微型计算机断层扫描揭示了已知最古老的plesiadapiform骨的解剖学
Jordan W Crowell1, K Christopher Beard2, Stephen G B Chester1
1Ph.D. Program in Anthropology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA; New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, NY 10024, USA; Department of Anthropology, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, 2900 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11210, USA.
Journal of human evolution
|March 13, 2025
概括
考古时代的Plesiolestes nacimienti头骨化石揭示了关于早期哺乳动物进化的新细节. 微计算机断层扫描 (microCT) 扫描澄清了它的解剖学,表明它与树有相似之处,并支持灵长类动物的树木祖先.
科学领域:
- 古生物学和脊椎动物古生物学
- 哺乳动物进化 哺乳动物进化
- 灵长类动物的起源
背景情况:
- 帕拉赫顿类动物是古世早期的 plesiadapiform哺乳动物,主要是从牙化石中知道的.
- Plesiolestes nacimienti (KUVP 9557) 的部分头骨是任何 plesiadapiform 或 euarchontan 哺乳动物中已知最古老的头骨化石.
- 之前对KUVP 9557的研究受到较旧的成像技术的限制.
研究的目的:
- 通过微型计算机断层扫描 (microCT) 重新检查Plesiolestes nacimienti的头骨形态.
- 为了记录以前未知的头骨特征,并澄清现有的描述.
- 为了比较P. nacimienti的头骨解剖学与其他plesiadapiforms和euarchontans,以推断古生物学和进化关系.
主要方法:
- 微型计算机断层扫描 (microCT) 扫描Plesiolestes nacimienti部分骨 (KUVP 9557) 的情况.
- 微CT数据的详细形态分析.
- 与其他plesiadapiforms和现存的euarchontan哺乳动物的骨化石进行比较分析.
主要成果:
- 微CT扫描再次证实了一些先前描述的特征 (例如,鼻的尾部扩张,内眼孔).
- 该研究澄清了某些结构 (例如,轨道后过程) 缺失,并揭示了新的结构 (例如,圆孔,光孔).
- P. nacimienti的头骨解剖学最接近于非微型形形形,缺乏与现存的euarchontanclades明显的synapomorphies.
结论:
- Plesiolestes nacimienti的头骨特征与现存的欧阿孔坦群有所不同,这表明它位于非微型形形形中.
- 古生物学推断表明,P. nacimienti与现存的树Ptilocercus相似,支持早期灵长类动物进化过程中树木性和血管精子产品消费的理论.
- 这项研究提供了早期plesiadapiforms的头骨形态学和古生物学方面的关键新数据,完善了我们对哺乳动物和灵长类动物进化的理解.
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