TY - JOUR
T1 - Small-mammal postcrania from the middle paleocene of walbeck, germany
AU - Rose, Kenneth D.
AU - Storch, Gerhard
AU - Krohmann, Katrin
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Jorg Erfurt and Norbert Hauschke of the Martin-Luther-Universität, Halle-Wittenberg, for loaning us the small mammal postcrania from Walbeck. Sven Tränkner, (Senckenberg Museum) assisted with photography. Thomas Lehmann provided access to Messel skeletons at Senckenberg Museum used in comparison and assisted in other ways. For access to comparative recent and fossil specimens we thank Linda Gordon and R.W. Thorington, Jr. (National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.), and Philip Gingerich (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan). We benefitted from valuable discussions with Jerry Hooker, Galen Rathbun, and Shawn Zack. Wighart von Koenigswald and Thomas Williamson reviewed the manuscript and provided constructive suggestions for its improvement, for which we are grateful. KDR acknowledges generous support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, which enabled this study.
Publisher Copyright:
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013.
PY - 2015/3
Y1 - 2015/3
N2 - The fissure fills of Walbeck, northwest of Halle, have produced one of the largest known assemblages of Paleocene vertebrates and the only one of this age from Germany. Nearly 6,000 mammalian specimens have been identified, almost half of which represent small mammals of less than 500 g, the majority probably weighing\100 g. We describe here for the first time[350 postcranial elements collected more than 70 years ago. Multiple morphs of most of the major limb bones are represented, the most numerous elements being humeri, femora, tibiae, calcanei, and astragali. A small number of bones are attributable to plesiadapiform primates and to the probably euarchontan Adapisoriculidae, both likely to have been arboreal. The vast majority of elements, however, represent terrestrial micro-mammals, some showing semifossorial adaptations but most indicating cursorial or saltatorial locomotion. Most of these bones probably belong to the most common small mammals from Walbeck (based on teeth): Adapisorex, Walbeckodon, and Prolouisina, which have recently been interpreted as stem macroscelideans. The morphology of these bones supports that interpretation. The predominance of terrestrial mammals and the low species diversity of the Walbeck local fauna suggest that it sampled a relatively open and unstable environment.
AB - The fissure fills of Walbeck, northwest of Halle, have produced one of the largest known assemblages of Paleocene vertebrates and the only one of this age from Germany. Nearly 6,000 mammalian specimens have been identified, almost half of which represent small mammals of less than 500 g, the majority probably weighing\100 g. We describe here for the first time[350 postcranial elements collected more than 70 years ago. Multiple morphs of most of the major limb bones are represented, the most numerous elements being humeri, femora, tibiae, calcanei, and astragali. A small number of bones are attributable to plesiadapiform primates and to the probably euarchontan Adapisoriculidae, both likely to have been arboreal. The vast majority of elements, however, represent terrestrial micro-mammals, some showing semifossorial adaptations but most indicating cursorial or saltatorial locomotion. Most of these bones probably belong to the most common small mammals from Walbeck (based on teeth): Adapisorex, Walbeckodon, and Prolouisina, which have recently been interpreted as stem macroscelideans. The morphology of these bones supports that interpretation. The predominance of terrestrial mammals and the low species diversity of the Walbeck local fauna suggest that it sampled a relatively open and unstable environment.
KW - Fossorial
KW - Macroscelidea
KW - Primates
KW - Saltatorial
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U2 - 10.1007/s12542-013-0211-3
DO - 10.1007/s12542-013-0211-3
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84924655256
VL - 89
SP - 95
EP - 124
JO - Palaontologische Zeitschrift
JF - Palaontologische Zeitschrift
SN - 0031-0220
IS - 1
ER -