Early Mammal Fossil Reveals the Evolutionary Origins of Having a Loose Tongue (2 of 6) (IMAGE)

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Early Mammal Fossil Reveals the Evolutionary Origins of Having a Loose Tongue (2 of 6)

Caption

Life reconstructions of Microdocodon gracilis - a docodont mammaliaform. Microdocodon was a tiny animal. It has a skull length of 2 cm (3/4 inch), a head-body length about 6 cm (2 inches), and a long tail about 8 cm (about 3 inches) in length. The animal likely weighed between 5 grams to 9 grams (less than 1/3 of an ounce). Its slender and gracile skeletal elements suggest that it was an agile and active animal living on the tree. Its teeth were for insectivorous diet. This reconstruction depicts Microdocodon as a nocturnal animal active on a bennettitalean tree of the Jurassic. This material relates to a paper that appeared in the 19 July issue of Science, published by AAAS. The paper, by C.-F. Zhou at Shenyang Normal University in Shenyang, China, and colleagues was titled, "New Jurassic mammaliaform sheds light on early evolution of mammal-like hyoid bones."

Credit

April I. Neander, the University of Chicago

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