Australian Myrmecobius, the marsupial anteater, now has a Chinese Eocene sister
The IVPP V2385 specimen of Hapalodectes
(Fig 1, Ting et al 2004, Paleocene, China) is incomplete, lacking a premaxilla, cheek arches and mandible. Ting et al provided a pen-and-ink diagram in three views.
Those tiny molars on the IVPP specimen
(Fig 1) stood out as ‘too small’ – until it finally dawned on me to compare this assumed placental to the extant marsupial anteater, Myrmecobius (Fig 1. Both have similar simple molars = a reversal converging with odontocetes.
Figure 1. Myrmecobius, the extant Australian marsupial anteater compared to Paleocene Hapalodectes IVPP V12385, with similar teeth and size, but different morphologies.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/hapalodectes-ivpp_v12385.myrmecobius.jpg?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/hapalodectes-ivpp_v12385.myrmecobius.jpg?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-86621″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/hapalodectes-ivpp_v12385.myrmecobius.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. Myrmecobius, the extant Australian marsupial anteater compared to Paleocene Hapalodectes IVPP V12385, with similar teeth and size, but different morphologies.” width=”584″ height=”466″ />
Figure 1. Myrmecobius, the extant Australian marsupial anteater compared to Paleocene Hapalodectes IVPP V12385, with similar teeth and size, but different morphologies. Shown about .8x natural size at 72dpi.
The crania of the two taxa are distinctly different.
That kept them apart for years.
Note the palatal fenestrae in the IVPP specimen,
a trait typical of many (but not all) marsupials and similar to those in Myrmecobius (Fig 1).
Adding the Myrmecobius mandible
to the IVPP specimen (Fig 1) helps restore the extent of the premaxilla for additional scoring. The number of premaxillary teeth can only be guessed after phylogenetic analysis nests these two together based on what is available.
?Hapalodectes ?hetangensis
(Ting et al. 2004; 7 cm skull length; Early Eocene 50 mya; IVPP V 12385) was originally considered a tiny mesonychid. Here it nests as a small marsupial anteater close to Myrmecobius.
References
Ting SY, Wang Y, Schiebout JA, Koch PL, Clyde WC, Bowen GJ and Wang Y 2004. New Early Eocene mammalian fossils from the Hengyang Basin, Hunan China. Bulletin of Carnegie Museum of Natural History 36: 291-301.
Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2024/06/14/australian-myrmecobius-the-marsupial-anteater-now-has-a-chinese-eocene-sister/
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