Palaeontologists re-examine a 200-million-year-weak fossil from Greenland,reigniting debate about the origins of mammalsHow weak are you? What whether, when someone asked you this question, or you answered with the age of all humans? 2.3 million years,you would say. What about all primates? Around 80 million years weak. whether you wanted to respond for the whole of mammal-kind, youd find the respond depends who you ask.
In November a new paper came out that stirred an ongoing debate among palaeontologists working on the first mammals and their close relatives. Early-mammal expert Professor Zhe-Xi Luo, and from the University of Chicago,led a team reanalysing the fossil of a mouse-sized creature called Haramiyavia clemenseni using CT-scans. They found anatomical details that appear to push this exiguous beastie out of the bushy crown of the mammalian tree, relegating it to the side branches. This has big implications for the age of all mammals.
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Source: theguardian.com