The Fossil Record of Cretaceous Tetrapods
The Fossil Record of Cretaceous Tetrapods
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DOI：
10.1669/0883-1351(2000)015
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发表时间：
2000-04
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
E. Fara;M. Benton
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
E. Fara;M. Benton
摘要 白垩纪的化石记录对于理解现代四足动物的进化至关重要。使用化石记录相对完整性的衡量标准——简单完整性度量（SCM）——白垩纪化石记录的质量和多样性似乎密切相关，表明存在人工成分。 SCM 计算还表明，在过去十年中，人们对化石记录的了解有所提高。最近提出的现代鸟类和哺乳动物起源于白垩纪早期的说法不太可能有四个论点：（1）SCM 计算表明白垩纪鸟类和哺乳动物的化石记录相对较好；（2）SCM 计算表明白垩纪鸟类和哺乳动物的化石记录相对较好； （2）所有现代秩序独立地在整个白垩纪时期都不太可能保持神秘； （3）保存完好的微小白垩纪四足动物的对照样本缺乏任何现代鸟类和哺乳动物的标本； （4）关于现代群体未被发现的祖先将在地球上未采样的部分被发现的建议没有得到分支证据的支持。
Abstract The fossil record of the Cretaceous is critical for understanding the evolution of modern tetrapods. Using a measure of relative completeness of the fossil record—the Simple Completeness Metric (SCM)—quality of the fossil record and diversity during the Cretaceous appear to be closely related, suggesting an artifactual component. The SCM calculations also show that knowledge of the fossil record has improved in the last ten years. Recent proposals that modern orders of birds and mammals originated early in the Cretaceous are rendered unlikely by four arguments: (1) the SCM calculations indicate that the fossil record of Cretaceous birds and mammals is relatively good; (2) it is unlikely that all modern orders, independently, would have remained cryptic throughout the Cretaceous; (3) control samples of exquisitely preserved tiny Cretaceous tetrapods lack any specimens of modern groups of birds and mammals; and (4) the suggestion that the undiscovered ancestors of modern groups are to be found in unsampled parts of the Earth is not supported by cladistic evidence.