An amniote in the lineage containing mammals and their extinct relatives on the mammalian side of the split from sauropsids. The name does not mean a mammalian ancestor was a living reptile.
A synapsid in the lineage that includes cynodonts and mammals. Many therapsids lie outside the mammalian crown group.
A therapsid belonging to the group containing mammaliaforms and close extinct relatives. Enlargement of the dentary, differentiation of teeth and changes in the palate record a mosaic of feeding transformations.
A cynodont clade containing mammaliaforms and some close extinct relatives. It is broader than the living mammalian crown group.
A member of the lineage including mammals and close extinct relatives such as Morganucodon. Usage must distinguish this broader grouping from a living mammalian crown group.
A Middle Jurassic mammaliaform with aquatic adaptations and preserved integument. The fossil supplies a minimum occurrence for a fur-bearing covering, not the exact origin date of endothermy. [ref]
A swimming mammaliaform from the Middle Jurassic and ecomorphological diversification of early mammals by Qiang Ji and others. Science 311, pp. 1123–1127; Castorocauda skeleton and preserved integument
An Early Cretaceous mammal initially interpreted as a metatherian; later comparative analysis supported a eutherian placement, illustrating uncertainty in fossil assignment. [ref]
An Early Cretaceous eutherian and the placental–marsupial dichotomy by Shundong Bi and others. Nature 558, pp. 390–395; Ambolestes anatomy and revised placement of Sinodelphys
An extinct mammalian radiation historically known chiefly from teeth. New cranial and skeletal material permits wider tests of its uncertain relationships. [ref]
First cranial remains of a gondwanatherian mammal reveal remarkable mosaicism by David W. Krause and others. Nature 515, pp. 512–517; Vintana cranium and phylogenetic character sampling
A latest Cretaceous Malagasy gondwanatherian with an unusually informative skeleton and a mosaic of anatomical features. [ref]
Skeleton of a Cretaceous mammal from Madagascar reflects long-term insularity by David W. Krause and others. Nature 581, pp. 421–427; Adalatherium skeleton and insularity hypothesis
A latest Cretaceous Malagasy gondwanatherian known from a well-preserved cranium. [ref]
First cranial remains of a gondwanatherian mammal reveal remarkable mosaicism by David W. Krause and others. Nature 515, pp. 512–517; Vintana cranium and phylogenetic character sampling
A grouping used in hypotheses contrasting northern and southern origins of tribosphenic molars, including the lineage of therians.
A proposed southern mammaliaform grouping important to hypotheses of an independent southern origin of tribospheny. Membership and relationships have differed among analyses. [ref]
Dual origin of tribosphenic mammals by Zhe-Xi Luo and others. Nature 409, pp. 53–57; alternative placements of southern tribosphenic mammals
A Middle Jurassic Malagasy mammaliaform known from lower teeth in a jaw fragment. Its tribosphenic-like construction bears on competing hypotheses for the origin of tribospheny. [ref]
A Middle Jurassic mammal from Madagascar by John J. Flynn and others. Nature 401, pp. 57–60; Ambondro lower jaw, approximately 167 ± 2 million years old
An Early Jurassic mammaliaform with a small skull documenting changes in the jaw, ear attachment and braincase. [ref]
A new mammaliaform from the early Jurassic and evolution of mammalian characteristics by Zhe-Xi Luo and others. Science 292, pp. 1535–1540; Hadrocodium skull and jaw comparisons
An early mammaliaform whose jaw preserves both articular–quadrate and dentary–squamosal articulations.
For a crown-based usage, a member of the clade comprising the last common ancestor of living monotremes and therians and all its descendants. hair and lactation characterize living members, but recognition of many early fossils depends on jaw and dental characters.
Sorex minutus, a native Irish shrew.
Crocidura russula, an introduced shrew in Ireland first recorded there in 2007.
Native status is geographical: a species native in mainland Britain can be introduced to an offshore island.
An antelope studied for false alarm snorts associated with retaining receptive females.
A member of the living human species. Our anatomy retains deeply inherited vertebrate organization alongside derived specializations.
Production and delivery of milk to offspring. It is characteristic of living mammals, including egg-laying monotremes.
