Reigitherium

Reigitherium
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, Campanian–Maastrichtian
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Class: Mammalia
Branch: Meridiolestida
Family: Reigitheriidae
Genus: Reigitherium
Bonaparte, 1990
Species:  R. bunodontum
Binomial name
Reigitherium bunodontum
Bonaparte, 1990

Reigitherium bunodontum is a mammal that lived during the Late Cretaceous (Late Campanian-Maastrichtian). Fossils of it have been found in the Los Alamitos and the La Colonia Formations of Argentina.[1]

Reigitherium was initially classified in the order Dryolestida.[2] In 2000 Pascual et al. found it to be a Docodont. Later authors found it to be neither a Dryolestoid nor a Docodont, and found it to be of uncertain placement within Mammalia.[3][4] In 2011, Rougier et al. found it to be a Dryolestoid again, within Meridiolestida, a clade composed of Gondwanan Dryolestoids.[5] It "differs from other Mesozoic mammals including docodontans in that the lower molars decrease in length and notably increase in width posteriorly."

References

  1. Trevor (2007) Dinos, Fossils, Children, England, Germany… Acceso: 31 de octubre de 2007.
  2. Bonaparte, J.F. (1990) New Late Cretaceous mammals from the Los Alamitos Formation, northern Patagonia National Geographic Research 6 (1), p.63-93.
  3. Pascual R., Goin F.J., Gonzalez P., Ardolino A. & Puerta P.F. (2000) A highly derived docodont from the Patagonian Late Cretaceous Geodiversitas 22 (3) Documento pdf.
  4. Mikko Haaramo (2007) Mikko's Phylogeny Archive Acceso: 31 de octubre de 2007.
  5. Guillermo W. Rougier, Sebastián Apesteguía and Leandro C. Gaetano (2011). "Highly specialized mammalian skulls from the Late Cretaceous of South America". Nature 479: 98–102. doi:10.1038/nature10591. Supplementary information
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