| Popis: |
Tenrecs (Tenrecoidea) and golden moles (Chrysochloroidea) are among the most enigmatic mammals alive today. Molecular data strongly support their inclusion in the morphologically diverse clade Afrotheria, and suggest that the two lineages split near the K-T boundary, but the only undoubted fossil representatives of each superfamily are from early Miocene (∼20 Ma) deposits in East Africa. A recent analysis of partial mandibles and maxillae of Euchrysuchloris, Jawharia, and Widanelfarasia, from the latest Eocene and earliest Oligocene of Egypt, led to the suggestion that the derived “zalambdomorph” molar occlusal pattern (i.e., extreme reduction or loss of upper molar metacones and lower molar talonids) seen in tenrecoids and chrysochloroids evolved independently in the two lineages, and that tenrecoids might be derived from a dilambdomorph group of “insectivoran-grade” placentals that includes forms such as Widanelfarasia. Here I describe the oldest afrosoricid from the Fayum region, ∼37 Ma Dilambdogale gh... |
