Ancient otter tooth found in Mexico suggests mammals migrated across America
13-JUN-2017
The discovery is first fossil evidence of a theorized passageway for some mammals
UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Late in the afternoon on a hot March day in central Mexico, a paleontologist uncovered a jaw bone and called over to Jack Tseng.
Tseng, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, was on the dig researching intercontinental immigration of fossil mammals.
"I thought it was a badger," Tseng said, "but a colleague on the site had just finished a study of otters, and he said it was sea otter-like. But what would a sea otter be doing in central Mexico?"
Turns out the otter, from about 6 million years ago, may have been part of an immigration event from Florida to California. Based on the discovery, Tseng and his colleagues have written a paper to be published June 13 in the journal Biology Letters. They propose a new east-west passage for the otter, and potentially other mammals, along the northern edge of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, which runs across the country at the latitude of Mexico City.
More:
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-06/uab-aot061217.php
Science:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/122852391