[Academic Script]

Origin & General characters of Mammals

Subject: Zoology

Course: B.Sc. 2nd Year

Paper No. & Title: Z-201B

Animal Diversity-II

Topic No. & Title: Topic – 9

Mammals – Origin and
General characters

Lecture No. & Title: Lecture – 1

Origin & General characters
of Mammals

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
Academic Script

1. Origin Types

Mammals have got various forms of ancestries or we can say

origin. They have got various characteristics from various other
classes. Let us see the origin of mammals followed by the evolution
of mammalian characters and general characters. Firstly we will
talk about the mammalian ancestry and origin of mammals. The
various forms of mammalian ancestry are:

1. Amphibian ancestry.
2. Reptilian ancestry.
3. Reptiles like mammals.
4. Polyphyletic origin.
5. First true mammals.
6. Monotremes – the first mammals.

2. Ancestry in Detail

1. Amphibian Ancestry:

T.H. Huxley advocated amphibian ancestry of mammals in 1880.

He supported this theory because there are 2 occipital condyles in
the skull of Amphibia and Mammalia. This theory was then rejected
on the basis of the fact that condyles are derived from the
exoccipitals in Amphibia and basioccipitals in Mammalia. But apart
from these similarities there are various differences in both these
classes fundamentally as well as in modes of life.
 2. Reptilian Ancestry:

Taking a closer look at this class seems to be more related and

associated with the mammals as it is believed that mammals have
evolved from reptiles alongwith aves showing divergent type of
evolution. It may be hard to believe today but all the mammals
have evolved from the reptiles only. There are enough evidences
from extinct reptiles and mammals for this universally accepted
view that mammalians had a reptilian ancestry. Feathers and hair
evolved from reptilian scales and all three contain keratin. This view
gets a stronger support from the fact that Monotremes i.e. Primitive
mammals and living reptiles have close resemblances in their
anatomical features, including soft as well as hard parts.

3. Reptiles like mammals:

The question that still arises in the minds of a lot of

anthropologists and taxonomists is that who are these ancient
reptilian ancestors of mammals? Long ago in the history before the
arrival of the true mammals, there lived a group of reptiles, today
extinct called as Synapsida, which acquired many mammalian
characteristics. They have lived through the Permian and Triassic
periods dating back 280 million years and more. The more
mammals like synapsids belonged to the Order Therapsida. One of
the most advanced carnivorous therapsid was called Cynognathus
which lived during the Triassic period. It was wolf sized and showed
the following mammalian characteristics:
 1. Typical upright mammalian limbs capable of generating
considerable speed.
2. Skull with 2 occipital condyles, secondary palate and
enlarged lateral temporal fossa.
3. Largest bone of lower jaw was dentary.
4. Dentition consisted of incisors, canines and chewing molars.

Therapsids retained several reptiles like features. Their skull was

intermediate in between that of a mammal and a reptile having
features like small cranium, parietal foramen, single middle ear
bone, reduced quadrate, quadrate-jugal, many lower jaw bones
etc.. It is also not known whether therapsids were warm blooded,
had hairs instead of scales or not and nursed their young ones or
not. So they were not necessarily the direct ancestors of the
mammals.

4. Polyphyletic origin:

Living mammals represent two different reproductive groupings

or subclasses. The primitive reptile-like egg laying monotremes are
in subclass Prototheria. All other mammals give birth to living
young ones and form the subclass Theria. The living Therians are
divided into Marsupials or infraclass Metatheria and Placentals or
infraclass Eutheria. Was mammalian evolution monophyletic or
polyphyletic is yet not known. This is because nothing is known
about the origin of the primitive Prototheria. This is because the
fossils older than the Pleistocene are unknown. They have remained
primitive probably due to the isolation from the rest of the world in
Australia and New Zealand. During Jurassic period there were
atleast 5 well established orders of mammals which are now
extinct. The origin of mammals is polyphyletic because they derive
from atleast 2 Triassic reptilian stocks, cynodonts and ictidosaurs.
It is generally assumed that living Protheria possibly evolved from
the docodonts, while Metatheria and Eutheria evolved
independently from the pantotherians, by the end of cretaceous
period.

