Phylogeny and Palaeobiogeography of mammals and other vertebrates from the Middle Jurassic of the Nazarovo Basin in Siberia

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The project will make an important contribution to the evolution and palaeobiogeography of mammals in the Middle Jurassic. The Middle Jurassic is a crucial phase in the evolutionary history of mammals, as during this time the mammalian lineages of the later Mesozoic originated and from which also the therian mammals of the Cenozoic emerged. However, there is only a very small number of Middle Jurassic mammalian localities, and the mammalian remains from the classic locality Kirtlington in England and the new spectacular findings in northeastern China are quite isolated up to now. The Berezovsk Coal Mine in Siberia has a pivotal role, since it is on one hand the only mammal bearing Middle Jurassic locality in northern Asia and on the other hand bridges western Europe eastern Asia. During the first funding period, the project has yielded several remarkable and unexpected results, which lead to the following hypotheses: (1) in northern Asia a so far unknown radiation of pretribosphenic Dryolestida has occurred, (2) in northern Central Asia already in the Middle Jurassic early Tribosphenida were present, and (3) Multituberculates and Haramiyida have evolved independently (rejection of the Allotheria hypothesis). We expect that the project will provide important new insights into this currently intensively debated chapter of early mammalian evolution that will receive international attention.