IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v435y2005i7045d10.1038_nature03646.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

First evidence of a venom delivery apparatus in extinct mammals

Author

Listed:
  • Richard C. Fox

    (University of Alberta)

  • Craig S. Scott

    (University of Alberta)

Abstract

Once bitten... Salivary venoms are a rarity in mammals, found only in the duck-billed platypus, the Caribbean Solenodon, and a few shrews. Until now there were no known extinct mammals so equipped, but well preserved specimens of a small pantolestid insectivore have now been found with a venom delivery apparatus involving specialized teeth similar in function but structurally distinct from those of living venomous mammals. The specimens are about 60 million years old, from the late Palaeocene sediments in central Alberta that contain some exceptionally well preserved mammalian fossils.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard C. Fox & Craig S. Scott, 2005. "First evidence of a venom delivery apparatus in extinct mammals," Nature, Nature, vol. 435(7045), pages 1091-1093, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:435:y:2005:i:7045:d:10.1038_nature03646
    DOI: 10.1038/nature03646
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature03646
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature03646?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:435:y:2005:i:7045:d:10.1038_nature03646. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.