Fossil (IMAGE)

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Fossil

Caption

The fossil of Rugosodon eurasiaticus is preserved in two shale slabs in part (left) and counterpart (right). It is about 17 cm (6.5 inches) long from head to rump, and is estimated to have weighed 80 grams (about 2.8 ounces). The sediments at the site of discovery are lake sediments with embedded volcanic layers. The fossil assemblage of Rugosodon also includes feathered dinosaur Anchiornis and the pterosaur Darwinopterus. By the dental features, Rugosodon eurasiaticus closely resembles the teeth of some multituberculate mammals of the Late Jurassic of the Western Europe, suggesting that Europe and Asia had extensive mammal faunal inter-changes in the Jurassic.

Credit

[Photographed by Zhe-Xi Luo of University of Chicago and Chongxi Yuan of Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences]

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