A new specimen of Eurylambda aequicrurius and considerations on "symmetrodont" dentition and relationships

Related Titles

Series: American Museum novitates, no. 3398

By

Rougier, Guillermo W.

Spurlin, Barton K.
Kik, Peter K.
Marsh, Othniel Charles, 1831-1899

Type

Book

Material

Published material

Publication info

New York, NY American Museum of Natural History c2003

Notes

Caption title.

"March 27, 2003."

Specimen collected in 1883 at Como Bluff Quarry, Wyo., in the Morrison Formation, during an expedition led by O.C. Marsh. (Introduction)

A new specimen of the tinodontid "symmetrodont" Eurylambda (Simpson, 1925a, 1929) from the late Jurassic Como Bluff Quarry, Morrison Formation, is described. The specimen, a complete upper left molariform, is probably an M1. The major crown cusps of Eurylambda show similarities to those of triconodontids on the one hand and to spalacotherioids on the other. Cusp B of basal mammaliaforms is tentatively proposed as homologous with the cusp traditionally described as a stylocone in Eurylambda and with cusp Bʹ of Peralestes. These homologies imply that the stylocone is ancestrally a small cusp in the lineage leading to Theria and that the development of a parastylar lobe or "hook" is a derived feature of post-tinodontid mammals. If accepted, this scenario results in a more complex origin for the therian upper molar than previously recognized. Wear facet 1 (Crompton, 1971) of holotherians would not be homologous between Kuehneotherium-Eurylambda-Zhangheotherium, on the one hand, and the therians, on the other.

Subjects

Como Bluff , Dentition , Eurylambda aequicrurius , Evolution , Jurassic , Mammals , Mammals, Fossil , Maxilla , Molars , Morrison Formation , Paleontology , Teeth , Teeth, Fossil , Wyoming

Call Number

QL1 .A436 no.3398 2003

Language

English

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1206/0003-0082(2003)398<0001:ANSOEA>2.0.CO;2
OCLC: 51959561