The clade containing living marsupials and placental mammals and their common ancestor. These living branches are distinct from the broader total lineages Metatheria and Eutheria.
The lineage comprising placental mammals and extinct relatives closer to them than to marsupials. A fossil assignment to Eutheria does not automatically assign it to the placental crown group.
An Early Cretaceous eutherian from the Jehol biota. Its well-preserved anatomy informed reassessment of characters used to distinguish early eutherians from metatherians. [ref]
An Early Cretaceous eutherian and the placental–marsupial dichotomy by Shundong Bi and others. Nature 558, pp. 390–395; Ambolestes anatomy and revised placement of Sinodelphys
An approximately 125-million-year-old Early Cretaceous mammal commonly analysed as a stem eutherian. Its informative skeleton combines eutherian affinities, epipubic bones and evidence of climbing adaptations. [ref]
The earliest known eutherian mammal by Qiang Ji and others. Nature 416, pp. 816–822; Eomaia skeleton and stem-eutherian character combination
A member of the crown group containing all living placental lineages. The presence of a placenta alone is not a sufficient phylogenetic definition: forms of placentation also occur in other mammals.
An extinct South American mammal whose unusual anatomy made its relationships difficult to resolve. Ancient protein sequences support affinities with the perissodactyl lineage. [ref]
Ancient proteins resolve the evolutionary history of Darwin's South American ungulates by Frido Welker and others. Nature 522, pp. 81–84; collagen sequences from Toxodon and Macrauchenia
An extinct South American ungulate-like mammal whose collagen sequence evidence supports affinities with the perissodactyl lineage. [ref]
Ancient proteins resolve the evolutionary history of Darwin's South American ungulates by Frido Welker and others. Nature 522, pp. 81–84; collagen sequences from Toxodon and Macrauchenia
An extinct group of hoofed mammals once linked closely to whale ancestry through dental similarities; whole-skeleton and molecular evidence changed that interpretation.
A member of Hominoidea, comprising lesser apes and great apes. Living members do not exhaust the anatomical diversity of extinct apes.
A member of Hominidae, including Pongo, Gorilla, Pan and Homo. Living apes are evolved comparative relatives, not unchanged ancestral populations.
An extinct African hominin genus whose species combine different locomotor and feeding character mosaics.
A Pliocene hominin important to studies of the relationship between habitual bipedalism and retained climbing capabilities. Comparative analysis must account for age and growth. [ref]
Australopithecus afarensis scapular ontogeny, function, and the role of climbing in human evolution by David J. Green and others. Science 338, pp. 514–517; juvenile scapula and comparative growth patterns
An extinct African hominin genus, including Paranthropus boisei, with specialized masticatory anatomy.
An East African hominin with very large postcanine teeth and a robust feeding apparatus. dental microwear and enamel carbon-isotope evidence complicate a simple inference of habitual hard-object feeding from gross anatomy. [ref]
Dental Microwear and Diet of the Plio-Pleistocene Hominin Paranthropus boisei by Peter S. Ungar and others. PLoS ONE 3, e2044; seven specimens with preserved microwear and comparison with gross anatomy
In the human-evolution usage adopted here, a member of the human lineage after its separation from Pan. Usage and formal tribal boundaries should be stated because classifications differ.
A Miocene fossil ape with a mosaic of trunk and hand characters. Its informative anatomy does not uniquely identify it as the Pan–Homo last common ancestor. [ref]
Pierolapithecus catalaunicus, a new Middle Miocene great ape from Spain by Salvador Moyà-Solà and others. Science 306, pp. 1339–1344; orthograde trunk and contrasting hand morphology
An African fossil ape genus including Ardipithecus ramidus, important to hypotheses about early hominin locomotion.
An approximately 4.4-million-year-old fossil hominin with an informative, incomplete skeleton. Its inferred locomotor mosaic differs from treating a living chimpanzee as an unchanged human ancestor. [ref]
Ardipithecus ramidus and the paleobiology of early hominids by Tim D. White and others. Science 326, pp. 75–86; 4.4 Ma skeleton and locomotor mosaic
An archaic human lineage first characterized genetically. Its contribution to some living populations illustrates a history more complex than complete replacement without interbreeding.
