分类： 地球科学 >> 地质学 提交时间： 2018-01-25 合作期刊: 《古脊椎动物学报》
摘要： Deperetellidae are a group of common, endemic Asian Middle Eocene tapiroids. Although five genera within the family have been named, most of them were represented by fragmentary maxillae and mandibles except for some skeletal material of Deperetella. Based exclusively on dental characters, different authors have proposed affinities of deperetellids with, for instance, helaletid Colodon, lophialetids, or rhodopagids. Here we described the partial postcranial skeleton of Teleolophus medius? recently discovered at Wulanhuxiu (=Ulan Shireh) of the Erlian Basin, China, and compared the postcranial skeletons of Teleolophus with those of Lophialetes, Deperetella, Heptodon, Helaletes, and Colodon. The postcranial skeleton of Teleolophus shares many similarities with that of Deperetella especially in having elongated and slender limbs, a relatively long, narrow lunar with a slightly concave medial border of the radial facet, a magnum with an anteriorly situated hump and a deeply excavated Mc IV facet, Mc II not elevated above Mc III, a slightly asymmetric trochlea of the femur, a fibula highly reduced or even fused with a tibia, Mt III contacting the cuboid, Mt II in contact with ectocuneiform only on the posterior end, and the manus and pes with functional tridactyls. These similarities support the close relationship between Teleolophus and Deperetella. We interpreted some similarities of postcrania between Teleolophus and Lophialetes as a result of parallel evolution, due to their cursorial adaptations. Colodon is more similar to Heptodon than to Teleolophus in the postcranial features, suggesting a close relationship between Colodon and Heptodon. Whether or not Helaletidae and Deperetellidae are closely related await further investigation. Both morphological characters and ternary diagram indicate that Teleolophus adapted to fast running, as its contemporary Lophialetes.
点击量
点击量
下载量
评论
