Life reconstruction of Militocodon lydae. Image credit: Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
SciNews has a story about the discovery of a new mammal from just after the end Cretaceous mass extinction. Militocodon lydae was found in the Corral Bluffs east of Colorado Spings, Colorado, within the Denver Basin. M. lydae was about the size of a chinchilla and likely omnivorous. It belongs to a group of mammals called the Periptychidae, which are the ancestors of modern day hoofed mammals, including deer, cows and pigs. Find more details in the paper, which was published in the Journal of Mammalian Evolution.
Militocodon lydae provides important clues about the explosive diversification of mammals in the wake of the dinosaur extinction.
“How and when life rebounded in the aftermath of the extinction of the dinosaurs has been shrouded in mystery due to a poor fossil record.”
“But thanks to an extraordinary discovery of remarkably complete fossils from Corral Bluffs, we are now able to paint a vivid picture of how and when life rebounded after Earth’s darkest hour.”
