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A jaw-dropping discovery about early mammals

Mammals feed using a jaw hinge formed by dentary and squamosal bones. Fossil evidence reveals that this type of joint evolved independently in an extinct species of mammalian relatives called cynodonts.
  1. Zhe-Xi Luo

    1. Zhe-Xi Luo is in the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.

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Innovation of jaw structures and feeding mechanisms is an overarching theme for vertebrate evolution but especially so for mammals. Writing in Nature, Rawson et al.1 report a surprising discovery regarding two ancient mammalian relatives, prompting palaeontologists to rethink the long-standing question about how the iconic mammalian jaw hinge evolved.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-03038-5

References

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  13. Luo, Z.-X., Gatesy, S. M., Jenkins, F. A. Jr, Amaral, W. W. & Shubin, N. H. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 112, E7101–E7109 (2015).

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  16. Wilken A. T., Schultz, J. A., Luo, Z.-X. & Ross, C. F. J. Exp. Biol. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.247030 (2024).

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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