5. First True Mammals:

Mammals are the only living synapsids. The synapsid lineage

became distinct from the sauropsid lineage in the late
Carboniferous period, between 320 and 315 million years ago. The
first small mammals evolved over 220 million years ago from a
therapsid ancestor. Fossil remains mainly teeth and jaws, reveal
very little about the first true mammals. They were mostly tiny
creatures no bigger than rats and mice, and insignificant. But they
could still manage to survive by exploiting different ways of life
from those practiced by contemporary gigantic reptilian enemies.
They were nocturnal thus avoiding direct conflict and competition
with the mostly diurnal reptiles. They were either burrowing
hunting for insects or arboreal in contrast to their ground dwelling
herbivorous or carnivorous contemporaries. They have regulated
high body temperature i.e. endothermic with hairy integument and
probably carried young ones in their pouches for further
development after birth and for safety purposes. The
mammaliaforms because of their superior sense of smell, backed
up by a large brain, facilitated entry into nocturnal niches with less
exposure to archosaur predation. They were endowed with larger
brains and with greater intelligence in comparison to all the former
forms of animals. This gave them the capacity to think, understand,
analyze and most importantly reasonify each and every action of
theirs and to learn from the previous experiences. By the end of the
Cretaceous period i.e. The Mesozoic Age, the vast majority of
dominant reptiles became extinct for reasons which are still well not
understood. Many ecological niches were now left open to the
mammals that started great adaptive radiation. Adaptive radiation
means that mammals went to a particular niche adapted and
proliferated at a great extent, became the most powerful and
abundant species of that niche. The evolution of mammals has
passed through many stages since the first appearance of synapsid
ancestors in the late Carboniferous period. By the mid-Triassic,
there were many synapsid species that looked like mammals. Later
on, the eutherian and metatherian lineages separated; the
metatherians are the animals more closely related to the
marsupials, while the eutherians are those more closely related to
the placentals. Since Juramaia, the earliest known eutherian, lived
160 million years ago in the Jurassic, this divergence must have
occurred in the same period. By the end of the Cretaceous period,
placental mammals became distinct from the marsupials. During
Coenozoic age, there were established all the orders of placental
mammals so it is also called as the ‘Age of Mammals’.

6. Monotremes

Teinolophos, from Australia, is the earliest known monotreme. A

2007 study (published 2008) suggests that it was not a basal
monotreme but a full-fledged platypus, and therefore that the
platypus and echidna lineages diverged considerably earlier. A more
recent study (2009), however, has suggested that while
Teinolophos was a type of platypus, it also was a basal monotreme
and predated the radiation of modern monotremes. The semi-
aquatic lifestyle of platypuses prevented them from being
outcompeted by the marsupials that migrated to Australia millions
of years ago, since joeys need to keep attached to their mothers
and would drown if the mothers ventured into water. Though there
are exceptions like the water opossum and the lutrine opossum.
Genetic evidence has determined that echidnas diverged from the
platypus lineage as recently as when they made their terrestrial
transition from semi-aquatic to terrestrial lifestyle.

Of course reptilian features are not visible in fossils, and the

main characteristics from paleontologists' point of view are:

• A slender dentary bone in which the coronoid process is small

or non-existent.
• The external opening of the ear lies posterior base of the jaw.
• The jugal bone is small or non-existent.
• a primitive pectoral girdle with strong ventral elements:
coracoids, clavicles and interclavicle. Therian mammals have
no interclavicle.
• Sprawling or semi-sprawling forelimbs.

3. Evolution of Mammalian Features

Any study would remain vague without studying the different

features of the class, so let us study the evolution of various
mammalian features like:

Evolution of mammalian auditory ossicles

 Hadrocodium, whose fossils date from the early Jurassic
Period, provides the first clear evidence of fully mammalian jaw
joints and middle ears, in which the jaw joint is formed by the
dentary and squamosal bones while the articular and quadrate
move to the middle ear, where they are known as the incus and
malleus.

Milk production (lactation)

It has been suggested that lactation's original function was to

keep eggs moist. Much of the argument is based on monotremes
(egg-laying mammals):

• While the amniote egg is usually described as able to evolve

away from water, most reptile eggs actually need moisture if
they are not to dry out.
• Monotremes do not have nipples but secrete milk from a hairy
patch on their bellies.
• During incubation, monotreme eggs are covered in a sticky
substance whose origin is not known. Before the eggs are laid,
their shells have only three layers. Afterwards, a fourth layer
appears with a composition different from that of the original
three. The sticky substance and the fourth layer may be
produced by the mammary glands.
• If so, that may explain why the patches from which
monotremes secrete milk are hairy. It is easier to spread
moisture and other substances over the egg from a broad,
hairy area than from a small, bare nipple.
 Later research demonstrated that caseins already appeared in
the common mammalian ancestor approximately 200–310 million
years ago.

Hair and fur

The first clear evidence of hair or fur is in fossils of

Castorocauda, from 164M years ago in the mid Jurassic. As both
extant mammals and Castorocauda have a double coat of hair, with
both guard hairs and an undercoat, it may be assumed that their
last common ancestor did as well. Ruben & Jones (2000) note that
the Harderian glands that secrete lipids for coating the fur were
present in the earliest mammals like Morganucodon but were
absent in near-mammalian therapsids.

Warm-bloodedness

Since scientists cannot know much about the internal

mechanisms of extinct creatures, most discussion focuses on
homeothermy and tachymetabolism. Modern monotremes have a
low body temperature compared to marsupials and placental
mammals, around 32 °C (90 °F). There is cytological evidence
that the low metabolism of monotremes is a secondarily evolved
trait.

