Fossil Mammal Discovered.

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    • Abstract:
      The article reports on the discovery of a new species of mammal that lived 123 million years ago by American and Chinese paleontologists in Liaoning Province in China. It states that the chipmunk-sized animal Maotherium asiaticus was found in the fossil-rich beds of the Yixian Formation. It adds that the discovered fossil mammal gives a clue of the evolution of the mammalian middle ear as well as the evolutionary process of how modern mammals acquired a middle-ear structure. According to Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania paleontologist Zhe-Xi Luo, hearing is an evolutionary adaptation is vital for the survival of mammals as a group. Furthermore, Luo and colleagues believe that M. asiaticus is closely related to marsupials and placentals by studying the fossil.