Posted on 09/17/2014 5:26:18 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
In placing three newly discovered species along the mammal family tree, researchers conclude that mammals emerged and exploded in diversity between 235 million and 201 million years ago...
Over the past three years, a team of researchers has uncovered six 160-million-year-old fossils that represent three new species who were living in trees at the time of the dinosaurs.
In placing these creatures along the mammal family tree, the researchers conclude that mammals emerged and exploded in diversity between 235 million and 201 million years ago, during the Triassic period. If the results hold up to additional scrutiny, they imply a much earlier start for mammals than some previous studies had indicated. They also dovetail with DNA studies that have pointed to an earlier emergence for mammals.
Combined with other mammal fossils from the early Jurassic, which began about 200 million years ago, the results also reinforce the notion that mammals were more than Lilliputian interlopers timidly eking out a living under the shadow of mighty dinosaurs. Instead, they were a thriving group. Some could swim, some could dig, suggesting a land-based habitat. Along come these new specimens whose bodies are well adapted to living in the canopy of Jurassic forests.
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
Reconstruction of a new mammal species, Xianshou songae. This mouse-sized animal was a tree dweller in the Jurassic forests and belonged to an extinct group of Mesozoic mammals called euharamiyida. [Zhao Chuang/American Museum of Natural History/Reuters]
Scrat!
From Ice Age and Ice Age 2...
Dang tree rats been around a real, real long time.
Thanks to a FReeper for the link in FReepmail. Artist's conception looks like a coati or a Ring-tailed Cat.
Squirrel? From that picture I’d say more like ‘possum.
“Beautiful” Squirrel-Tail Dinosaur Fossil Upends Feather Theory
National Geographic | 7-2-2012 | Christine Dell’Amore
Posted on 7/3/2012 7:40:01 AM by Renfield
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2902249/posts
Not just any ‘possum...
AGILITY ‘POSSUM!!!
Beat me to it by a mile. Favorite character.
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