The origins of mammal growth patterns during the Jurassic mammalian radiation

Newham, Elis; Corfe, Ian J.; Brewer, Philippa; Bright, Jen A.; Fernandez, Vincent; Gostling, Neil J.; Hoffmann, Simone; Jäger, Kai R.K.; Kague, Erika; Lovric, Goran; Marone, Federica; Panciroli, Elsa; Schneider, Philipp; Schultz, Julia A.; Suhonen, Heikki; Witchell, Alex; Gill, Pamela G.; Martin, Thomas

Abstract

We use synchrotron x-ray tomography of annual growth increments in the dental cementum of mammaliaforms (stem and crown fossil mammals) from three faunas across the Jurassic to map the origin of patterns of mammalian growth patterns, which are intrinsically related to mammalian endothermy. Although all fossils studied exhibited slower growth rates, longer life spans, and delayed sexual maturity relative to comparably sized extant mammals, the earliest crown mammals developed significantly faster growth rates in early life that reduced at sexual maturity, compared to stem mammaliaforms. Estimation of basal metabolic rates (BMRs) suggests that some fossil crown mammals had BMRs approaching the lowest rates of extant mammals. We suggest that mammalian growth patterns first evolved during their mid-Jurassic adaptive radiation, although growth remained slower than in extant mammals.

Citation

Newham, E., Corfe, I. J., Brewer, P., Bright, J. A., Fernandez, V., Gostling, N. J., Hoffmann, S., Jäger, K. R., Kague, E., Lovric, G., Marone, F., Panciroli, E., Schneider, P., Schultz, J. A., Suhonen, H., Witchell, A., Gill, P. G., & Martin, T. (2024). The origins of mammal growth patterns during the Jurassic mammalian radiation. Science Advances, 10(32), eado4555. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ado4555

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 28, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Aug 7, 2024
• Publication Date: Aug 9, 2024
• Deposit Date: Aug 9, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 13, 2024
• Journal: Science advances
• Electronic ISSN: 2375-2548
• Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 32
• Pages: eado4555
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ado4555
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4786261