The evolution of mammal forelimbs

[Logo7]

A new study has been conducted by researchers from the Field Museum on the evolution of the extreme diversity of mammal forelimbs. The forelimbs of modern mammals are extremely diversified, from the wing of a bat to the flipper of a dolphin to the arm of a human. The new study looked at the forelimb bones of 73 species of pelycosaurs and therapsids in an attempt to determine when the morphology of mammal forelimbs diversified. The study found a far greater variation in therapsid limb morphology than in that of pelycosaurs, suggesting that the extreme diversification in morphology of mammal forelimbs evolved within the therapsids around 270 million years ago, pushing back the origin of this diversification by more than a hundred million years. Here is an image of some of the forelimb bones used in the study (the three on the left are pelycosaurs while the four on the right are therapsids) as well as a link to the paper published about the study.



Paper (open access!): https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/03/12/1802543116

[Halichoeres]

Glad to see this getting attention! The lead author is one of my good friends from grad school.

[Logo7]

Glad to see this getting attention! The lead author is one of my good friends from grad school.

Really? That's actually incredible!

[Halichoeres]

Glad to see this getting attention! The lead author is one of my good friends from grad school.

Really? That's actually incredible!

Yeah, we played on a softball team called the Cremasters