The earliest placental mammal - Eomaia ("Early Mother")

    "April 24, 2002 -- Scientists today  announced the discovery of a spectacular fossil: a mammal that lived alongside dinosaurs 125 million years ago. This new species, reminiscent of a  chipmunk, is the earliest known ancestor  of placental mammals, a group that includes humans. Its remarkably  well-preserved remains provide clues  about the evolution of man's kin." [National Public Radio, 24 April 2002]

    Eomaia was found [in 2000] at a site northeast of Beijing in China. In an article in Nature, Dr. Zhe-Xi Luo, a curator at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, describes the 5" skeleton, which is essentially complete and contains endocasts of internal tissue and hair. Eomaia is the earliest known representative of the mammalian subclass Eutheria (placental mammals). The find is especially notable because the oldest previous eutherians date to 115 MYBP, and consist of only a few teeth. According to the NPR report, "Eomaia was adapted to scramble through bushes and trees - presumably to find food, but also to get away from predators, which could well have included small dinosaurs." The reconstruction at right is posed in a dawn redwood, a relative of modern Sequoias and Redwoods.