Postcranial Skeleton of Henkelotherium guimarotae (Cladotheria, Mammalia) and Locomotor Adaptation

Jäger, Kai R. K.; Luo, Zhe‐Xi; Martin, Thomas

doi:10.1007/s10914-018-09457-2

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“… Anteroproximal tibia via common “triceps” tendon [tuberosity on proximal cnemial crest] Lateral aspect of femoral shaft [tuberosity or crest] Lateral aspect of femoral shaft [large process, “third trochanter”] Lateral aspect of femoral shaft, from base of greater trochanter to more distal parts Remarks —Uniquely among amniotes, on the line to mammals, the posterior head shifted away from the knee to insert on the lateral femoral shaft. This coincides with the appearance of a crest (state 1, such as in monotremes and multituberculates) or trochanter (state 2, typical of crown therians; Figure 4e), although such processes have also been lost numerous times, including in stem therians (e.g., Jäger et al, 2019; Jenkins & Schaff, 1988; Rougier, 1993), most marsupials and some derived placental clades (state 3; Sargis, 2002). Complicating the picture, in some rodents (Greene, 1935; Rinker, 1954; Stein, 1986), tupaiids (Le Gros Clark, 1924, 1926), and didelphids (Coues & Wyman, 1872), the FCOC inserts on the lateral patella and surrounding soft tissues of the knee, despite a third trochanter often being present.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 71%

The fossil record of appendicular muscle evolution in Synapsida on the line to mammals: Part II—Hindlimb

Bishop,

Pierce

2023

The Anatomical Record

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This paper is the second in a two‐part series that charts the evolution of appendicular musculature along the mammalian stem lineage, drawing upon the exceptional fossil record of extinct synapsids. Here, attention is focused on muscles of the hindlimb. Although the hindlimb skeleton did not undergo as marked a transformation on the line to mammals as did the forelimb skeleton, the anatomy of extant tetrapods indicates that major changes to musculature have nonetheless occurred. To better understand these changes, this study surveyed the osteological evidence for muscular attachments in extinct mammalian and nonmammalian synapsids, two extinct amniote outgroups, and a large selection of extant mammals, saurians, and salamanders. Observations were integrated into an explicit phylogenetic framework, comprising 80 character–state complexes covering all muscles crossing the hip, knee, and ankle joints. These were coded for 33 operational taxonomic units spanning >330 Ma of tetrapod evolution, and ancestral state reconstruction was used to evaluate the sequence of muscular evolution along the stem lineage from Amniota to Theria. The evolutionary history of mammalian hindlimb musculature was complex, nonlinear, and protracted, with several instances of convergence and pulses of anatomical transformation that continued well into the crown group. Numerous traits typically regarded as characteristically “mammalian” have much greater antiquity than previously recognized, and for some traits, most synapsids are probably more reflective of the ancestral amniote condition than are extant saurians. More broadly, this study highlights the utility of the fossil record in interpreting the evolutionary appearance of distinctive anatomies.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 71%

The fossil record of appendicular muscle evolution in Synapsida on the line to mammals: Part II—Hindlimb

Bishop,

Pierce

2023

The Anatomical Record

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“…There is a thickened surface for the origin of the m . rectus femoris anterior to the acetabulum, similar to some placental mammals but in contrast to other therians 41 , non-therian mammals and some early diverging therians (e.g., multituberculates Akidolestes, Henkelotherium, Vincelestes, Ukhaatherium ) 41 – 43 in which there is a distinct preacetabular tubercle (see Supplementary Information 1 ; Supplementary Fig. 8 ).…”

