Reptile-like physiology in Early Jurassic stem-mammals

Elis Newham (), Pamela G. Gill (), Philippa Brewer, Michael J. Benton, Vincent Fernandez, Neil J. Gostling, David Haberthür, Jukka Jernvall, Tuomas Kankaanpää, Aki Kallonen, Charles Navarro, Alexandra Pacureanu, Kelly Richards, Kate Robson Brown, Philipp Schneider, Heikki Suhonen, Paul Tafforeau, Katherine A. Williams, Berit Zeller-Plumhoff and Ian J. Corfe ()
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Elis Newham: University of Bristol
Pamela G. Gill: University of Bristol
Philippa Brewer: The Natural History Museum
Michael J. Benton: University of Bristol
Vincent Fernandez: The Natural History Museum
Neil J. Gostling: University of Southampton
David Haberthür: Paul Scherrer Institut
Jukka Jernvall: University of Helsinki
Tuomas Kankaanpää: University of Helsinki
Aki Kallonen: University of Helsinki
Charles Navarro: University of Bristol
Alexandra Pacureanu: ESRF, The European Synchrotron
Kelly Richards: Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Kate Robson Brown: University of Bristol
Philipp Schneider: University of Southampton
Heikki Suhonen: University of Helsinki
Paul Tafforeau: ESRF, The European Synchrotron
Katherine A. Williams: University of Southampton
Berit Zeller-Plumhoff: Helmholtz Zentrum Geesthacht
Ian J. Corfe: University of Helsinki

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Despite considerable advances in knowledge of the anatomy, ecology and evolution of early mammals, far less is known about their physiology. Evidence is contradictory concerning the timing and fossil groups in which mammalian endothermy arose. To determine the state of metabolic evolution in two of the earliest stem-mammals, the Early Jurassic Morganucodon and Kuehneotherium, we use separate proxies for basal and maximum metabolic rate. Here we report, using synchrotron X-ray tomographic imaging of incremental tooth cementum, that they had maximum lifespans considerably longer than comparably sized living mammals, but similar to those of reptiles, and so they likely had reptilian-level basal metabolic rates. Measurements of femoral nutrient foramina show Morganucodon had blood flow rates intermediate between living mammals and reptiles, suggesting maximum metabolic rates increased evolutionarily before basal metabolic rates. Stem mammals lacked the elevated endothermic metabolism of living mammals, highlighting the mosaic nature of mammalian physiological evolution.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18898-4

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