The most obvious
distinctions between mammals and reptiles are the fact that mammals have
hair or fur, and mammary glands which they use to nourish their young.
These features do not fossilize, and no known mammals have left hair or
fur impressions in the rock surrounding their fossils. Fortunately, however,
there are also a number of skeletal differences between reptiles and mammals.
For one, reptiles have a mouth filled with several teeth which are more
or less uniform in size and shape; they vary slightly in size, but they
all have the same basic cone-shaped form. By contrast, mammals tend to
have teeth which vary greatly in size and shape; everything from flat,
multi-cusped molar teeth to the sharp cone-shaped canines. In reptiles,
the lower jaw is comprised of several different bones, which hinge
on the quadrate bone of the skull and the angular bone of
the jaw. In mammals, however, the lower jaw is comprised of only one bone
- the dentary, which hinges at the quadrate of the skull.
In mammals, there are three bones in the middle ear, the malleus,
incus and stapes (also known as the hammer, anvil and stirrup).
In reptiles, there is only one bone - the stapes. The reptilian
skull is attached to the spine by a single point of contact, the occipital
condyle. In mammals, the occipital condyle is "double-faced". The classic
reptilian skull also has a small hole, or "third eye" through which the
pineal body extends - a trait not found in any known mammal.
This brings
us to the synapsid reptiles. Like mammals, they have a single, lower temporal
fenestra. Already this makes them more akin to mammals than other reptiles,
albeit with a very reptilian body; legs sprawled out, long whip-like tail,
basically conical-uniformed teeth, etc.. One group of synapsid reptiles
in particular, the therapsids, seem to break these rules and are
adorned with very mammalian characteristics; in the more advanced forms,
many of the bones absent in mammals were already being reduced to near
extinction, and the "third eye" so small it might as well have been absent.
[Romer, 1967, p. 226]
Dimetrodon
(Synapsid
"Reptile")
Late
Permian
|
Tetraceratops
(Synapsid
"Reptile" - Therapsid)
Early
Triassic
|
Likewise, in many
of these forms, there was a sharp contrast between the different types
of teeth; incisors, broadly crowned cheek teeth, teeth with accessory cusps;
the occipital condyle also became "double-faced" in many of these reptiles.
[Colbert and Morales, 1991, p. 118]
Colbert and
Morales (1991, p. 127) describe the transitional
nature of the tritylodonts in particular:
"In
many respect[s], the tritylodont skull was very mammalian in its features.
Certainly, because of the advanced nature of the zygomatic arches, the
secondary palate and the specialized teeth, these animals had feeding habits
that were close to those of some mammals . . . . Yet, in spite of these
advances, the tritylodonts still retained the reptilian joint between the
quadrate bone of the skull and the articular bone of the lower jaw. It
is true that these bones were very much reduced, so that the squamosal
bone of the skull and the dentary bone of the lower jaw (the two bones
involved in the mammalian jaw articulation) were on the point of touching
each other." |
Creationists,
however, are quick to try and discredit the fossil evidence for mammalian
evolution from reptiles. Gish (1978, p. 80) claims
that:
"The
two most distinguishable osteological differences between reptiles and
mammals, however, have never been bridged by a transitional series. All
mammals, living or fossil, have a single bone, the dentary, on each side
of the lower jaw, and all mammals, living or fossil, have three auditory
ossicles or ear bones, the malleus, incus and stapes. In some fossil reptiles
the number and size of the lower jaw bones are reduced compared to living
reptiles. Every reptile, living or fossil, however, has at least four bones
in the lower jaw and only one auditory ossicle, the stapes. . . There are
no transitional fossil forms showing, for instance, three or two jawbones,
or two ear bones. No one has explained yet, for that matter, how the transitional
form would have managed to chew while his jaw was being unhinged and rearticulated,
or how he would hear while dragging two of his jaw bones up into his ear." |
This transitional
series is not as mythical as Gish is trying to purport. Indeed, the transition
can clearly be seen in triassic therapsids - though obviously occurring
differently than Gish describes! Flank (1995) writes:
"The
reptiles, as we have noted, have one bone in the middle ear and several
bones in the lower jaw, and mammals have three bones in the middle ear
and only one bone in the lower jaw. On the other hand, the jaw joints in
the reptile are formed from different bones than they are in the mammalian
skull. Thus, it is apparent that, during the evolutionary transition from
reptile to mammal, the jaw joints must have shifted from one bone to another,
freeing up the rest of these bones to form the auditory ossicles in the
mammalian middle ear. (In fact, in most modern reptiles, the jawbones
in question actually function in transmitting sound waves to the inner
ear, so the transformation postulated above is not a functional
change, merely an improvement in a f[u]nction that these bones already
had). As Arthur N. Strahler puts it, "A transitional form must have had
two joints in operation simultaneously (as in the modern rattlesnake),
and this phase was followed by a fusion of the lower joint." (Strahler
1987, p. 414) ... Not only is this explanation not 'merely wishful conjecture',
but it can be clearly seen in a remarkable series of fossils from the Triassic
therapsids. The earliest therapsids show the typical reptilian type of
jaw joint, with the articular bone in the jaw firmly attached to the quadrate
bone in the skull. In later fossils from the same group, however, the quadrate-articular
bones have become smaller, and the dentary and squamosal bones have become
larger and moved closer together. This trend reaches its apex in a group
of therapsids known as cynodonts, of which the genus Probainognathus is
a representative. Probainognathus possessed characteristics of both reptile
and mammal, and this transitional aspect was shown most clearly by the
fact that it had TWO jaw joints--one reptilian, one mammalian."