Section: Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…The femoral neck is constricted and medially oriented, forming an angle of about 55° with the main axis of femur, whereas non-therian mammals lack a constricted femoral neck (e.g., monotremes, Akidolestes , Vincelestes ) 42 . The trochanteric fossa is well-defined, wide, and distally bounded by a crescent-shaped crest for the insertion of the m. quadratus femoris 39 , 40 , in contrast to the shallow poorly defined fossa in non-therian mammals (e.g., Akidolestes, Henkelotherium, Vincelestes ) 42 , 43 . The greater trochanter is robust, anteroposteriorly broad, and projected posteriorly; it reaches the same level as the femoral head proximally, resembling many therians 39 , 48 , 49 but unlike non-therian mammals (e.g., monotremes, multituberculates, Henkelotherium, Vincelestes ) 42 – 45 , 50 , 51 .…”

Section: Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A large therian mammal from the Late Cretaceous of South America

Chimento,

Agnolín,

García-Marsà

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

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Theria represent an extant clade that comprises placental and marsupial mammals. Here we report on the discovery of a new Late Cretaceous mammal from southern Patagonia, Patagomaia chainko gen. et sp. nov., represented by hindlimb and pelvic elements with unambiguous therian features. We estimate Patagomaia chainko attained a body mass of 14 kg, which is considerably greater than the 5 kg maximum body mass of coeval Laurasian therians. This new discovery demonstrates that Gondwanan therian mammals acquired large body size by the Late Cretaceous, preceding their Laurasian relatives, which remained small-bodied until the beginning of the Cenozoic. Patagomaia supports the view that the Southern Hemisphere was a cradle for the evolution of modern mammalian clades, alongside non-therian extinct groups such as meridiolestidans, gondwanatherians and monotremes.

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“…Dryolestidans have an advanced inner ear morphology with the cochlear canal coiled to at least 270° and primary and secondary bony laminae for the basilar membrane (Ruf et al 2009 ; Luo et al 2011 , 2012 ). An almost complete postcranial skeleton is known for Henkelotherium from the Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) of Portugal, which had an arboreal lifestyle (Krebs 1991 ; Jäger et al 2020 ). The oldest dryolestidans have been reported from the Middle Jurassic of Asia (Averianov et al 2014 ), but surprisingly, this group is not known from this continent in younger deposits.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A derived dryolestid mammal indicates possible insular endemism in the Late Jurassic of Germany

Martin

Averianov

Schultz

et al. 2021

Sci Nat

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The Langenberg Quarry near Bad Harzburg has yielded the first Jurassic stem therian mammal of Germany, recovered from Kimmeridgian (Late Jurassic) near shore deposits of a palaeo-island within the Lower Saxony Basin of the European archipelago. The new stem therian is represented by one lower and three upper molars. Hercynodon germanicus gen. et sp. nov. is attributed to the Dryolestidae, a group of pretribosphenic crown mammals that was common in western Laurasia from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. The new taxon is characterised by small size, a reduced cusp pattern in the upper molars lacking a metacone, and enhancement of the shearing crests paracrista and metacrista. Phylogenetic analysis identified Hercynodon gen. nov. as sister taxon of Crusafontia from the Lower Cretaceous (Barremian) of Spain. Both taxa belong to an endemic European clade of dryolestids, including also Achyrodon and Phascolestes from the earliest Cretaceous (Berriasian) of England. Despite its greater geological age, Hercynodon gen. nov. is the most derived representative of that clade, indicated by the complete reduction of the metacone. The discrepancy between derived morphology and geological age may be explained by an increased rate of character evolution in insular isolation. Other insular phenomena have earlier been observed in vertebrates from the Langenberg Quarry, such as dwarfism in the small sauropod Europasaurus, and possible gigantism in the morganucodontan mammaliaform Storchodon and the pinheirodontid multituberculate mammal Teutonodon which grew unusually large.

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Postcranial Skeleton of Henkelotherium guimarotae (Cladotheria, Mammalia) and Locomotor Adaptation

Cited by 11 publications

References 70 publications

The fossil record of appendicular muscle evolution in Synapsida on the line to mammals: Part II—Hindlimb

The fossil record of appendicular muscle evolution in Synapsida on the line to mammals: Part II—Hindlimb

A large therian mammal from the Late Cretaceous of South America

A derived dryolestid mammal indicates possible insular endemism in the Late Jurassic of Germany

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