Mammalian hairs in Early Cretaceous amber |
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Authors: | Romain Vullo Vincent Girard Dany Azar Didier Néraudeau |
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Institution: | 1. Université de Rennes 1, UMR CNRS 6118, Campus de Beaulieu, avenue du général Leclerc, 35042, Rennes, France 2. Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany 3. Faculty of Sciences II, Department of Biology, Lebanese University, P.O. Box 26110217, Fanar-Matn, Lebanon
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Abstract: | Two mammalian hairs have been found in association with an empty puparium in a ∼100-million-year-old amber (Early Cretaceous)
from France. Although hair is known to be an ancestral, ubiquitous feature in the crown Mammalia, the structure of Mesozoic
hair has never been described. In contrast to fur and hair of some Jurassic and Cretaceous mammals preserved as carbonized
filaments, the exceptional preservation of the fossils described here allows for the study of the cuticular structure. Results
show the oldest direct evidence of hair with a modern scale pattern. This discovery implies that the morphology of hair cuticula
may have remained unchanged throughout most of mammalian evolution. The association of these hairs with a possible fly puparium
provides paleoecological information and indicates peculiar taphonomic conditions. |
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