cranial anatomy of the earliest marsupials and the origin of opossums颅解剖学最早的有袋动物和负鼠的起源.pdfVIP

Cranial Anatomy of the Earliest Marsupials and the Origin of Opossums ´ 1 2 3 ` 4¤ 5 Ines Horovitz *, Thomas Martin , Jonathan Bloch , Sandrine Ladeveze , Cornelia Kurz , Marcelo R. ´ 4* Sanchez-Villagra ¨ 1 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America, 2 Steinmann-Institut fur ¨ ¨ Geologie, Mineralogie und Palaontologie, Universitat Bonn, Bonn, Germany, 3 Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of ¨ America, 4 Palaeontologisches Institut und Museum, Zurich, Switzerland, 5 Naturkundemuseum im Ottoneum Kassel, Kassel, Germany Abstract Background: The early evolution of living marsupials is poorly understood in part because the early offshoots of this group are known almost exclusively from jaws and teeth. Filling this gap is essential for a better understanding of the phylogenetic relationships among living marsupials, the biogeographic pathways that led to their current distribution as well as the successive evolutionary steps that led to their current diversity, habits and various specializations that distinguish them from placental mammals. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we report the first skull of a 55 million year old peradectid marsupial from the early Eocene of North America and exceptionally preserved skeletons of an Oligocene herpet