Nature Communications (Oct 2020)
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,
- Ian J. Corfe
Affiliations
- Elis Newham
- School of Physiology, Pharmacology & Neuroscience, University of Bristol
- Pamela G. Gill
- School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol
- Philippa Brewer
- Earth Sciences Department, The Natural History Museum
- Michael J. Benton
- School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol
- Vincent Fernandez
- Core Research Laboratories, The Natural History Museum
- Neil J. Gostling
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Southampton
- David Haberthür
- Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institut
- Jukka Jernvall
- Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki
- Tuomas Kankaanpää
- Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Helsinki
- Aki Kallonen
- Department of Physics, University of Helsinki
- Charles Navarro
- School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol
- Alexandra Pacureanu
- ESRF, The European Synchrotron
- Kelly Richards
- Oxford University Museum of Natural History
- Kate Robson Brown
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol
- Philipp Schneider
- Bioengineering Science Research Group, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Southampton
- Heikki Suhonen
- Department of Physics, University of Helsinki
- Paul Tafforeau
- ESRF, The European Synchrotron
- Katherine A. Williams
- Bioengineering Science Research Group, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Southampton
- Berit Zeller-Plumhoff
- Institute for Materials Research, Division of Metallic Biomaterials, Helmholtz Zentrum Geesthacht
- Ian J. Corfe
- Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18898-4
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 11,
no. 1
pp. 1 – 13
Abstract
Modern mammals are endothermic, but it has not been clear when this type of metabolism evolved. Here, Newham et al. analyse tooth and bone structure in Early Jurassic stem-mammal fossils to estimate lifespan and blood flow rates, which inform about basal and maximum metabolic rates, respectively, and show these stem-mammals had metabolic rates closer to modern ectothermic reptiles than to endothermic mammals.