An extinct Eurasian human lineage known from fossils and Ancient DNA, with evidence of genetic admixture with ancestors of living people.
The living human species. Its population history includes African ancestral structure, dispersal, demographic change and genetic admixture.
The species Pan paniscus, sister to the chimpanzee within Pan. It is a living evolved lineage rather than an unchanged ancestral social model.
The species Pan troglodytes, distinguished from the bonobo. Within-species ecological and behavioural variation matters in comparative inference.
Ondatra zibethicus, a rodent introduced to Britain through fur farming and subsequently eradicated.
Myocastor coypus, a South American rodent whose escaped populations were the subject of an eradication campaign in Britain.
Sciurus vulgaris, whose regional decline or recovery can reflect habitat, competitors, pathogens and predators.
Sciurus carolinensis, native to North America and introduced to Britain and Ireland. Its effects can include competition and pathogen-mediated impacts.
A rodent of the genus Castor, capable of substantial habitat modification. Native regional presence and modern reintroduction require separate evidence.
The placental lineage containing armadillos, sloths and anteaters.
A member of the toothless vermilinguan lineage, with a protrusible tongue specialized for collecting social insects.
A placental clade including proboscideans and several other living groups with deep African evolutionary associations.
The placental lineage containing living manatees and dugongs. fossils with substantial weight-bearing limbs document earlier stages of its aquatic transition.
An Eocene Jamaican sirenian retaining four substantial limbs and a strong sacroiliac connection alongside aquatic specializations. It informs the terrestrial-to-aquatic transition without being demonstrated to be a direct ancestor. [ref]
The earliest known fully quadrupedal sirenian by Daryl P. Domning. Nature 413, pp. 625–627; Pezosiren locomotor and aquatic character mosaic
An extinct proboscidean lineage with extensive fossil and genomic evidence. Ancient genomes show that morphological groupings can conceal distinct and admixed ancestry histories. [ref]
Million-year-old DNA sheds light on the genomic history of mammoths by Tom van der Valk and others. Nature 591, pp. 265–269; Early Pleistocene genomes and hybrid ancestry of Columbian mammoths
A placental clade including Carnivora, Pholidota, Perissodactyla and Artiodactyla, among other orders.
A member of the horse lineage. Its fossil history supplies unusually rich evidence for changes in diet, tooth wear and crown height.
A placental order containing cats, dogs, bears and their relatives. The taxon name does not imply that every member has a predominantly meat-based diet.
A member of Ursidae. Archaeological occurrence of a transported captive bear is not proof of a local wild population.
Martes martes, a mustelid predator whose recovery can change interactions within mammalian assemblages.
A North American mustelid whose introduced populations in Europe derive from human transport and escapes or releases.
A canid of the Canis lupus lineage. Exact regional last-occurrence claims require distinguishing verified records from later stories.
A domesticated canid. Self-related odour discrimination and visual mirror-guided body localization are different experimental capacities.
Ursus arctos. Later archaeological specimens can represent transported captive animals rather than a surviving local wild population.
A felid genus including Lynx lynx, the Eurasian lynx documented in the British fossil and archaeological record.
In the broad phylogenetic usage, a clade including Cetacea together with the traditional even-toed ungulates. Whale ancestry is therefore artiodactyl ancestry, despite the loss of the adult terrestrial hoofed body plan.
A deer of the genus Muntiacus, some populations of which occur outside their native range through human introductions.
Cervus elaphus, whose modern populations can include both older regional lineages and recent translocations.
The wild form of Sus scrofa; interpretation of archaeological material must distinguish wild, domestic and managed animals.
The extinct wild cattle species Bos primigenius. Its regional disappearance must be distinguished from the history of domestic cattle.
The extinct deer Megaloceros giganteus, also called the Irish elk despite its wider geographical distribution. [ref]
Survival of the Irish elk into the Holocene by Silvia Gonzalez and others. Nature 405, pp. 753–754; directly dated giant deer from the northern Irish Sea basin
A member of Ruminantia, characterized by a specialized foregut fermentation system and rumination. It is not a general name for every foregut-fermenting herbivore.
Articles were limited to the first 100 out of 126 total.
