and could not crush harder prey. It lived alongside another early mammaliaform, Morganucodon, which had teeth that could crush harder insects such as beetles. This distinction in diet shows that early mammaliaforms adapted to have separate feeding niches so they would not compete for food.[3][4]
Species
Remains of Kuehneotherium praecursoris have been found in the Pontalun Quarry in a single fissure pocket in South Wales. The deposit found in limestone is from the Late Triassic. (Whiteside and Marshall 2008) Additional Kuehneotherium fossils have been found in rock formations of the Early Jurassic of Britain (Somerset), and the Late Triassic of France (Saint-Nicolas-de-Porte), Luxembourg, and Greenland; the Kuehneotherium specimens for Saint-Nicolas-de-Porte have been named K. stanislavi.[1]
Paleoenvironment
During the Late Triassic epoch the supercontinent
The climate Kuehneotherium lived in was hot and dry during this part of the early Mesozoic. Conifer plants thrived and spread throughout Pangaea. As the continents rifted apart during the Early Jurassic the climate was more humid. Ferns, horsetails, cycads, and mosses were common in both the Triassic and Jurassic, however they were more prevalent in the more humid Jurassic period.[5]
Phylogeny
The
- Phylogeny (Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska et al., 2002)
Mammaliaformes |
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Significance to the evolution of mammalian dentition
Study of the initial development of molar cusp triangulation in Kuehneotherium preacursoris was key in the early understanding of the transition between triconodont and crown therian molars.
Kuehneotherium dentition shows a significant link between
Metabolism
Alongside Morganucodon, Kuehneotherium appears to have had a lower metabolism than modern mammals, having a long lifespan.[9]
See also
References
- ^ S2CID 20444744.
- .
- ^ Gill, Pam, M.D. Morganucodon – lower jaw of an early mammal, Animal Bytes 13 June 2013. Web. retrieved http://animalbytescambridge.wordpress.com/2013/06/05/morganucodon-lower-jaw-of-an-early-mammal/#comments
- S2CID 4469841.
- ^ Benton, Michael J. (2005) "Vertebrate Palaeontology" pg. 138-139, 189-190, and 300-306
- ^ S2CID 80715429.
- ProQuest 51112892.
- ISBN 978-0-231-11918-4.
- PMID 33046697.
Further reading
- Fraser, N. C.; Walkden, G. M.; Stewart, V. (March 1985). "The first pre-Rhaetic therian mammal". Nature. 314 (6007): 161–163. ProQuest 51337243.
- Gingerich, Philip D. (1977). "Patterns of evolution in the mammalian fossil record". Patterns of evolution, as illustrated by the fossil record. Elsevier. pp. 469–500. ISBN 978-0-08-086846-2.
- Mills, J R E (September 2016). "Evolution of Mammalian Dental Structures". Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine. 65 (4): 392–396. PMID 5063423.
- Kermack, K A (September 2016). "Evolution of Mammalian Dental Structures". Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine. 65 (4): 389–392. PMID 5063422.
- Parrington, Francis Rex (January 1997). "A Further Account of the Triassic Mammals". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. B, Biological Sciences. 282 (989): 177–204. .
- Setoguchi, T.; Tsubamoto, T.; Hanamura, H.; Hachiya, K. (1999). "An early late Cretaceous mammal from Japan, with reconsideration of the Evolution of tribosphenic molars". Paleontological Research. 3 (1): 18–28.