CHICAGO, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- A newly discovered fossil of a "proto-mammal" is yielding clues to the evolution of the world's earliest mammals, University of Chicago biologists report.
The fossil of an ancient mammalian relative, Megaconus mammaliaformis, reveals the evolutionary adaptations of a 165-million-year-old proto-mammal, providing evidence traits such as hair and fur originated well before the rise of the first true mammals, the researchers said.