3 oct 2011
The small, shrew-like animal spent some of its time in trees while dinosaurs lived on land.
THE GIST
- The earliest known ancestor of the majority of today's mammals has been found in China.
- This animal, dubbed the "great grandmother" or "grand aunt," lived 160 million years ago.
- It could extend the portion of the mammalian family tree back by 35 million years.
Skeletal reconstruction of the earliest-known eutherian mammal. Named Juramaia sinensis, which means the “Jurassic mother from China,” the small, shrew-like animal spent some of its time in trees while dinosaurs thrived on land.
“Because it lived 160 million years ago, and nobody was there to sign the birth certificate of its descendants, Juramaia could be our great grandmother 160 million years removed or it could also be our great grand aunt that represents a relative on the side lines,” lead author Zhe-Xi Luo told Discovery News.
