video: Tiny hyoid bones are preserved below the skull in the Jurassic mammaliaform Microdocodon. Comparison of Microdocodon to distant cynodont relatives and modern mammals reveals new information about hyoids and middle ears of Mesozoic mammals. The discovery of modern mammal-like hyoids of a mammaliaform sheds light on the first appearance of the swallowing function in mammal evolution. 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." view more
Credit: April I. Neander, the University of Chicago