-Emphasis
added |
"Probainognathus,
a small cynodont reptile from the Triassic sediments of Argentina, shows
characters in the skull and jaws far advanced toward the mammalian condition.
Thus it had teeth differentiated into incisors, a canine and postcanines,
a double occipital condyle and a well-developed secondary palate, all features
typical of the mammals, but most significantly the articulation between
the skull and the lower jaw was on the very threshhold between the reptilian
and mammalian condition. The two bones forming the articulation between
skull and mandible in the reptiles, the quadrate and articular respectively,
were still present but were very small, and loosely joined to the bones
that constituted the mammalian joint . . . Therefore in Probainognathus
there was a double articulation between skull and jaw, and of particular
interest, the quadrate bone, so small and so loosely joined to the squamosal,
was intimately articulated with the stapes bone of the middle ear. It quite
obviously was well on its way towards being the incus bone of the three-bone
complex that characterizes the mammalian middle ear." [Colbert
and Morales, 1991, pp. 228-229] |
Next
in the reptile-to-mammal transitional sequence are the cynodonts.
Pictured here is Cynognathus, a classic example of the cynodont
reptiles. Of course, when faced with a specimen such as this, one is forced
to wonder if it can truly be called a "reptile". The skull appears basically
mammalian, the hip structure seems basically mammalian as well, but with
very distinct similarities to reptiles as well. Also notice that the grastral
ribs and vertebrae seem to be forming a primitive breast-bone (sternum)
- and strikingly resembles the gastral ribs/vertebrae of the earliest mammals
from several orders. The gastral "floating" ribs have been reduced to almost
nothing, and they are completely absent in mammals, yet very large in reptiles.
This animal isn't quite a mammal, but it isn't quite a reptile either.
This animal truly appears to be ½ reptile and ½ mammal. It
is a perfectly intermediate form.
|
(1)
Diapsid, Archosaur - True Reptile
(2)
Synapsid, Therapsid - "Reptile"?
Cynognathus
Early
Triassic
(3)
Synapsid, Therapsid - True Mammal
Canis
(specifically a Grey Wolf)
Mid
Territary/Late Quaternary
|
Shortly after
the time of the Cynodonts, we find a gap in the mid-late triassic (239-208
million years ago). Until recently, there were no known therapsid fossils
occupying this area of geological time. However, Adelobasileus cromptoni,
a fairly "new" species, has been discovered; its age is 225, putting it
squarely in the middle of the triassic gap. Though only a skull was found,
"[s]ome cranial features of Adelobasileus, such as the incipient
promontorium housing the cochlea, represent an intermediate stage of the
character transformation from non-mammalian cynodonts to [Tr]iassic mammals".
The proto-mammal
Adelobasileus is thought to be either (1) the common ancestor of all
mammals, or (2) a very close relative of that common ancestor [Hunt,
1997].
The next proto-mammal
(Sinoconodon) appears 208 million years ago. Its cheek-teeth are
now permanent, as in modern mammals, however the other teeth are still
replaced several times (as in reptiles). The mammalian-joint of the jaw
is "stronger, with large dentary condyle fitting into a distinct fossa
on the squamosal...[t]his final refinement of the joint automatically makes
this animal a true 'mammal'...[r]eptilian jaw joint still present, though
tiny." [Hunt, 1997] The rear of the braincase has
also expanded and the eye socket is fully mammalian.
Hunt (1997)
describes a group of proto-mammals appear roughly 3 million years after
Sinoconodon:
"Eozostrodon,
Morganucodon, Haldanodon (early Jurassic, ~205 Ma) -- A group
of early proto-mammals called "morganucodonts". The restructuring of the
secondary palate and the floor of the braincase had continued, and was
now very mammalian. Truly mammalian teeth: the cheek teeth were finally
differentiated into simple premolars and more complex molars, and teeth
were replaced only once. Triangular- cusped molars. Reversal of the previous
trend toward reduced incisors, with lower incisors increasing to four.
Tiny remnant of the reptilian jaw joint. Once thought to be ancestral to
monotremes only, but now thought to be ancestral to all three groups of
modern mammals -- monotremes, marsupials, and placentals." |
The mammals
continued to evolve and several other links are known from the mesozoic
era, and "by the late-Cretaceous the three groups of modern mammals were
in place: monotremes, marsupials, and placentals." [Hunt
1997] |