posted April 11, 2024
BCST - Tiny fossil mammals from the Late Cretaceous Paleo-Arctic, northern Alaska
Beringia Centre Science Talks are back! Join us as we explore fascinating topics in archaeology, natural science, and palaeontology.
For this talk, we'll be joined by vertebrate palaeontologist Dr. Jaelyn Eberle.
About the Talk
Late Cretaceous (ca. 72 million-year-old) rocks of the Prince Creek Formation (PCF) in northern Alaska are best known for their non-avian dinosaurs, whereas fossil mammals have only recently been described. The PCF fossil mammals are known mostly from their teeth and a few jaws that are rare and hard won! With teeth the size of sand grains, it’s no wonder that many of the PCF mammals are discovered under a microscope.
The PCF mammal fauna includes the northernmost record of metatherians (i.e., marsupials and their closest fossil relatives), Mesozoic eutherians (cousins to placental mammals), and multituberculates, an extinct lineage of mammals with rodent-like specializations. In this talk, Jaelyn will introduce you to the tiniest members of the Late Cretaceous vertebrate fauna of Alaska and explore how we discover them and what we can learn about their paleobiology from studying their tiny teeth.
Please note this #BCST will NOT be recorded.