Interested in the evolution of pregnancy? You need to see the neat commentary by Gretchen Vogel on a presentation yesterday by Jens Franzen at the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Berlin. The newly prepared fossil horse shows not only the partially preserved skeleton of the fetus but also a shadow showing where bacteria consumed the placenta. In fact, Franzen published a mongraph on fossil horses from the Messel site in Germany back in 2007. From memory, at least 60 skeletons have been found, including 8 pregnant mares. As with modern horses, these 50-million-year-old relatives had only a single fetus at a time: Franzen, J.L. (2007) Eozäne Equoidea (Mammalia, Perissodactyla) aus der Grube Messel bei Darmstadt (Deutschland). Funde der Jahre 1969–2000. Schweiz. Paläontol. Abhandl, 127:1-245. news.sciencemag.org/paleontology/2014/11/stunning-fossil-shows-pregnant-mare-and-fetus?utm_campaign=email-news-latest&utm_source=eloqua
Posted on: Sat, 08 Nov 2014 12:20:18 +0000
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