Project 1045: T. E. Williamson, S. L. Brusatte. 2013. New Specimens of the Rare Taeniodont Wortmania (Mammalia: Eutheria) from the San Juan Basin of New Mexico and Comments on the Phylogeny and Functional Morphology of “Archaic” Mammals. PLOS ONE. 8 (9):e75886.
Abstract
BackgroundTaeniodonta is a clade of Late Cretaceous – Paleogene mammals remarkable for their relatively extreme cranial, dental, and postcranial adaptations and notable for being among the first mammals to achieve relatively large size following the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction. Previous workers have hypothesized that taeniodonts can be divided into two clades: Conoryctidae, a group of small-bodied taeniodonts with supposedly “generalized” postcranial skeletons, and Stylinodontidae, a group of large-bodied, robust animals with massive forelimbs and claws adapted for scratch-digging. However, many taeniodont taxa are poorly known and few are represented by postcranial material, leaving many details about their anatomy, biology, and evolution ambiguous.Methodology/Principal FindingsIn this paper, we describe three new specimens of the rare taxon Wortmania otariidens from the early Paleocene (Puercan) of New Mexico. Among these specimens is one that includes remarkably complete cranial and dental material, including associated upper and lower teeth, and another that consists of partial forelimbs. These specimens allow for an updated anatomical description of this unusual taxon, supply new data for phylogenetic analyses, and enable a more constrained discussion of taeniodont biology and functional morphology.
Conclusions/SignificanceThe new specimen of Wortmania that includes associated upper and lower teeth indicates that previous interpretations of the upper dentition of this taxon were not accurate and the taxon Robertschochia sullivani is a junior synonym of W. otariidens. New specimens that include partial forelimbs indicate that Wortmania is very similar to later, large-bodied taeniodonts, with marked and distinctive adaptations for scratch-digging. Comparisons with other taeniodont taxa that include postcranial material suggest that all taeniodonts may have had scratch-digging adaptations. A phylogenetic analysis shows that Schowalteria and Onychodectes are basal taeniodonts, Stylinodontidae (including Wortmania) is monophyletic, and a monophyletic Conoryctidae (but not including Onychodectes) is only recovered when certain characters are ordered.
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Article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0075886
Project DOI: 10.7934/P1045, http://dx.doi.org/10.7934/P1045
This project contains | Matrices |
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Download Project SDD File | Total scored cells: 444 Total media associated with cells: 0 Total labels associated with cell media: 0 |
Characters | |
Total characters: 37 Total characters with associated media: 0 Total characters with media with labels: 0 Total character states: 107 Total character states with associated media: 0 Total character states with media with labels:0 Total unordered/ordered characters:37/0 |
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MorphoBank Project 1045
MorphoBank Project 1045
- Creation Date:
15 October 2013 - Publication Date:
21 October 2013 - Project views: 32711
- Matrix downloads: 11
Authors' Institutions
- New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science
- University of Edinburgh
- American Museum of Natural History
Members
member name | taxa | specimens | media | chars | character
| cell scorings (scored, NPA, "-") | cell
| rules | ||||||
MorphoBank Curator Project Administrator | 13 | 1 | 1 | 37 | 0 | 0 | 444 (444, 0, 0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
Maureen Admin Full membership | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (0, 0, 0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
Thomas Williamson Full membership | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (0, 0, 0) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Taxonomic Overview for Matrix 'M2322' (13 Taxa)
taxon | unscored cells |
scored cells |
no cell support |
NPA cells |
"-" cells | cell images | labels on cell images |
member access |
[1] † Cimolestes Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 2 | 35 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
[2] † Procerberus formicarum Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 5 | 32 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
[3] † Procerberus grandis Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 3 | 34 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
[4] † Aveugena Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 3 | 34 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
[5] † Schowalteria Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 9 | 28 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
[6] † Onychodectes Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 0 | 37 | 37 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
[7] † Conoryctella Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 0 | 37 | 37 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
[8] † Conoryctes Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 0 | 37 | 37 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
[9] † Huerfanodon Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 6 | 31 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
[10] † Wortmania Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 1 | 37 | 36 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
[11] † Psittacotherium Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 0 | 37 | 37 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
[12] † Ectoganus Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 0 | 37 | 37 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
[13] † Stylinodon Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 9 | 28 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Project views
type | number of views | Individual items viewed (where applicable) |
Total project views | 32711 | |
Project overview | 4168 | |
Media views | 6762 | Media search (5792 views); M309118 (970 views); |
Taxon list | 10916 | |
Bibliography | 2195 | |
Matrix views | 3087 | Matrix landing page (2753 views); Matrix (334 views); |
Documents list | 2166 | |
Specimen list | 3417 |
Project downloads
type | number of downloads | Individual items downloaded (where applicable) |
Total downloads from project | 311 | |
Project downloads | 300 | |
Matrix downloads | 11 | Matrix (11 downloads); |