Parental Care Inferred From Synapsid Fossil 40 Million Years Earlier Than Prior Record

[Scylla]

Synapsid fossilized in its burrow with offspring indicates parental care by mammal ancestors.

 

https://m.phys.org/news/2019-12-earliest-fossil-evidence-parental-behavior.html

[Oxytropidoceras]

A news article about the local fossil hunter, Brian Hebert, who 

found this fossil and brought to the attention of professional

paleontologists is:

 

A fossil find like no other

Darrell Cole , The Chronicle Herald, January 1, 2020

https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/news/provincial/a-fossil-find-like-no-other-393308/

 

Note that Brian Hebert is a coauthor of the below paper.

 

The paper is:

 

Maddin, H.C., Mann, A. and Hebert, B., 2020. Varanopid 

from the Carboniferous of Nova Scotia reveals evidence 

of parental care in amniotes. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 4(1), pp.50-56.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-019-1030-z

 

Yours,

 

Paul H.