Author : Desui Miao
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 120 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (31 download)
Book Synopsis Skull Morphology of Lambdopsalis Bulla (Mammalia, Multituberculata) and Its Implications to Mammalian Evolution by : Desui Miao
Download or read book Skull Morphology of Lambdopsalis Bulla (Mammalia, Multituberculata) and Its Implications to Mammalian Evolution written by Desui Miao and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Multituberculates are an extinct mammalian order that lived in Mesozoic and early Cenozoic eras. Lambdopsalis, a Paleocene multituberculate recovered in China, preserves cranial remains that allow in this study: (1) a description of its skull morphology; (2) a reconstruction of its nonfossilized structures such as the cranial nerve system and major cranial vasculature; (3) an analysis of functional adaptation of its auditory system; and (4) an interpretation of phylogenetic relationships within multituberculates themselves and among other major mammalian groups. Character analysis reveals that a number of previously used cranial features in reconstructions of mammalian phylogeny are unreliable. These include premaxillo-frontal contact, exclusion of septomaxilla from face, number of infraorbital foramina, extent of orbital exposure of palatine, presence versus absence of jugal, lacrimal, and parasphe-- noid, extent of cranial process of squamosal, and reduction of alisphenoid. The bulla-like structure of Lambdopsalis is the expanded vestibular apparatus, not an enlarged tympanic bulla. The expanded vestibular apparatus, flat incudomalleal joint, and absence of a well defined fossa muscularis minor in Lambdopsalis suggest that Lambdopsalis (possibly a burrower) adapted to low-frequency perception.