DOI: 10.5061/dryad.69p8cz94s
title: Data matrix for phylogenetic analysis of fossil insectivorans in: Cranial and postcranial morphology of the insectivoran-grade mammals Hsiangolestes and Naranius (Mammalia, Eutheria) with analyses of their phylogenetic relationships

description: Early Cenozoic “insectivorans” possess some of the most primitive
 morphologies among eutherian mammals. Studies of these archaic mammals
 offer insights into the early diversifications of basal eutherians.
 Despite such importance, early fossil “insectivorans” from Asia are poorly
 known due to a scarcity of fossil remains, which often consist only of
 fragmentary jaws and teeth. Discoveries of remarkably well-preserved
 fossil “insectivorans”, including complete skulls and articulated
 postcranial skeletons, from the early Eocene Hengyang Basin in
 south-central Hunan Province, China, offer a rare opportunity to
 thoroughly study two taxa belonging to different families. Fine-grained
 red beds from Hengyang Basin preserve extraordinary fossils with
 morphological structures rarely seen elsewhere. Thin sections of a skull
 of Hsiangolestes youngi Zheng and Huang, 1984, for example, reveal the
 extremely delicate nasal and maxillary turbinates, which, as far as we are
 aware, are the first known from fossils of this age. We thus take this
 opportunity to document in detail the cranial and dental morphology, as
 well as postcranial skeletons, of the Hengyang “insectivorans.” In this
 monograph, we describe several complete skulls and serial sections of a
 skull, as well as many partial skulls, mandibles, and postcranial
 skeletons of Hsiangolestes youngi, an Asian early Eocene
 insectivoran-grade mammal. We also report a new species of Naranius
 Russell and Dashzeveg 1986—N. hengdongensis—an Asian early Eocene
 cimolestid and describe its well-preserved skulls and mandibles.
 Hsiangolestes is endemic to Asia. It is currently known only from the
 earliest Eocene Lingcha Formation, Hengyang Basin, Hunan Province, China.
 Naranius closely resembles Cimolestes Marsh, 1889, the type genus of the
 family Cimolestidae. It is mainly distributed in Asia and known from the
 earliest Eocene deposits in the Bumban Member of the Naran Bulak
 Formation, Nemegt Basin, of Mongolia, and the Lingcha Formation, Hengyang
 Basin, Hunan Province, China. The only record of Naranius reported outside
 of Asia is N. americanus from the early Wasatchian Red Hot Local Fauna,
 Mississippi, United States. Using PAUP and TNT search algorithms, we place
 these Hengyang taxa within phylogenetic context of other fossil
 “insectivorans” from the Mesozoic and early Cenozoic of Asia together with
 some well-known Holarctic taxa. A phylogenetic analysis of 290 cranial and
 dental characters from 36 fossil and modern insectivoran-grade taxa is
 presented, focusing on new materials of Hsiangolestes youngi and Naranius
 hengdongensis. Based on the results of our phylogenetic analyses, we
 propose that (1) Hsiangolestes, Prosarcodon, Sarcodon, and Sinosinopa,
 form a monophyletic group, for which we propose the family name
 Sarcodontidae; (2) the family Cimolestidae should be restricted to
 Naranius and Cimolestes, which are sister taxa; (3) the systematic
 position of Naranius americanus is uncertain; and (4) the family
 Micropternodontidae should be restricted to Micropternodus and its allies
 in North America.