New species of mammaliaform and the cranium of Borealestes (Mammaliformes: Docodonta) from the Middle Jurassic of the British Isles
Author
Panciroli, Elsa
Author
Benson, Roger B. J.
Author
Fernandez, Vincent
Author
Butler, Richard J.
Author
Fraser, Nicholas C.
Author
Luo, Zhe-Xi
Author
Walsh, Stig
text
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
2021
2021-01-27
192
4
1323
1362
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa144
journal article
2567
10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa144
eee94db3-df5c-46ee-92a7-fb23e558f663
0024-4082
5856067
320C0FA6-04F0-4D5C-93BF-D14160AFBB4F
BOREALESTES
SERENDIPITUS
WALDMAN & SAVAGE, 1972
Holotype
:
Partial left dentary,
BRSUG
20570.
Stratigraphic provenance:
Kilmaluag Formation, Late Bathonian, Middle Jurassic (
Retrocostatum
Zone:
Barron
et al.
, 2012
).
Type
locality:
Just south of Cladach a’ Ghlinne, Strathaird Peninsula, Isle of Skye,
Scotland UK
(
Fig. 1
).
Referred material:
From the Kilmaluag Formation, Isle of Skye:
NMS
G.1992.47.121.1, partial skeleton.
Etymology:
Species name from noun serendipity, defined as the faculty of making happy and unexpected discoveries by accident.
Differential diagnosis:
Dental formula 4.1.?5.4/?4.1.5.5(6).
Borealestes serendipitus
differs from
Borealestes cuillinensis
, the only other species in the genus, in having distinct anterolabial and anterolingual crests between cusps A and X in the upper molars, and in that cusp Z is reduced (
Figs 5a and b
,
6
). The anterior fovea is more distinct than in
B. cuillinensis
. The lower molar cusps are slightly less dorsoventrally tall in
B. serendipitus
than in
B. cuillinensis
. The lappets of the dentary enclose the cartilage of the Meckel’s sulcus of
B. serendipitus
from the point ventral to the m3–m
4 in
adult specimens, leaving a faint line running anteriorly, unlike in
B. cuillinensis
where it remains an open sulcus in the adult (
Fig. 7
). The mandibular symphysis of
B. serendipitus
remains distinct until ventral to the p3– p4, whereas it is much less distinct in
B. cuillinensis
.
Description:
The
holotype
BRSUG 20570 is a partial left dentary, removed from matrix, with nine teeth in their alveoli (one only comprising roots). It measures
11 mm
in length.