RE: Juramaia, Jurassic eutherian from China

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@umd.edu>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu [mailto:owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu] 
> On Behalf Of bh480@scn.org
> Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 6:00 AM
> To: dinosaur@usc.edu
> Subject: Juramaia, Jurassic eutherian from China
> 
> bh480@scn.org
> 
> A Mesozoic mammal of interest:
> 
> Zhe-Xi Luo, Chong-Xi Yuan, Qing-Jin Meng & Qiang Ji (2011) 
> Jurassic eutherian mammal and divergence of marsupials and placentals.
> Nature 476: 442-445
> doi:10.1038/nature10291
> http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v476/n7361/full/natur
> e10291.html
> 
> 
> Placentals are the most abundant mammals that have 
> diversified into every niche for vertebrates and dominated 
> the world's terrestrial biotas in the Cenozoic. 
> A critical event in mammalian history is the divergence of 
> eutherians, the clade inclusive of all living placentals, 
> from the metatherian-marsupial clade. Here we report the 
> discovery of a new eutherian of 160 Myr from the 
> Jurassic of China, which extends the first appearance of the 
> eutherian-placental clade by about 35 Myr from the 
> previous record, reducing and resolving a discrepancy between 
> the previous fossil record and the molecular estimate for the 
> placental-marsupial divergence. This mammal has scansorial 
> forelimb features, and provides the ancestral condition for 
> dental and other anatomical features of eutherians.
> 
> 
> News Stories:
> http://www.carnegiemnh.org/press/11-jul-
> sep/082511fossil.htm
> http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-08/cmon-
> doa081911.php
> http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsb
> urgh/s_753170.html

And now I have to update the webnotes for class... :-)

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Email: tholtz@umd.edu   Phone: 301-405-4084
Office: Centreville 1216                        
Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Dept. of Geology, University of Maryland
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
Fax: 301-314-9661               

Faculty Director, Science & Global Change Program, College Park Scholars
http://www.geol.umd.edu/sgc
Fax: 301-314-9843

Mailing Address:        Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                        Department of Geology
                        Building 237, Room 1117
                        University of Maryland
                        College Park, MD 20742 USA