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Skeleton of an unusual cat-sized marsupial relative (Metatheria: Marsupialiformes) from the middle Eocene (Lutetian: 44-43 million years ago) of Turkey

Murat Maga, A; Beck, RMD

Authors

A Murat Maga



Abstract

We describe a near-complete, three-dimensionally preserved skeleton of a metatherian (relative of modern marsupials) from the middle Eocene (Lutetian: 44–43 million years ago) Lülük member of the Uzunçarşıdere Formation, central Turkey. With an estimated body mass of 3–4 kg, about the size of a domestic cat (Felis catus) or spotted quoll (Dasyurus maculatus), it is an order of magnitude larger than the largest fossil metatherians previously known from the Cenozoic of the northern hemisphere. This new taxon is characterised by large, broad third premolars that probably represent adaptations for hard object feeding (durophagy), and its craniodental morphology suggests the capacity to generate high bite forces. Qualitative and quantitative functional analyses of its postcranial skeleton indicate that it was probably scansorial and relatively agile, perhaps broadly similar in locomotor mode to the spotted quoll, but with a greater capacity for climbing and grasping. Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of a total evidence dataset comprising 259 morphological characters and 9kb of DNA sequence data from five nuclear protein-coding genes, using both undated and “tip-and-node dating” approaches, place the new taxon outside the marsupial crown-clade, but within the clade Marsupialiformes. It demonstrates that at least one metatherian lineage evolved to occupy the small-medium, meso- or hypo-carnivore niche in the northern hemisphere during the early Cenozoic, at a time when there were numerous eutherians (placentals and their fossil relatives) filling similar niches. However, the known mammal fauna from Uzunçarşıdere Formation appears highly endemic, and geological evidence suggests that this region of Turkey was an island for at least part of the early Cenozoic, and so the new taxon may have evolved in isolation from potential eutherian competitors. Nevertheless, the new taxon reveals previously unsuspected ecomorphological disparity among northern hemisphere metatherians during the first half of the Cenozoic.

Citation

Murat Maga, A., & Beck, R. (2017). Skeleton of an unusual cat-sized marsupial relative (Metatheria: Marsupialiformes) from the middle Eocene (Lutetian: 44-43 million years ago) of Turkey. PLoS ONE, 12(8), e0181712. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0181712

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jun 9, 2017
Online Publication Date Aug 16, 2017
Publication Date Aug 16, 2017
Deposit Date Aug 17, 2017
Publicly Available Date Aug 17, 2017
Journal PLoS ONE
Electronic ISSN 1932-6203
Publisher Public Library of Science
Volume 12
Issue 8
Pages e0181712
DOI https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0181712
Publisher URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0181712
Related Public URLs http://journals.plos.org/plosone/
Additional Information Projects : Using ancient fossils and new methods to unravel Australian mammal evolution in deep time

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