Cretaceous eutherians and Laurasian origin for placental mammals near the K/T boundary

Estimates of the time of origin for placental mammals from DNA studies span nearly the duration of the Cretaceous period (145 to 65 million years ago), with a maximum of 129 million years ago and a minimum of 78 million years ago. Palaeontologists too are divided on the timing. Some support a deep Cretaceous origin by allying certain middle Cretaceous fossils (97-90 million years old) from Uzbekistan with modern placental lineages, whereas others support the origin of crown group Placentalia near the close of the Cretaceous. This controversy has yet to be addressed by a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis that includes all well-known Cretaceous fossils and a wide sample of morphology among Tertiary and recent placentals. Here we report the discovery of a new well-preserved mammal from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia and a broad-scale phylogenetic analysis. Our results exclude Cretaceous fossils from Placentalia, place the origin of Placentalia near the Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) boundary in Laurasia rather than much earlier within the Cretaceous in the Southern Hemisphere, and place afrotherians and xenarthrans in a nested rather than a basal position within Placentalia.     

Evidence for echolocation in the oldest known bats

The earliest-known bats are represented by excellent fossil material, including virtually complete skeletons of Icaronycteris index from the early Eocene (50 Myr BP) of western Wyoming and Palaeochiropteryx tupaiodon from the middle Eocene (45 Myr BP) 'Grube Messel' of western Germany. These taxa have been closely allied with Recent Microchiroptera, a suborder of diverse bats noted for their powers of ultrasonic echolocation. A problem with this relationship is the alleged absence in the Eocene forms of specializations in the auditory region and other aspects of the skeletal system. It has been proposed, therefore, that the oldest bats are members of a group more primitive and possibly ancestral to the Microchiroptera and the visually oriented Megachiroptera. Previously undescribed specimens now show, however, that Icaronycteris and Palaeochiropteryx share special basicranial features with microchiropterans which suggest comparable refinement of ultrasonic echolocation. These results support the theory that a sophisticated sonar system was present in the earliest records of microchiropteran history.     

Mammalian phylogeny: shaking the tree.

Recent palaeontological discoveries and the correspondence between molecular and morphological results provide fresh insight on the deep structure of mammalian phylogeny. This new wave of research, however, has yet to resolve some important issues.