Researchers Announce Surprising Clue in the Evolution of Mammalian Middle Ear
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PITTSBURGH, Jan. 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ In a study published today in the journal
Nature, researchers from Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH), Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), and the Inner Mongolia Museum of Natural History in China announce a surprising clue in the puzzling evolution of the mammalian middle ear. John Wible, curator of mammals at CMNH, Sarah Shelley, a postdoctoral researcher at CMNH, and Shundong Bi, a professor at IUP and research associate at CMNH, describe a new fossil specimen of a haramiyidan (a now-extinct mammal group that thrived during the Mesozoic Era) from China s Middle Jurassic epoch that represents an evolutionary stepping stone between Mesozoic fossils and living mammals. This animal,