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'For more than 140 years, Mixodectes pungens, a species of small mammal that inhabited western North America in the early Paleocene, was a mystery. What little
by docmechanic 2y ago
'For more than 140 years, Mixodectes pungens, a species of small mammal that inhabited western North America in the early Paleocene, was a mystery. What little was known about them had been mostly gleaned from analyzing fossilized teeth and jawbone fragments. But a new study of the most complete skeleton of the species known to exist has answered many questions about the enigmatic critter -- first described in 1883 by famed paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope -- providing a better understanding of its anatomy, behavior, diet, and position in the Tree of Life.'
- heresie-dabord 2y ago"[The] findings show that they are close relatives of primates and colugos -- flying lemurs native to Southeast Asia -- making them fairly close relatives of humans." "Two phylogenetic analyses performed to clarify the species' evolutionary relationships confirmed that mixodectids were euarchontans, a group of mammals that consists of treeshrews, primates, and colugos. While one analysis supported that they were archaic primates, the other did not. However, the latter analysis verified that mixodectids are primatomorphans, a group within Euarchonta composed of primates and colugos, but not treeshrews."
- docmechanic 2y agoI had no idea that treeshrews are closely related to primates.