Journal
SCIENCE
Volume 367, Issue 6475, Pages 305-+Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/science.aay9220
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [41688103, 41404022]
- Chinese Academy of Sciences [XDB26000000]
- Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS [2019076]
- Kalbfleisch Fellowship, Richard Gilder Graduate School, American Museum of Natural History
Ask authors/readers for more resources
On the basis of multiple skeletal specimens from Liaoning, China, we report a new genus and species of Cretaceous stem therian mammal that displays decoupling of hearing and chewing apparatuses and functions. The auditory bones, including the surangular, have no bone contact with the ossified Meckel's cartilage; the latter is loosely lodged on the medial rear of the dentary. This configuration probably represents the initial morphological stage of the definitive mammalian middle ear. Evidence shows that hearing and chewing apparatuses have evolved in a modular fashion. Starting as an integrated complex in non-mammaliaform cynodonts, the two modules, regulated by similar developmental and genetic mechanisms, eventually decoupled during the evolution of mammals, allowing further improvement for more efficient hearing and mastication.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available