First palaeohistological inference of resting metabolic rate in an extinct synapsid, Moghreberia nmachouensis (Therapsida: Anomodontia)

The independent acquisition of endothermy in synapsids and diapsids are major events in vertebrate evolution since they were the driving force of a suite of correlated changes in anatomical, physiological, behavioural and ecological traits. While avian endothermy is assumed to have occurred at the archosauriform node, the acquisition of mammalian endothermy is poorly constrained both temporally and phylogenetically. Among the many unequivocal...