| Scientists at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History [Pittsburgh, PA] have discovered fossils of a mouse-size mammal that dug and burrowed in search of tasty insects during the Jurassic Age, 150 million years ago. The extinct species has been dubbed Popeye. Its tastes appeared to favor termites, not spinach as its cartoon namesake. But like the famous Sailor Man, this creature has massive forearms, an adaptation that helped it dig. Zhe-Xi Luo and John Wible, curators of vertebrate paleontology and mammals, respectively, announce the find in tomorrow's issue of the journal Science. The formal name for the species is Fruitafossor windscheffeli, which refers to the location of the fossil find -- Fruita, Colo. -- and to the retired submariner and museum volunteer, Wally Windscheffel, who found it. Wible said Popeye, which has similarities to today's armadillo, is far different from other mammals that coexisted with the dinosaurs, suggesting that these prehistoric mammals were a more diverse group than prevously suspected. |