TY - JOUR
T1 - The importance of Messel for interpreting Eocene Holarctic mammalian faunas
AU - Rose, Kenneth D.
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments I am greatly indebted to my friends and colleagues Jens Franzen, Wighart von Koenigswald, and Gerhard Storch, who introduced me to Messel mammals and generously shared their knowledge of Messel with me. I am also grateful to the many other colleagues who provided access to, information about, and images of Messel mammals, especially Jörg Habersetzer, Conny Kurz, Stephan Schaal, and Friedemann Schrenk. Permission to reproduce images was granted by Tom Lehmann (Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum Frankfurt a. M.), Gabriele Gruber (Hessisches Landesmuseum Darm-stadt), Eberhard Frey (Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde, Karlsruhe), Wighart von Koenigswald (Steinmann Institut, Bonn), Burkard Pohl, and Lance Grande. I thank Gregg Gunnell and Thierry Smith for reviewing the manuscript and offering numerous suggestions for its improvement. Finally, I thank Tom Lehmann for inviting me to contribute to the Messel Symposium, and for assistance with manuscript preparation. My research on Messel mammals has been supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung.
PY - 2012/12
Y1 - 2012/12
N2 - The middle Eocene Messel fauna includes 34 genera and 46 species of mammals, most of which have close relatives or analogues in other Eocene faunas. Unlike most other Eocene fossil assemblages, however, the Messel mammal assemblage consists of an extraordinary number of nearly complete, articulated skeletons, often exquisitely preserved and sometimes revealing details of soft anatomy and stomach contents as well as osteology. Consequently, Messel fossils provide a wealth of anatomical and ecomorphological data that inform our understanding of the functional anatomy, behaviour and phylogenetic relationships of these animals and of related Eocene mammals from other faunas. Several examples are highlighted here, including the metatherians Amphiperatherium and "Peradectes," the pantolestan Buxolestes, the pholidotamorphs Eomanis and Eurotamandua, the possible stem macroscelidean Macrocranion, the leptictidan Leptictidium, the bats Hassianycteris and Archaeonycteris, the apatothere Heterohyus, and the artiodactyls Messelobunodon and Aumelasia. All of these Messel taxa have enhanced our knowledge of mammals from various North American and Asian faunas.
AB - The middle Eocene Messel fauna includes 34 genera and 46 species of mammals, most of which have close relatives or analogues in other Eocene faunas. Unlike most other Eocene fossil assemblages, however, the Messel mammal assemblage consists of an extraordinary number of nearly complete, articulated skeletons, often exquisitely preserved and sometimes revealing details of soft anatomy and stomach contents as well as osteology. Consequently, Messel fossils provide a wealth of anatomical and ecomorphological data that inform our understanding of the functional anatomy, behaviour and phylogenetic relationships of these animals and of related Eocene mammals from other faunas. Several examples are highlighted here, including the metatherians Amphiperatherium and "Peradectes," the pantolestan Buxolestes, the pholidotamorphs Eomanis and Eurotamandua, the possible stem macroscelidean Macrocranion, the leptictidan Leptictidium, the bats Hassianycteris and Archaeonycteris, the apatothere Heterohyus, and the artiodactyls Messelobunodon and Aumelasia. All of these Messel taxa have enhanced our knowledge of mammals from various North American and Asian faunas.
KW - Bridger Formation
KW - Ecomorphology
KW - Fossil Butte Member (Green River Formation)
KW - Mammalian skeletal anatomy
KW - Vastan local fauna (Gujarat, India)
KW - Willwood Formation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84871608597&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84871608597&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s12549-012-0090-8
DO - 10.1007/s12549-012-0090-8
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84871608597
SN - 1867-1594
VL - 92
SP - 631
EP - 647
JO - Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments
JF - Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments
IS - 4
ER -