Deltatheridium
| Deltatheridium Temporal range: Late Cretaceous | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Metatheria |
| Order: | †Deltatheroida |
| Family: | †Deltatheridiidae |
| Genus: | †Deltatheridium Gregory & Simpson, 1926 |
| Species | |
| |
Deltatheridium (meaning triangle beast or delta beast) is an extinct species of metatherian. It lived in what is now Mongolia during the Upper Cretaceous, circa 80 million years ago.[1] It was a basal metatherian, which places it near start of the lineage that led to the marsupials, such as kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, and opossums.
It had a length of 15 cm (5.9 in). Its teeth indicate it was carnivorous.
In Popular Culture
A Deltatheridium made a cameo appearance in the episode White Tip's Journey from the four-part miniseries Dinosaur Planet. The species is featured in a single scene, where one is spotted climbing a tree at night and a hungry mother Velociraptor (named White Tip in the show for the sake of identification) sees it, and is urged to hunt the small mammal.
References
- Parker, Steve. Dinosaurus: the complete guide to dinosaurs. Firefly Books Inc, 2003. Pg. 403
- Rougier, G. W.; Wible, J. R.; Novacek, M. J. (1998). "Implications of Deltatheridium specimens for early marsupial history". Nature 396 (6710): 459–63. doi:10.1038/24856. PMID 9853752.