Mesozoic Mammals from Arizona: New Evidence on Mammalian Evolution
Abstract
Knowledge of early mammalian evolution has been based on Old World Late Traissic-Early Jurassic faunas. The discovery of mammalian fossils of approximately equivalent age in the Kayenta Formation of northeastern Arizona gives evidence of greater diversity than known previously. A new taxon documents the development of an angular region of the jaw as a neomorphic process, and represents an intermediate stage in the origin of mammalian jaw musculature.
- Publication:
-
Science
- Pub Date:
- December 1983
- DOI:
- 10.1126/science.222.4629.1233
- Bibcode:
- 1983Sci...222.1233J