The origin of mammals is shrouded in mystery, but every fossil clue helps rewrite the story.
A new discovery on a Mediterranean island is challenging what we know about whenand wheremammal ancestors emerged.
Most people chalk therise of the mammalsback to the demise of the dinosaurs about 66 million years ago.
An artist’s paleoart reconstruction of a gorgonopsian.Illustration: Henry Sutherland Sharpe
The specimen dates to at least 270 million years ago, making it the oldest known gorgonopsian to date.
The new specimen helps to fill in part of that gap.
Previously, all known gorgonopsians were found in higher latitudesplaces including Russia and South Africa.
A gorgonopsian femur. Photo: Anna Solé / Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont
Secondly, and even more important, its the oldest one worldwide, Fortuny said.
Thus, finding the oldest gorgonopsian in the Mediterranean suggest an equatorial origin for this group of animals.
It also raises questions about exactly where on Earths then-supercontinent our ancestors first cropped up, and why.
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Now, scientists say it belonged to a Denisovan man.
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