| Amphidontidae Temporal range: Early Jurassic-Early Cretaceous, ~ | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | † Eutriconodonta |
| Family: | † Amphidontidae Simpson, 1925 |
| Genera | |
| |
The Amphidontidae are a family of extinct mammals from the Early Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous, belonging to the eutriconodonts. It contains most of the species previously belonged to Amphilestidae. [1]
Cladogram after Marisol Montellano, James A. Hopson, James M. Clark (2008) [2] and Gao et al. (2010). [3]
| Amphidontidae | |
Based on the works by Mikko Haaramo [4] and the Palaeofile website. [5]
Repenomamus is a genus of opossum- to badger-sized gobiconodontid mammal containing two species, Repenomamus robustus and Repenomamus giganticus. Both species are known from fossils found in China that date to the early Cretaceous period, about 125-123.2 million years ago. R. robustus is one of several Mesozoic mammals for which there is good evidence that it fed on vertebrates, including dinosaurs. Though it is not entirely clear whether or not these animals primarily hunted live dinosaurs or scavenged dead ones, evidence for the former is present in fossilized remains showcasing the results of what was most likely a predation attempt by R. robustus directed at a specimen of the dinosaur Psittacosaurus lujiatunensis. R. giganticus is among the largest mammals known from the Mesozoic era, only surpassed by Patagomaia.
Volaticotherium antiquum is an extinct, gliding, insectivorous mammal that lived in Asia during the Jurassic period, around 164 mya. It is the only member of the genus Volaticotherium.
Eutriconodonta is an order of early mammals. Eutriconodonts existed in Asia, Africa, Europe, North and South America during the Jurassic and the Cretaceous periods. The order was named by Kermack et al. in 1973 as a replacement name for the paraphyletic Triconodonta.
Haramiyida is a possibly polyphyletic order of mammaliaform cynodonts or mammals of controversial taxonomic affinites. Their teeth, which are by far the most common remains, resemble those of the multituberculates. However, based on Haramiyavia, the jaw is less derived; and at the level of evolution of earlier basal mammals like Morganucodon and Kuehneotherium, with a groove for ear ossicles on the dentary. Some authors have placed them in a clade with Multituberculata dubbed Allotheria within Mammalia. Other studies have disputed this and suggested the Haramiyida were not crown mammals, but were part of an earlier offshoot of mammaliaformes instead. It is also disputed whether the Late Triassic species are closely related to the Jurassic and Cretaceous members belonging to Euharamiyida/Eleutherodontida, as some phylogenetic studies recover the two groups as unrelated, recovering the Triassic haramiyidians as non-mammalian cynodonts, while recovering the Euharamiyida as crown-group mammals closely related to multituberculates.
The family Jeholodentidae is a possible eutriconodont family that was present in China around 125 million years ago during the time of the dinosaurs. There are currently two genera assigned to the family, Yanoconodon and Jeholodens.
Gobiconodon is an extinct genus of carnivorous mammals belonging to the family Gobiconodontidae. Undisputed records of Gobiconodon are restricted to the Early Cretaceous of Asia and North America, but isolated teeth attributed to the genus have also been described from formations in England and Morocco dating as far back as the Middle Jurassic. Species of Gobiconodon varied considerably in size, with G. ostromi, one of the larger species, being around the size of a modern Virginia opossum. Like other gobiconodontids, it possessed several speciations towards carnivory, such as shearing molariform teeth, large canine-like incisors and powerful jaw and forelimb musculature, indicating that it probably fed on vertebrate prey. Unusually among predatory mammals and other eutriconodonts, the lower canines were vestigial, with the first lower incisor pair having become massive and canine-like. Like the larger Repenomamus there might be some evidence of scavenging.
Deltatheroida is an extinct group of basal metatherians that were distantly related to modern marsupials. The majority of known members of the group lived in the Cretaceous; one species, Gurbanodelta kara, is known from the late Paleocene (Gashatan) of China. Their fossils are restricted to Central Asia and North America. This order can be defined as all metatherians closer to Deltatheridium than to Marsupialia.
Trechnotheria is a group of mammals that includes the therians and some fossil mammals from the Mesozoic Era. It includes both the extinct symmetrodonts and the living Cladotheria.
Pantotheria is an abandoned taxon of Mesozoic mammals. This group is now considered an informal "wastebasket" taxon and has been replaced by Dryolestida as well as other groups. It is sometimes treated as an infraclass and older books refer to it as being related to symmetrodonts. One classification makes it an infraclass with a single order, Eupantotheria.
Amphidon is an extinct genus of Late Jurassic mammal from the Morrison Formation. It is present in stratigraphic zone 5. Two species have been named in the genus: Amphidon superstes and Amphidon aequicrurius, by Simpson in 1925.
Comodon is an extinct genus of Late Jurassic mammal from the Morrison Formation of Wyoming. Fossils of this taxon are present in stratigraphic zone 5.
Juchilestes is an amphidontid mammal genus from the early Cretaceous. It lived in what is now the Beipiao of western Liaoning, eastern China. It is known from the holotype D2607, which consists of three-dimensionally preserved, partial skull with mandibles and some teeth. It was found in 2004 from the Lujiatun Site of the Yixian Formation. It was first named by Chun-Ling Gao, Gregory P. Wilson, Zhe-Xi Luo, A. Murat Maga, Qingjin Meng and Xuri Wang in 2010 and the type species is Juchilestes liaoningensis.
Acinacodus is an extinct genus of amphidontid "eutriconodont" which existed in Shestakovo 1 locality in Western Siberia, Russia during the early Cretaceous period. It was described by A. V. Lopatin, E. N. Maschenko and A. O. Averianov in 2010, and the type species is Acinacodus tagaricus.
The Ilek Formation is a Lower Cretaceous geologic formation in Western Siberia. Many different fossils have been recovered from the formation. It overlies the Late Jurassic Tyazhin Formation and underlies the Albian Kiya Formation.
Ichthyoconodon is an extinct genus of eutriconodont mammal from the Lower Cretaceous of Morocco. It is notable for having been found in a unique marine location, and the shape of its teeth suggests an unusual, potentially fish-eating ecological niche. Analysis suggests it is part of a group of gliding mammals that includes Volaticotherium.
Jugulator is an extinct genus of mammals from the Cretaceous of North America. It contains one species, Jugulator amplissimus. A eutriconodont, it is known from the Cedar Mountain Formation, and is both a large sized and possibly ecologically specialised taxon, showcasing the diversity of mammals in the Mesozoic.
Triconodon is a genus of extinct mammal from the Early Cretaceous of England and France with two known species: T. mordax and T. averianovi. First described in 1859 by Richard Owen, it is the type genus for the order Triconodonta, a group of mammals characterised by their three-cusped (triconodont) molar teeth. Since then, this "simplistic" type of dentition has been understood to be either ancestral for mammals or else to have evolved multiple times, rendering "triconodonts" a paraphyletic or polyphyletic assemblage respectively, but several lineages of "triconodont" mammals do form a natural, monophyletic group, known as Eutriconodonta, of which Triconodon is indeed part of.
Alticonodon is a genus of extinct mammal from the Late Cretaceous of North America. It is one of the geologically youngest known eutriconodonts, and is a fairly more specialised animal than earlier representatives of this clade.
The Dzunbain Formation is a geological formation in Mongolia, dating to the Early Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian). The formation contains fossils of mammals, reptiles, turtles and dinosaurs. The Dzunbain Formation is equivalent to the Khuren Dukh Formation.
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