Amphilestidae

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Amphilestidae
Temporal range: 168–93  Ma
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Eutriconodonta
Family: Amphilestidae
Osborn, 1888
Genera

Amphilestidae is a family of Mesozoic mammals, generally regarded as eutriconodonts. They may form a paraphyletic or polyphyletic assemblage, though they share with gobiconodontids their similar tooth occlusion patterns and may be especially closely related to them. [1] They occur from the Middle Jurassic to Cenomanian, [2] and have a distribution across Laurasia.

The putative amphilestid Tendagurodon is considered a non-amphilestid member of Amphilestheria along with the newly described Condorodon by Gaetano and Rougier (2012). [3]

Related Research Articles

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<i>Volaticotherium</i> Extinct family of mammals

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<i>Gobiconodon</i> Extinct genus of mammals

Gobiconodon is an extinct genus of carnivorous mammal from the Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous. It weighed 5.4 kilograms (12 lb), had a skull of 10 cm (3.9 in) in length, and had 35 cm (14 in) in presacral body length. It was one of the largest mammals known from the Mesozoic. Like other gobiconodontids, it possesses several speciations towards carnivory, such as shearing molar teeth, large canine-like incisors and powerful jaw and forelimb musculature, indicating that it probably fed on vertebrate prey; rather uniquely 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.

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Triconodontidae is an extinct family of small, carnivorous mammals belonging to the order Eutriconodonta, endemic to what would become Asia, Europe, North America and probably also Africa and South America during the Jurassic through Cretaceous periods at least from 190–70.6 mya.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cañadón Asfalto Formation</span>

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The Amphidontidae are a family of extinct mammals from the Early Cretaceous, belonging to the triconodonts. It contains most of the species previously belonged to Amphilestidae.

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<i>Cronopio dentiacutus</i> Extinct genus of dryolestoid mammals

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Meridiolestida is an extinct clade of mammals known from the Cretaceous and Cenozoic of South America and possibly Antarctica. They represented the dominant group of mammals in South America during the Late Cretaceous. Meridiolestidans were morphologically diverse, containing both small insectivores such as the "sabretooth-squirrel" Cronopio, as well as the clade Mesungulatoidea/Mesungulatomorpha, which ranged in size from the shrew-sized Reigitherium to the dog-sized Peligrotherium. Mesungulatoideans had highly modified dentition with bunodont teeth, and were likely herbivores/omnivores.

Condorodon is a genus of extinct mammals from the Lower Jurassic Cañadón Asfalto Formation of the Cañadón Asfalto Basin in Patagonia, Argentina. The type species is C. spanios, described by Gaetano and Rougier in 2012.

References

  1. Percy M. Butler; Denise Sigogneau-Russell (2016). "Diversity of triconodonts in the Middle Jurassic of Great Britain" (PDF). Palaeontologia Polonica 67: 35–65. doi : 10.4202/pp.2016.67_035.
  2. Jerry J. Hooker and Allan G. Lawson, 2011. A ‘eutriconodontan’ mammal from the UK Cenomanian (Late Cretaceous), Publication: Special Papers in Palaeontology 86: 255–261
  3. L. C. Gaetano and G. W. Rougier. 2012. First amphilestid from South America: a molariform from the Jurassic Cañadón Asfalto Formation, Patagonia, Argentina. Journal of Mammalian Evolution