Complete primate skeleton from the Middle Eocene of Messel in Germany: morphology and paleobiology.
Complete primate skeleton from the Middle Eocene of Messel in Germany: morphology and paleobiology.
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德国梅塞尔始新世中期的完整灵长类骨骼：形态学和古生物学。
DOI：
10.1371/journal.pone.0005723
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发表时间：
2009-05-19
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Smith BH
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Franzen JL;Gingerich PD;Habersetzer J;Hurum JH;von Koenigswald W;Smith BH
欧洲发现始新世哺乳动物骨骼的最佳地点是德国达姆施塔特附近的Grube Messel。尽管该遗址在始新世被一片准热带雨林所包围，但灵长类动物在那里非常罕见，迄今为止只发现了8个残缺的标本。梅塞尔现在发现了一具完整的灵长类动物骨架。这个标本有一段不寻常的历史：它被私人收集并分两部分出售，只有较小的部分以前为人所知。刚刚发现的第二部分显示，这具骨架是化石记录中已知的最完整的灵长类动物。我们描述了骨骼的形态和研究古生物学。该标本被描述为达尔文masillae n.gen。n.sp。属于蛇蝇科。由于骨骼被轻微压碎，骨头不能单独处理，因此成像研究尤为重要。颅骨x光片显示在少年的脸上有许多牙齿正在发育。对生长和比例的调查表明，这只个体是一只断奶并独立喂养的雌性，在她生命的第一年死亡，如果她活到成年，体重可能达到650-900克。她是一种敏捷的、带钉子的、广义的树栖四足动物，生活在梅塞尔雨林的地面上。达尔文masillae代表了迄今为止发现的最完整的灵长类化石，包括骨骼、柔软的身体轮廓和消化道内容物。对所有这些特征的研究可以相当完整地重建生活史、运动和饮食。任何关于始新世-渐新世灵长类动物的未来研究都将受益于达尔文模式中保存的信息。对系统发育研究特别重要的是，没有马桶爪和梳子表明，达尔文猴不仅仅是狐猴的化石，而是更大的灵长类动物群体的一部分，适应性灵长类，早期单足动物多样化的代表。
The best European locality for complete Eocene mammal skeletons is Grube Messel, near Darmstadt, Germany. Although the site was surrounded by a para-tropical rain forest in the Eocene, primates are remarkably rare there, and only eight fragmentary specimens were known until now. Messel has now yielded a full primate skeleton. The specimen has an unusual history: it was privately collected and sold in two parts, with only the lesser part previously known. The second part, which has just come to light, shows the skeleton to be the most complete primate known in the fossil record. We describe the morphology and investigate the paleobiology of the skeleton. The specimen is described as Darwinius masillae n.gen. n.sp. belonging to the Cercamoniinae. Because the skeleton is lightly crushed and bones cannot be handled individually, imaging studies are of particular importance. Skull radiography shows a host of teeth developing within the juvenile face. Investigation of growth and proportion suggest that the individual was a weaned and independent-feeding female that died in her first year of life, and might have attained a body weight of 650–900 g had she lived to adulthood. She was an agile, nail-bearing, generalized arboreal quadruped living above the floor of the Messel rain forest. Darwinius masillae represents the most complete fossil primate ever found, including both skeleton, soft body outline and contents of the digestive tract. Study of all these features allows a fairly complete reconstruction of life history, locomotion, and diet. Any future study of Eocene-Oligocene primates should benefit from information preserved in the Darwinius holotype. Of particular importance to phylogenetic studies, the absence of a toilet claw and a toothcomb demonstrates that Darwinius masillae is not simply a fossil lemur, but part of a larger group of primates, Adapoidea, representative of the early haplorhine diversification.
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影响因子：
3.2
作者：
Dean, M. Christopher;Vesey, Peter
通讯作者：
Vesey, Peter
影响因子：
1
作者：
Franzen, Jens Lorenz
通讯作者：
Franzen, Jens Lorenz
影响因子：
2.8
作者：
GINGERICH, PD;SMITH, BH;ROSENBERG, K
通讯作者：
ROSENBERG, K
DOI：
10.1073/pnas.0804159105
发表时间：
2008-08-12
影响因子：
11.1
作者：
Bajpai, Sunil;Kay, Richard F.;Tiwari, B. N.
通讯作者：
Tiwari, B. N.
影响因子：
2.5
作者：
BEARD, KC
通讯作者：
BEARD, KC