About
41
Publications
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583
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Introduction
Current institution
Additional affiliations
August 2016 - present
Position
- Professor (Assistant)
Description
- Instructor for dissection-based human gross anatomy for medical students
August 2013 - August 2016
Position
- Graduate Teaching Assistant
Description
- Instructor for dissection-based human gross anatomy for dental students
January 2013 - June 2015
Position
- Instructor
Description
- Women in the Laboratory: Rocks, Fossils, and the Biology of Ancient Life introductory course for undergraduate Women in Science and Engineering
Education
August 2010 - August 2016
October 2004 - May 2010
Publications
Publications (41)
We use synchrotron x-ray tomography of annual growth increments in the dental cementum of mammaliaforms (stem and crown fossil mammals) from three faunas across the Jurassic to map the origin of patterns of mamma-lian growth patterns, which are intrinsically related to mammalian endothermy. Although all fossils studied exhibited slower growth rates...
Based on high-resolution computed tomography scanning, we provide new insights into the inner ear and stapedial morphology of Morganucodon from the Early Jurassic of St Brides. At the base of mammaliaforms, Morganucodon plays a pivotal role in understanding the sequence of character acquisition from basal cynodonts to mammals, including the detachm...
Although several well-preserved crania are known for the Mesozoic Eutriconodonta, three-dimensional reconstructions of the character-rich inner ear and basicranial region based on high-resolution computed tomography scans have previously only been published for the Late Jurassic Priacodon. Here we present a description of the petrosal and inner ear...
Here we report on a new Early Cretaceous eutherian represented by a partial skeleton from the Jiufotang Formation at Sihedang site, Lingyuan City, Liaoning Province that fills a crucial gap between the earliest eutherians from the Yixian Formation and later Cretaceous eutherians. The new specimen reveals, to our knowledge for the first time in euth...
Taeniolabis taoensis is an iconic multituberculate mammal of early Paleocene (Puercan 3) age from the Western Interior of North America. Here we report the discovery of significant new skull material (one nearly complete cranium, two partial crania, one nearly complete dentary) of T. taoensis in phosphatic concretions from the Corral Bluffs study a...
Newly discovered fossil evidence has led to a re-evaluation of one of the fundamental transitions in mammalian evolution: the transformation of bones of the lower jaw into those of the middle ear. Fossil evidence enables a re-evaluation of how the middle ear evolved.
The cranium of Adalatherium hui, as represented in the holotype and only specimen (UA 9030), is only the second known for any gondwanatherian mammal, the other being that of the sudamericid Vintana sertichi. Both Adalatherium and Vintana were recovered from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Maevarano Formation of northwestern Madagascar. UA 9030...
The lower jaw of the holotype of Adalatherium hui, from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar, is the most complete yet known for a gondwanatherian mammal. It reveals for the first time the morphology of the character-rich ascending ramus of the dentary in a gondwanatherian. Each half of the lower jaw is composed of only one bone, the dentary, which is...
The phylogenetic position of Gondwanatheria within Mammaliaformes has historically been controversial. The well-preserved skeleton of Adalatherium hui from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar offers a unique opportunity to address this issue, based on morphological data from the whole skeleton. Gondwanatheria were, until recently, known only from fra...
Adalatherium hui is a latest Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) gondwanatherian mammal based on only a single specimen, a virtually complete, articulated, and well-preserved skull and postcranial skeleton. The specimen is the most complete and best preserved of any mammaliaform from the Mesozoic of the southern supercontinent Gondwana. It was discovered in...
The cochlear canal of Adalatherium hui, from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar, exhibits a combination of features previously unknown among mammaliaforms. The cochlear canal of Adalatherium is short and ‘C’-shaped (curved through at least 210°). A presumptive lagenar nerve canal extends from the apex of the cochlea to the internal acoustic meatus....
The holotype and only known specimen of Adalatherium hui from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar preserves the first postcranial skeleton for the Gondwanatheria. It represents only the fourth Mesozoic mammaliaform described from articulated postcranial material from Gondwana (the others being the morganucodontans Megazostrodon and Erythrotherium and...
The dentition in the only known specimen of Adalatherium hui, a gondwanatherian mammal from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar, is markedly different from that of any previously known mammaliaform, extinct or extant. The two preserved upper incisors and single lower incisor of Adalatherium are each very large, open-rooted, and bear a restricted band...
The fossil record of mammaliaforms (mammals and their closest relatives) of the Mesozoic era from the southern supercontinent Gondwana is far less extensive than that from its northern counterpart, Laurasia1,2. Among Mesozoic mammaliaforms, Gondwanatheria is one of the most poorly known clades, previously represented by only a single cranium and is...
Fossil evidence reveals how jaws, ears, and tongues evolved in mammals and their relatives
We relay the circumstances of discovery leading to, and the subsequent mechanical and digital preparation of, the holotype and only known specimen of Vintana sertichi, the cranium of a gondwanatherian mammal from the Kinkony Member of the Late Cretaceous Maeverano Formation. While the specimen was collected in 2010 within a large sample from an unu...
The unexpected discovery of a nearly complete skull from the Early Cretaceous epoch that has been preserved in three dimensions provides profound insights into the evolution and biogeography of early mammals.
The degree to which molecular and morphological loss of function occurs synchronously during the vestigialization of traits is not well understood. The mammalian vomeronasal system, a sense critical for mediating many social and reproductive behaviors, is highly conserved across mammals. New World Leaf-nosed bats (Phyllostomidae) are under strong s...
Extant therians are unique in their ability to hear at higher and at greater ranges of frequencies than most other vertebrates. This ability has been associated with changes in inner ear morphology, including elongation of the cochlear canal following loss of the lagena maculae, coiling of the cochlear canal, and stabilization of the hearing membra...
We present the first digital reconstruction of the endocranial cavity and endosseous labyrinth of the Late Cretaceous gondwanatherian mammal Vintana sertichi from the Maevarano Formation of Madagascar. The Malagasy specimen is exceptionally well preserved and represents the only described cranium known for Gondwanatheria, an enigmatic clade from th...
The Gondwanatheria are an enigmatic clade of Cretaceous and Paleogene mammals known from South America, Africa, Madagascar, India, and the Antarctic Peninsula. The eight valid species-each belonging to a monotypic genus and the first of which was described only 30years ago-are represented almost exclusively by isolated teeth, in addition to fragmen...
ABSTRACT-Living mammals are distinguished from other extant tetrapods by adaptations for improved senses of hearing, touch, and smell. These adaptations, and concomitant reductions in visual anatomy, evolved during the Mesozoic in the mammalian and therian stem lineages. Here, we present a comparative study of the sensory anatomy of the Late Cretac...
Previously known only from isolated teeth and lower jaw fragments recovered from the Cretaceous and Palaeogene of the Southern Hemisphere, the Gondwanatheria constitute the most poorly known of all major mammaliaform radiations. Here we report the discovery of the first skull material of a gondwanatherian, a complete and well-preserved cranium from...
Gondwanatherian mammals are an enigmatic clade of Cretaceous and Paleogene mammals
known from South America, Africa, Madagascar, India, and the Antarctic Peninsula. The
six valid species, each belonging to a monotypic genus and the first of which was described
only 26 years ago, are represented almost exclusively by isolated teeth; the only nondent...
Despite the abundant fossil content of the Mata Amarilla Formation (Southern Patagonia, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina), its age has always generated a considerable number of questions and debates. The chronological data provided by invertebrates, dinosaurs, fish, turtles, plesiosaurs and fossil flora are contradictory. In this work, twenty U-Pb sp...
