Palaeobiogeography and evolution of mammals and other terrestrial vertebrates from the Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous of Central Europe

晚侏罗世和早白垩世是陆生脊椎动物进化的关键时期，其中，由被子植物的出现引发了陆地脊椎动物的进化。侏罗纪哺乳动物动物群是由茎类哺乳动物(如斗齿类和mganucodonans)和典型的中生代冠类哺乳动物(如真牙齿类、多瘤类和剑齿类)确定的。除了多瘤类外，它们在白垩纪经历了一次衰退，取而代之的是“对称齿类”和摩擦性茎类(现代哺乳动物的前身)。两栖动物的进化史类似，火蜥蜴被现代的蜥蜴类相继取代。在欧洲，侏罗纪晚期和白垩纪早期陆生脊椎动物，特别是哺乳动物的出现在欧洲很少见，到目前为止仅限于欧洲大陆的西部和西南部。位于哈尔茨山脉北缘(低萨克森州)的朗根贝格采石场和索尔兰(北莱茵-威斯特伐利亚)的巴尔维首次提供了对中欧晚侏罗世(基默里期)和早白垩世(巴雷米安-阿普提安)哺乳动物演化的洞察。2015年，兰根贝格采石场首次报道了哺乳动物，2000年发现了巴尔维地区。除了矮小的蜥脚类恐龙、欧罗巴斯龙和其他脊椎动物外，朗格伯格还长出了大型脊椎动物的牙齿和多齿龙(茎哺乳动物)的牙齿，以及多瘤类和旱龙(冠类哺乳动物)的牙齿。到目前为止，在巴尔维发现了三个主要哺乳动物支系的遗骸，即多瘤类、对称齿类和干齿类。两个哺乳动物下颌骨和恐龙关节后颅骨的发现突显了巴尔维地区发现更完整材料的潜力。这两个来自巴尔维的未被描述的干石器分类群是北半球最年轻的类群之一，表明在白垩纪早期的欧洲，干石器动物的多样性比到目前为止预期的要多。这将验证早先提出的一种假说，即主要的摩擦性干燥动物推迟了欧洲摩擦性哺乳动物(具有咬牙功能的现代哺乳动物的典型代表)的出现。这两个地区都是西欧和中亚和东亚陆生脊椎动物组合之间的重要桥梁。此外，可以研究晚侏罗世-早白垩世欧洲群岛上的岛屿孤立现象，如巨型有机齿龙(与欧洲龙中的矮化作用一起)或类群的晚期生存(可能是侏罗纪突触体；白垩纪剑齿龙)。这两个地点首次提供了对中欧哺乳动物一个关键进化阶段的洞察。

The Late Jurassic and the Early Cretaceous were key periods for theevolution of terrestrial vertebrates which was, among others, triggered by theemergence of angiosperm plants. The Jurassic mammal faunas weredominated by stem mammals such as docodontans and morganucodontans,and typical Mesozoic crown mammals such as eutriconodontans,multituberculates, and dryolestidans. Except for multituberculates, theseexperienced a decline during the Cretaceous and were replaced by"symmetrodontans" and tribosphenic stem therians (predecessors of modernmammals). The evolutionary history of amphibians is similar, where stemsalamanders were successively replaced by modern forms (lissamphibians).Localities yielding Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous terrestrial vertebratesand escpecially mammals are rare in Europe and are hitherto restricted tothe western and southwestern part of that continent. The localitiesLangenberg Quarry at the northern rim of the Harz mountains (LowerSaxony) and Balve in the Sauerland (North Rhine-Westphalia) provide forthe first time insight into the evolution of Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) andEarly Cretaceous (Barremian-Aptian) mammals of Central Europe.Mammals have been reported from the Langenberg Quarry for the first timein 2015, and the Balve locality has been discovered in 2000. Besidesdinosaurs such as the dwarfed sauropod Europasaurus and othervertebrates the Langeberg has yielded teeth of a large morganucodontid anddocodontans (stem mammals), as well of multituberculates and dryolestids(crown mammals). In Balve remains of three major mammalian clades havebeen found so far, multituberculates, "symmetrodontans", and dryolestidans.The discovery of two mammalian mandibles and of articulated postcranialbones of dinosaurs underlines the potential of the Balve locality for thediscovery of more complete material. The undescribed two dryolestid taxafrom Balve are among the youngest in the Northern Hemisphere andindicate that dryolestidans were more diverse in Europe in the EarlyCretaceous than anticipated so far. This will allow to test an earlierforwarded hypothesis that predominant pretribosphenic dryolestidansdelayed the emergence of tribosphenic mammals (stemlineagerepresentatives of modern mammals with crushing tooth function) in Europe.Both localities are an important bridge between the western European andthe central and eastern Asian terrestrial vertebrate assemblages.Furthermore phenomena of insular isolation on the Late Jurassic-EarlyCretaceous European Archipelago can be studied, such as gigantism in thelarge morganucodontan Storchodon (together with dwarfism inEuropasaurus) or the late survival of taxa (possibly Jurassic synapsids;Cretaceous dryolestidans). Both localities for the first time provide insightinto a crucial evolutionary phase of mammals in Central Europe.