Re: Mesozoic mammals

[Jos Dols <dols0007@wxs.nl>]

Hello Dino,

for 'all life-form' cladograms check out the next link and surf fromon there to
your specific order/family etc.

http://www.fmnh.helsinki.fi/users/haaramo/Metazoa/Deuterostoma/Chordata/Synapsida/Synapsida_1.htm

best regards, Jos Dols


Dino Rampage wrote:

> I recently sent a query regarding the proto-mammals & mammals of the
> Mesozoic, but not many seemed to notice. (Many thanks anyway to the person
> who sent me the address of the Eucynodont genus index)
>
> 1)I've read somewhere that many of our early mammals may have been like
> monotremes in that they were oviparous. How likely is this and which groups
> may have adopted this lifestyle? Where and in which time period are there
> signs that mammals adopted viviparous birth? Or is it possible that live
> birth has evolved repeatedly among many separate mammal lineages, (say, more
> than once in the multis, once in the dryolestids, and once in the common
> ancestor of eutherians & metatherians?)
>
> 2) I need more info about the cladistics and systematics of the following
> groups: Morganucodontids, Docodonts, Multituberculates, Haramyids,
> Dryolestids, Triconodonts, Pantotheres and Symmetrodonts. Any good
> cladograms besides those on the Dinosauricon? Which of these survived up
> until the K-T? And just how similar were multis to extant rodents?
>
> 3) What ecological niche would these mammals have occupied? Listed below are
> a few examples I can think of:
>
> Opossums, Phascogales, Planigale, Antechinus, Numbats, Brushtail & ringtail
> possums, honey possums, solenodons, shrews, desmans (semi-aquatic moles of
> Eurasia), moonrats or gymnures, tree shrews, mouse lemurs, rodents (similar
> to multis?), and elephant shrews just to name a few.
>
> Is there fossil evidence that the Chiroptera were already in existence
> before the K-T? What about the colugos (or flying lemurs)? And is there a
> possibility that the Mesozoic mammals evolved gliding just like sugar
> gliders, anomalures or flying squirrels?
>
> 3) Besides the small scurrying forms, what other niches could Mesozoic
> mammals have occupied? I know Didelphodon was badger-sized, so could it have
> been a generalist like the badger or wolverine? And are there any other
> mammals that evolved forms like those of palm civets, linsangs, genets and
> weasels?
>
> Any information would be useful. While dinosaurs remain my main focus, I
> would like to know and understand the rest of the fauna that existed
> alongside them.
>
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