Hammer-toothed 'marsupial skinks' from the Australian Cenozoic
Hammer-toothed 'marsupial skinks' from the Australian Cenozoic
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DOI：
10.1098/rspb.2011.0486
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发表时间：
2011-12-07
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Hocknull, Scott
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Arena, Derrick A.;Archer, Michael;Hocknull, Scott
澳大利亚昆士兰州西北部里弗斯利世界遗产区中新世中期至晚期沉积物中已灭绝的Malleodectes gen. nov.是一种神秘的、高度专业化的有袋动物，可能是以蜗牛为食的。在牙齿上，它们非常像一群奇怪的异齿蜥蜴，来自澳大利亚的潮湿森林蜥蜴（Cyclodomorphus），当澳大利亚中部的封闭森林开始衰退时，它们很可能在吃蜗牛的竞争中战胜了它们。虽然有已知的scincids从相同的中新世沉积在Riversleigh，这些都是相对准形，广义的馈线。这似乎是哺乳动物和蜥蜴之间牙齿趋同和可能竞争的最引人注目的例子，从长远来看，这对蜥蜴更有利。
Extinct species of Malleodectes gen. nov. from Middle to Late Miocene deposits of the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, northwestern Queensland, Australia are enigmatic, highly specialized, probably snail-eating marsupials. Dentally, they closely resemble a bizarre group of living heterodont, wet forest scincid lizards from Australia (Cyclodomorphus) that may well have outcompeted them as snail-eaters when the closed forests of central Australia began to decline. Although there are scincids known from the same Miocene deposits at Riversleigh, these are relatively plesiomorphic, generalized feeders. This appears to be the most striking example known of dental convergence and possible competition between a mammal and a lizard, which in the long run worked out better for the lizards.