Respiratory turbinates

Modern mammals have respiratory turbinates, convoluted

structures of thin bone in the nasal cavity. These are lined with
mucous membranes that warm and moisten inhaled air and extract
heat and moisture from exhaled air. An animal with respiratory
turbinates can maintain a high rate of breathing without the danger
of drying its lungs out, and therefore may have a fast metabolism.

Mammalian brain

Mammals are noted for their large brain size relative to body
size, compared to other animal groups. Recent findings suggest
that the first brain area to expand was the brain area involved in
smell. Scientists scanned the skulls of early mammal species
dating back to 190-200 million years ago and compared the brain
case shapes to earlier pre-mammal species and found that the
brain area involved in the sense of smell was the first to
enlarge.This change may have allowed these early mammals to
hunt insects at night when dinosaurs were not active. Out of all the
discussion, we conclude that the mammals have been derived from
the reptiles and completing this discussion. Now we will talk about
the general characters of mammals.

4.General Characters of mammals:

1. Hair Clad, mostly terrestrial, air-breathing, warm-blooded,

viviparous, tetrapod vertebrates.
2. Body distinctly divisible into head, neck, trunk and tail.
3. Limbs 2 pairs, pentadactyle, each with 5 or fewer digits and
variously adapted for walking, running, climbing, burrowing,
swimming or flying. Hind limbs are absent in cetaceans and
sirenians.
4. Exoskeleton includes lifeless, horny, epidermal hairs, spines,
scales, claws, nails, hoofs, horns, bony dermal plates etc.
5. Skin richly glandular containing sweat, sebaceous (oil) and
sometimes scent glands in both the sexes. Females also have
mammary glands with teats producing milk for suckling the
young.
6. A muscular partition, called diaphragm, separates the thoracic
cavity from the posterior abdominal cavity.
7. Endoskeleton thoroughly ossified. Skull dicondylic having 2
occipital condyles. Cranium is very large. A single zygomatic
arch present. Pterygoids are small, scale-like. Otic bones fused
into periotic which forms tympanic bulla with tympanic. Each
half of lower jaw made of a single bone, the dentary,
articulating with squamosal skull.
8. Vertebrata with terminal epiphyses and flat centra. Cervical
vertebrae usually 7. Ribs are bicephalous. Coracid is vestigial.
9. Alimentary canal terminates by anus, there being no cloaca.
Buccal cavity separated from the nasal passage by a hard
palate formed by premaxillae, maxillae and palantines.
10. Teeth are of several types that is why they are called as
‘Heterodont’, also they are borne in sockets so called as
‘Thecodont’ and represented by 2 sets of teeth during their life
cycle that is why called as ‘Diphyodont’.
11. Respiration is always carried out by lungs i.e. pulmonary
respiration. Glottis is protected by a fleshy and cartilaginous
epiglottis.
12. Larynx contains vocal cord that allows them to make sounds
for communication.
13. Heart is 4 chambered exhibiting double circulation. Left aortic
arch is present whereas renal portal system is absent. R. B.
C.s are small, circular and non-nucleated. Body temperature is
regulated i.e. homoeothermic.
14. Kidneys are metanephric and ureters open into a muscular
urinary bladder. Excretion is ureotelic. Excretory fluid is urine.
15. Brain is highly evolved. Both cerebrum and cerebellum are
large and convoluted.
16. Optic lobes are small and 4 in number forming a structure
called as quadrigemina. Corpus callosum is present connecting
2 cerebral hemispheres.
17. There are 12 pairs of cranial nerves.
18. Senses are very well developed. Eyes are protected by
eyelids and the upper eyelid is movable. External ear opening
is protected by a large, fleshy and cartilaginous flap called
‘Pinna’. Middle ear cavity is there having 3 ear ossicles namely
malleus, incus and stapes. Cochlea of the inner ear is spirally
coiled.
19. Sexes are separate. Sexual dimorphism is generally well
marked in all the mammals. Male has an erectile copulatory
organ or penis. Testes commonly placed in the bag or scrotum
outside abdomen. Eggs are small, with little yolk and no
shells.
20. Fertilization is internal before which copulation takes place.
21. Except egg laying monotremes, mammals are viviparous,
giving birth to living young ones.
22. Development is inside the uterus. Developing foetus is
attached to the uterine wall of the mother by a placenta for
nutrition and respiration. Embryonic membranes like amnion,
chorion and allantois are present.
23. After birth, young one is nourished by the milk secreted from
mammary glands of the mother.
24. Parental care is well developed reaching its climax in humans.
25. Mammals show great intelligence among all animals.
5.Summary

In this chapter, we learn the origin and general characters of

mammals. Mammals are originated from various ancestry types like
Amphibians, Reptilians etc. from this information. Monotremes are
considered to be the first mammalian type. These mammals
possess many similarities. Hence origin and general characters of
them are mentioned in this delivery, before we learn their
classification.