A New European Marsupial Indicates a Late Cretaceous High-Latitude Transatlantic Dispersal Route

Martin, James E.; Case, Judd A.; Jagt, John W.M.; Schulp, Anne S.; Mulder, Eric W.A.

doi:10.1007/s10914-005-7330-x

Cited by 67 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…The only other known stem marsupialiform described in the Late Cretaceous of Europe is Maastrichtidelphys from the Maastrichtian of the Netherlands, an advanced form related to herpetotheriids (20). This family is considered the sister group of Marsupialia and thus would include the most derived stem marsupialiforms (21).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although metatherians seem to have originated in Asia (e.g., Sinodelphys, deltatheroidans), the paleobiogeographical history and origin of the Cretaceous European and Euramerican marsupialiforms-and of the therians in general-remains mostly unresolved. Direct dispersals from Asia to North America are illustrated by several vertebrate taxa (29), some of which colonized Europe from North America, especially in the Late Cretaceous (20). But this does not exclude direct early dispersals from Asia to Europe, especially because the Ouralian seaway (Turgai strait) developed later, in the Turonian.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The oldest modern therian mammal from Europe and its bearing on stem marsupial paleobiogeography

Vullo

Gheerbrant

Muizon

et al. 2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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We report the discovery of mammalian tribosphenic teeth from the basal Cenomanian of southwestern France that we refer to a new primitive marsupial-like form identified as a basal taxon of Marsupialiformes, a new clade recognized here to include the crown group Marsupialia and primitive stem lineages more closely related to Marsupialia than to Deltatheroida. Arcantiodelphys marchandi gen et sp nov. shares several significant marsupial-like features ( s.l. ) with marsupialiform taxa known from the North American Mid-Cretaceous. Among marsupialiforms, it shows a closer resemblance to Dakotadens . This resemblance, which is plesiomorphic within “tribotherians,” makes Arcantiodelphys one of the most archaic known Marsupialiformes. Moreover, Arcantiodelphys is characterized by an original and precocious crushing specialization. Both the plesiomorphic and autapomorphic characteristics of Arcantiodelphys among Marsupialiformes might be explained by an Eastern origin from Asian stem metatherians, with some in situ European evolution. In addition, the presence of a mammal with North American affinities in western Europe during the early Late Cretaceous provides further evidence of a large Euramerican biogeographical province at this age or slightly before. Concerning the paleobiogeographical history of the first stem marsupialiforms during the Albian–Cenomanian interval, 2 possible dispersal routes from an Asian metatherian ancestry can be proposed: Asia to Europe via North America and Asia to North America via Europe. The main significance of the Archingeay-Les Nouillers mammal discovery is that it indicates that the beginning of the stem marsupialiforms history involved not only North America but also Europe, and that this early history in Europe remains virtually unknown.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The oldest modern therian mammal from Europe and its bearing on stem marsupial paleobiogeography

Vullo

Gheerbrant

Muizon

et al. 2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Cretaceous marsupial fossils are also known from Europe [172,173] and North America [174 -178]. The consensus is that metatherians originated in Asia, and subsequently dispersed to North America and Europe [173].…”

Section: Marsupial Biogeographymentioning

confidence: 99%

The historical biogeography of Mammalia

Springer

Meredith

Janečka

et al. 2011

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

106

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Palaeobiogeographic reconstructions are underpinned by phylogenies, divergence times and ancestral area reconstructions, which together yield ancestral area chronograms that provide a basis for proposing and testing hypotheses of dispersal and vicariance. Methods for area coding include multi-state coding with a single character, binary coding with multiple characters and string coding. Ancestral reconstruction methods are divided into parsimony versus Bayesian/likelihood approaches. We compared nine methods for reconstructing ancestral areas for placental mammals. Ambiguous reconstructions were a problem for all methods. Important differences resulted from coding areas based on the geographical ranges of extant species versus the geographical provenance of the oldest fossil for each lineage. Africa and South America were reconstructed as the ancestral areas for Afrotheria and Xenarthra, respectively. Most methods reconstructed Eurasia as the ancestral area for Boreoeutheria, Euarchontoglires and Laurasiatheria. The coincidence of molecular dates for the separation of Afrotheria and Xenarthra at approximately 100 Ma with the plate tectonic sundering of Africa and South America hints at the importance of vicariance in the early history of Placentalia. Dispersal has also been important including the origins of Madagascar's endemic mammal fauna. Further studies will benefit from increased taxon sampling and the application of new ancestral area reconstruction methods.

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“…80-85 Ma) via a land connection between Europe and North America. The fossil record indicates that such a route was used by duck-billed dinosaurs during this time period, and later on in the Maastrichtian by marsupials, both times when sea levels were lower and temperatures warmer (Martin et al 2005). This same route may have been available for characiforms.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Seventy-five-million-year-old tropical tetra-like fish from Canada tracks Cretaceous global warming

et al. 2009

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Newly discovered fossil fish material from the Cretaceous Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, Canada, documents the presence of a tropical fish in this northern area about 75 million years ago (Ma). The living relatives of this fossil fish, members of the Characiformes including the piranha and neon tetras, are restricted to tropical and subtropical regions, being limited in their distribution by colder temperatures. Although characiform fossils are known from Cretaceous through to Cenozoic deposits, none has been reported previously from North America. The modern distribution of characiforms in Mexico and southern Texas in the southernmost United States is believed to have been the result of a relatively recent colonization less than 12 Ma. The new Canadian fossils document the presence of these fish in North America in the Late Cretaceous, a time of significantly warmer global temperatures than now. Global cooling after this time apparently extirpated them from the northern areas and these fishes only survived in more southern climes. The lack of early Cenozoic characiform fossils in North America suggests that marine barriers prevented recolonization during warmer times, unlike in Europe where Eocene characiform fossils occur during times of global warmth.

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A New European Marsupial Indicates a Late Cretaceous High-Latitude Transatlantic Dispersal Route

Cited by 67 publications

References 36 publications

The oldest modern therian mammal from Europe and its bearing on stem marsupial paleobiogeography

The oldest modern therian mammal from Europe and its bearing on stem marsupial paleobiogeography

The historical biogeography of Mammalia

Seventy-five-million-year-old tropical tetra-like fish from Canada tracks Cretaceous global warming

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