Earliest Eutherian Ear Region: A Petrosal Referred to Prokennalestes from the Early Cretaceous of Mongolia

By J. Wible, G. Rougier, M. Novacek, M. Mckenna. 2001

105 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract A right petrosal from the ?Aptian or Albian Khoobur locality is referred on the basis of size and morphology to Prokennalestes trofimovi, the earliest eutherian previously known only from dentigerous elements. The petrosal shows a mosaic of primitive and derived features, bearing on the purported therian and eutherian morphotypes. Among the primitive features shared with the Early Cretaceous prototribosphenidan Vincelestes and other more basal taxa that are modified in later eutherians and metatherians are the pattern of basicranial arterial and venous circulation, including a prootic canal and an intrapetrosal inferior petrosal sinus; a vertical paroccipital process; and a fenestra semilunaris, an incomplete wall between the cavum epiptericum and cavum supracochleare. Among the derived features shared with therians is a cochlea coiled through a minimum of 360°, with Prokennalestes extending the range of the oldest occurrence of such a coiled cochlea by at least 10 million years. Shared with Late Cretaceous eutherians is a shallow internal acoustic meatus with a thin prefacial commissure. The petrosal referred to Prokennalestes is intermediate in having a reduced anterior lamina and lateral flange, both of which are well developed in Vincelestes and essentially lacking in later eutherians and metatherians. Features previously held to be part of the therian and eutherian morphotypes, such as the absence of the anterior lamina and lateral flange, may have been lost independently in metatherians and in post-Prokennalestes eutherians.

Subfields: Paleontology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/30a9f403db0d5247a48321e813a362e6b27c86b6

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In Paleontology

1. J. Wible
2. M. Novacek
3. Maureen A. OLeary
4. R. Voss
5. S. Jansa
6. Guillaume Billet
7. G. Rougier
8. C. Argot

Citations in the corpus

• An Anatomical and Phylogenetic Study of the Osteology of the Petrosal of Extant and Extinct Artiodactylans (Mammalia) and Relatives (2010, background): “1b; note also that the transpromontorial sulcus is mislabeled as the ‘‘stapedial groove’’ in Wible et al., 2001: fig.”
• Timing and biogeography of the eutherian radiation: fossils and molecules compared. (2003, background): “, 1991), and an ear region (petrosal) (Wible et al., 2001).”
• Phylogenetic Relationships and Classification of Didelphid Marsupials, an Extant Radiation of New World Metatherian Mammals (2009, background): “…descriptor applies unambiguously to some didelphids (Goin, 1997), and certain taxa have been coded with contradictory character states in different phylogenetic datasets (e.g., Didelphis; see Reig et al., 1987 [character 1]; Wroe et al., 2000 [character 10]; Wible et al., 2001 [character 31]).”
• NEW DATA ON THE SKULL AND DENTITION IN THE MONGOLIAN LATE CRETACEOUS EUTHERIAN MAMMAL ZALAMBDALESTES (2004, methodology): “Moreover, these petrosals have a short, vertical prootic canal like that described by Wible et al. (2001) in Prokennalestes.”
• PHYLOGENETIC STUDIES ON DIDELPHID MARSUPIALS II. NONMOLECULAR DATA AND NEW IRBP SEQUENCES: SEPARATE AND COMBINED ANALYSES OF DIDELPHINE RELATIONSHIPS WITH DENSER TAXON SAMPLING (2003, background): “Among didelphids, only Caluromysiops has a hypoconulid that is not ‘‘twinned’’ with the entoconid, but this trait is widespread among placentals and basal therians (see data matrices in Cifelli, 1993; Wible et al., 2001).”
• Alcidedorbignya inopinata, a basal pantodont (Placentalia, Mammalia) from the early Palaeocene of Bolivia: anatomy, phylogeny and palaeobiology (2015, background): “It has been observed by Wible et al. (2001) in Prokennalestes and we observed it in the Eocene eutherian Didelphodus; it is also seen in early-diverging notoungulates (Billet & Muizon 2013).”
• In quest for a phylogeny of Mesozoic mammals (2002, unknown): “1992), and petrosal (Wible et al. 2001).”