An African Radiation of ‘Dryolestoidea’ (Donodontidae, Cladotheria) and its Significance for Mammalian Evolution

Abstract

Mesozoic deposits in the 1980s, which lead to the discovery of some of the specimens discussed here. We would like to thank M. Forissier, J. Marchand, A. Phelizon and V.Prugneaux (Société Amicale des Géologues Amateurs) for their assistance in the long and difficult picking of fossils. We thank R. Vacant (CR2P, MNHN) for preparing the specimens, L. Cazes and P. Loubry (CR2P, MNHN) for their help with SEM, and F. Goussard (CR2P, MNHN) for his assistance with 3D models. 3D data acquisitions were performed using the µ-CT facilities of the MRI (Montpellier Ressource Imagerie) platform, member of the national infrastructure France BioImaging supported by the French National Research Agency (ANR-10-INBS-04, "Investments for the future"), and of the Labex CEMEB (ANR-10-LABX-0004) and NUMEV (ANR-10-LABX-0020); we thank R. Lebrun (MRI-ISEM) for his help with CTscanning. We used TNT version 1.5, a program made freely available with the sponsorship of the Willi Hennig Society. The manuscript has benefited from comments by G. Cuenca-Bescós