New Skull Material of Taeniolabis taoensis (Multituberculata, Taeniolabididae) from the Early Paleocene (Danian) of the Denver Basin, Colorado

Krause, David W.; Hoffmann, Simone; Lyson, Tyler R.; Dougan, Lindsay G.; Petermann, Holger; Tecza, Adrienne; Chester, Stephen G. B.; Miller, Ian M.

doi:10.1007/s10914-021-09584-3

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 156 publications

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“…2). To date, Corral Bluffs has yielded hundreds of exceptionally preserved fossil vertebrates, including nearly 100 mammalian fossils consisting of skulls, jaws, and postcrania (Lyson et al 2019;Krause et al 2021). Based on these new fossils we erect Militocodon lydae gen. et sp.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Skull of a new periptychid mammal from the lower Paleocene Denver Formation of Colorado (Corral Bluffs, El Paso County)

Weaver,

Crowell,

Chester

et al. 2024

J Mammal Evol

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The Periptychidae, an extinct group of archaic ungulates (‘condylarths’), were the most speciose eutherian mammals in the earliest Paleocene of North America, epitomizing mammalian ascendency after the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) mass extinction. Although periptychids are mostly known from fragmentary gnathic remains, the Corral Bluffs area within the Denver Basin, Colorado, has yielded numerous exceptionally well-preserved mammalian fossils, including periptychids, from the earliest Paleocene. Here we describe a partial cranium and articulated dentaries plus an additional unassociated dentary fragment of a small-bodied (~273–455 g) periptychid from ca. 610 thousand years after the K–Pg mass extinction (Puercan 2 North American Land Mammal ‘age’) at Corral Bluffs. Based on these new fossils we erect Militocodon lydae gen. et sp. nov. The dentition of M. lydae exhibits synapomorphies that diagnose the Conacodontinae, but it is plesiomorphic relative to Oxyacodon, resembling putatively basal periptychids like Mimatuta and Maiorana in several dental traits. As such, we interpret M. lydae as a basal conacodontine. Its skull anatomy does not reveal clear periptychid synapomorphies and instead resembles that of arctocyonids and other primitive eutherians. M. lydae falls along a dental morphocline from basal periptychids to derived conacodontines, which we hypothesize reflects a progressive, novel modification of the hypocone to enhance orthal shearing and crushing rather than grinding mastication. The discovery and thorough descriptions and comparisons of the partial M. lydae skull represent an important step toward unraveling the complex evolutionary history of periptychid mammals.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%