Re: Cretaceous Wars - The Revenge of the Rat...uh...I mean Mammal

["Phillip Bigelow" <bigelowp@juno.com>]

Does anyone know what the full citation will be once this paper gets into print?

I didn't see it on the Palaeontology web site.  Its frustrating when they do 
this.  It seems silly at this stage in the editorial process to expect us to 
use "In Press".

TIA,
<pb>


---------- Original Message ----------
From: Jocelyn Falconnet <j.falconnet@gmail.com>
To: Dinosaur Mailing List <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Subject: Cretaceous Wars - The Revenge of the Rat...uh...I mean Mammal
Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2010 10:24:58 +0200

As time goes by, the role of mammals in Cretaceous ecosystems becomes 
more complex than previously thought. The "small nocturnal insectivorous 
mammal" dogma has been indeed questioned in the last decade following 
the discovery of new well preserved forms, such as the dog-sized 
triconodont *Repenomamus* of which the diet included juvenile dinosaurs 
or the very small (~6 gs !) fossorial *Fruitafossor*.

The taphonomic studies of Nicholas Longrich and Michael Ryan on on 
dinosaur, *Champsosaurus*, and *Eodelphis* bones from the Late 
Cretaceous of Alberta brings new evidence for complex - here gnawing - 
behaviour in Cretaceous mammals - including probably multituberculates. 
There are so many papers on Neogene taphonomy and comparatively too few 
on older material, although taphonomy deals with behaviour, ecology, 
diet preferences, and so many things of which we know little for extinct 
taxa - even non-avian dinosaurs which are not the least studied of 
Mesozoic taxa.

Anyway, here is the paper (in press): 
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/123529400/abstract/

Longrich N.R. & Ryan M.J. In press. Mammalian tooth marks on the bones 
of dinosaurs and other Late Cretaceous vertebrates. Palaeontology.

We describe bones from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta – including bones 
of large dinosaurs, a femur from the aquatic reptile Champsosaurus, and 
a dentary from the marsupial Eodelphis– that bear tooth marks made by 
animals with opposing pairs of teeth. Of the animals known from the Late 
Cretaceous of North America, only mammals are capable of making such 
tooth marks. In particular, multituberculates, which have paired upper 
and lower incisors, are the most likely candidates for the makers of 
these traces. The traces described here represent the oldest known 
mammalian tooth marks. Although it is possible that some of these tooth 
marks represent feeding traces, the tooth marks often penetrate deep 
into the dense cortices of the bone. This raises the possibility that, 
much as extant mammals gnaw bone and antler, some Cretaceous mammals may 
have consumed the bones of dinosaurs and other vertebrates as a source 
of minerals. However, none of the tooth marks described here resemble 
the extensive gnaw traces produced by Cenozoic multituberculates or 
rodents. This suggests that specialized gnawing forms may have been rare 
or absent in the Late Cretaceous of North America.

-- 
Jocelyn FALCONNET
PhD student -> The early radiation of amniotes
Supervisors -> J-C Rage and J-S Steyer (MNHN)

CR2P, UMR 7207, CNRS
Département Histoire de la Terre
Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle
Case Postale 38
57 rue Cuvier
75231 Paris cedex 05, France


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