In a study published today in the prestigious scientific journal Nature, researchers from Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH), Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), and the Inner Mongolia Museum of Natural History in China announce a surprising clue in the puzzling evolution of the mammalian middle ear. Despite increased access to fossils preserving the auditory apparatus, the evolution of the middle ear bones (ossicles) of living mammals has proved elusive to scientists. John Wible, curator of mammals at CMNH, Sarah Shelley, a postdoctoral researcher at CMNH, and Shundong Bi, a professor at IUP and research associate at CMNH, describe a new fossil specimen of a haramiyidan (a now-extinct mammal group that thrived during the Mesozoic Era, or “Age of Dinosaurs”) from China’s Middle Jurassic epoch that represents an evolutionary “stepping stone” between Mesozoic fossils and living mammals. This animal, Vilevolodon diplomylos, was a gliding mammal resembling a southern flying squirrel in size and external appearance.
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Source: Phys.org