Cranial anatomy of the earliest marsupials and the origin of opossums.

<h4>Background</h4>The early evolution of living marsupials is poorly understood in part because the early offshoots of this group are known almost exclusively from jaws and teeth. Filling this gap is essential for a better understanding of the phylogenetic relationships among living mar...

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Autores principales:	Inés Horovitz, Thomas Martin, Jonathan Bloch, Sandrine Ladevèze, Cornelia Kurz, Marcelo R Sánchez-Villagra
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2009
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/f557ff5f4e944713922d9997279f218f
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:f557ff5f4e944713922d9997279f218f2021-11-25T06:27:20ZCranial anatomy of the earliest marsupials and the origin of opossums.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0008278https://doaj.org/article/f557ff5f4e944713922d9997279f218f2009-12-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/20016823/pdf/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203<h4>Background</h4>The early evolution of living marsupials is poorly understood in part because the early offshoots of this group are known almost exclusively from jaws and teeth. Filling this gap is essential for a better understanding of the phylogenetic relationships among living marsupials, the biogeographic pathways that led to their current distribution as well as the successive evolutionary steps that led to their current diversity, habits and various specializations that distinguish them from placental mammals.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>Here we report the first skull of a 55 million year old peradectid marsupial from the early Eocene of North America and exceptionally preserved skeletons of an Oligocene herpetotheriid, both representing critical groups to understand early marsupial evolution. A comprehensive phylogenetic cladistic analysis of Marsupialia including the new findings and close relatives of marsupials show that peradectids are the sister group of living opossums and herpetotheriids are the sister group of all living marsupials.<h4>Conclusions/significance</h4>The results imply that North America played an important role in early Cenozoic marsupial evolutionary history and may have even been the center of origin of living marsupials and opossums. New data from the herpetotheriid postcranium support the view that the ancestral morphotype of Marsupialia was more terrestrial than opossums are. The resolution of the phylogenetic position of peradectids reveals an older calibration point for molecular estimates of divergence times among living marsupials than those currently used.Inés HorovitzThomas MartinJonathan BlochSandrine LadevèzeCornelia KurzMarcelo R Sánchez-VillagraPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 4, Iss 12, p e8278 (2009)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Inés Horovitz Thomas Martin Jonathan Bloch Sandrine Ladevèze Cornelia Kurz Marcelo R Sánchez-Villagra Cranial anatomy of the earliest marsupials and the origin of opossums.
description	<h4>Background</h4>The early evolution of living marsupials is poorly understood in part because the early offshoots of this group are known almost exclusively from jaws and teeth. Filling this gap is essential for a better understanding of the phylogenetic relationships among living marsupials, the biogeographic pathways that led to their current distribution as well as the successive evolutionary steps that led to their current diversity, habits and various specializations that distinguish them from placental mammals.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>Here we report the first skull of a 55 million year old peradectid marsupial from the early Eocene of North America and exceptionally preserved skeletons of an Oligocene herpetotheriid, both representing critical groups to understand early marsupial evolution. A comprehensive phylogenetic cladistic analysis of Marsupialia including the new findings and close relatives of marsupials show that peradectids are the sister group of living opossums and herpetotheriids are the sister group of all living marsupials.<h4>Conclusions/significance</h4>The results imply that North America played an important role in early Cenozoic marsupial evolutionary history and may have even been the center of origin of living marsupials and opossums. New data from the herpetotheriid postcranium support the view that the ancestral morphotype of Marsupialia was more terrestrial than opossums are. The resolution of the phylogenetic position of peradectids reveals an older calibration point for molecular estimates of divergence times among living marsupials than those currently used.
format	article
author	Inés Horovitz Thomas Martin Jonathan Bloch Sandrine Ladevèze Cornelia Kurz Marcelo R Sánchez-Villagra
author_facet	Inés Horovitz Thomas Martin Jonathan Bloch Sandrine Ladevèze Cornelia Kurz Marcelo R Sánchez-Villagra
author_sort	Inés Horovitz
title	Cranial anatomy of the earliest marsupials and the origin of opossums.
title_short	Cranial anatomy of the earliest marsupials and the origin of opossums.
title_full	Cranial anatomy of the earliest marsupials and the origin of opossums.
title_fullStr	Cranial anatomy of the earliest marsupials and the origin of opossums.
title_full_unstemmed	Cranial anatomy of the earliest marsupials and the origin of opossums.
title_sort	cranial anatomy of the earliest marsupials and the origin of opossums.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2009
url	https://doaj.org/article/f557ff5f4e944713922d9997279f218f
work_keys_str_mv	AT ineshorovitz cranialanatomyoftheearliestmarsupialsandtheoriginofopossums AT thomasmartin cranialanatomyoftheearliestmarsupialsandtheoriginofopossums AT jonathanbloch cranialanatomyoftheearliestmarsupialsandtheoriginofopossums AT sandrineladeveze cranialanatomyoftheearliestmarsupialsandtheoriginofopossums AT corneliakurz cranialanatomyoftheearliestmarsupialsandtheoriginofopossums AT marcelorsanchezvillagra cranialanatomyoftheearliestmarsupialsandtheoriginofopossums
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Cranial anatomy of the earliest marsupials and the origin of opossums.

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