Quantitative assessment of tarsal morphology illuminates locomotor behaviour in Palaeocene mammals following the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.

ABSTRACT: Mammals exhibit vast ecological diversity, including a panoply of locomotor behaviours. The foundations of this diversity were established in the Mesozoic, but it was only after the end-Cretaceous mass extinction that mammals began to increase in body size, diversify into many new species and establish the extant orders. Little is known about the palaeobiology of the mammals that diversified immediately after the extinction during the Palaeocene, which are often perceived as 'archaic' precursors to extant orders. Here, we investigate the locomotor ecology of Palaeocene mammals using multivariate and disparity analyses. We show that tarsal measurements can be used to infer locomotor mode in extant mammals, and then demonstrate that Palaeocene mammals occupy distinctive regions of tarsal mor

SUBMITTER: Shelley SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8114852 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature