Warm and Fuzzy, the Mammals of the Mesozoic

Mammals in phylogenetic context of Synapsida
Groups of living mammals
- Monotremes - egg laying mammals
- Metatheria - marsupials, or pouched mammals
- Eutheria - placental mammals
Phylogeny of synapsids
- Pelycosaurs
- Cynodonts
- Morganucodon
- Monotremes
- Marsupials
- Placentals
Definitions of taxa
- Synapsida
- Mammaliaformes - last common ancestor of Morganucodon and living mammals plus all the descendants of that ancestor
- Mammalia - last common ancestor of living mammals and all of its descendants
Permian-Triassic extinction and change in synapsids
Specialized features of mammals
- complex teeth, chewing, and the masseter muscle
- three bones in the middle ear (malleus, incus, and stapes)
- dentary-squamosal jaw joint
Mesozoic mammals
- Morganucodon, small insectivore from the Triassic
- Earliest placental mammal (Eomaia), small insectivore from Cretaceous
- Volaticotherium, gliding mammal from Jurassic
- Castorocauda, beaver-like mammal from Jurassic
- Rugosodon, rodent-like multituberculate mammal from Jurassic
Change in specializations in the mesozoic
- Wide range of specializations in Jurassic
- loss of many types of mammals in Early Cretaceous (during Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution)
- Wide range of specializations in Cenozoic