Parvopalus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian), | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Monotremata |
Family: | † Steropodontidae (?) |
Genus: | † Parvopalus |
Species: | †P. clytiei |
Binomial name | |
†Parvopalus clytiei | |
Parvopalus (meaning "small opal") is an extinct genus of monotreme mammal from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Griman Creek Formation of Australia. The genus contains a single species, P. clytiei, known from a partial left dentary.
The Parvopalus holotype specimen, AM F161198, was discovered in 1999 in sediments of the Griman Creek Formation (Wallangulla Sandstone Member) near Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia. The specimen consists of part of the left dentary. [1]
In 2024, Flannery et al. described Parvopalus clytiei as a new genus and species of early monotreme based on these fossil remains. The generic name, Parvopalus, combines the Latin words "parvus", meaning "small", and "opalus", meaning "opal", referencing the opalized preservation style of the holotype. The specific name, clytiei, honours Clytie Smith who has found several opal fossils near the type locality. [1]
Several other monotremes are known from the Griman Creek Formation, including Opalios and Dharragarra —which were described in the same publication as Parvopalus—as well as Kollikodon , Steropodon , and Stirtodon . [1] [2]
Monotrematum sudamericanum is an extinct monotreme species from the Paleocene (Peligran) Salamanca Formation in Patagonia, Argentina. It is one of only two monotremes found outside Oceania.
The Ornithorhynchidae are one of the two extant families in the order Monotremata, and contain the platypus and its extinct relatives. The other family is the Tachyglossidae, or echidnas.
Kollikodon is an extinct species of mammal, considered to be an early monotreme. It is known only from an opalised dentary fragment, with one premolar and two molars in situ, as well as a referred maxillary fragment containing the last premolar and all four molars. The fossils were found in the Griman Creek Formation at Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia. Kollikodon lived in the Late Cretaceous period, during the Cenomanian age. Several other monotremes are known from the Griman Creek Formation, including Dharragarra, Opalios, Parvopalus, Steropodon, and Stirtodon.
Steropodon is a genus of prehistoric platypus-like monotreme, or egg-laying mammal. It contains a single species, Steropodon galmani, that lived about 100.2–96.6 million years ago during the Cretaceous period, from early to middle Cenomanian. It is one of the oldest monotremes discovered, and is one of the oldest Australian mammal discoveries. Several other monotremes are known from the Griman Creek Formation, including Dharragarra, Kollikodon, Opalios, Parvopalus, and Stirtodon.
Teinolophos is a prehistoric species of monotreme, or egg-laying mammal, from the Teinolophidae. It is known from four specimens, each consisting of a partial lower jawbone collected from the Wonthaggi Formation at Flat Rocks, Victoria, Australia. It lived during the late Barremian age of the Lower Cretaceous.
Lightning Ridge is a small outback town in north-western New South Wales, Australia. Part of Walgett Shire, Lightning Ridge is situated near the southern border of Queensland, about 6 km (4 mi) east of the Castlereagh Highway. The Lightning Ridge area is a centre of the mining of black opal and other opal gemstones.
Qantassaurus is a genus of basal two-legged, plant-eating elasmarian ornithischian dinosaur that lived in Australia about 125-112 million years ago, when the continent was still partly south of the Antarctic Circle. It was described by Patricia Vickers-Rich and her husband Tom Rich in 1999 after a find near Inverloch, and named after Qantas, the Australian airline.
Walgettosuchus is a dubious or possibly invalid genus of extinct tetanuran theropod dinosaur that lived in Australia during the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian). It is known from a single caudal vertebra.
Rapator is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the Griman Creek Formation of New South Wales, Australia, dating to the Cenomanian age of the Cretaceous period. It contains only the type species, Rapator ornitholestoides, which was originally named by Friedrich von Huene in 1932.
Fulgurotherium is a dubious genus of ornithischian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Griman Creek Formation. It lived in what is now Australia.
The Griman Creek Formation is a geological formation in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, Australia whose strata date back to the Albian-Cenomanian stages of the mid-Cretaceous. It is most notable being a major source of opal, found near the town of Lightning Ridge, New South Wales. Alongside the opal opalised fossils are also found, including those of dinosaurs and primitive monotremes.
Monotremes are mammals of the order Monotremata. They are the only known group of living mammals that lay eggs, rather than bearing live young. The extant monotreme species are the platypus and the four species of echidnas. Monotremes are typified by structural differences in their brains, jaws, digestive tract, reproductive tract, and other body parts, compared to the more common mammalian types. Although they are different from almost all mammals in that they lay eggs, like all mammals, the female monotremes nurse their young with milk.
Isisfordia is an extinct genus of crocodyliform closely related to crocodilians that lived in Australia during the Middle Cretaceous (Albian–Cenomanian).
Weewarrasaurus is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of the Griman Creek Formation near Lightning Ridge, in New South Wales, Australia. The type and only species is W. pobeni, known from the holotype, an isolated dentary preserved in opal, as well as a secondary referred dentary. It is thought to have co-existed with multiple other ornithopods of different sizes and lineages.
Fostoria is a genus of iguanodontian ornithopod dinosaur from the Griman Creek Formation of New South Wales, Australia. The type and only species, Fostoria dhimbangunmal was described in 2019.
Leptostomia is a genus of long-beaked pterosaur from the mid-Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of Morocco, North Africa. The type species is L. begaaensis, which was named and described in 2021 from sediments of the Kem Kem Group in Morocco. It was a small animal with a long, slender bill which is thought to have been used to probe sediments for worms and other invertebrates, similar to kiwi birds and curlews. Leptostomia is likely a member of the Azhdarchoidea.
Opalios is an extinct genus of monotreme mammal from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Griman Creek Formation of Australia. The genus contains a single species, O. splendens, known from a fragmentary left dentary.
Dharragarra is an extinct genus of monotreme mammal from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Griman Creek Formation of Australia. The genus contains a single species, D. aurora, known from a partial left mandibular ramus. Dharragarra was likely more closely related to the living platypus than many other monotremes of the Cretaceous.
Ornithorhynchoidea is a superfamily of mammals containing the only living monotremes, the platypus and the echidnas, as well as their closest fossil relatives, to the exclusion of more primitive fossil monotremes of uncertain affinity.
Stirtodon is an extinct genus of monotreme mammal from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Griman Creek Formation of Australia. The genus contains a single species, S. elizabethae, known from a large isolated premolar. Stirtodon may be the largest toothed monotreme discovered. Several other monotremes are known from the Griman Creek Formation, including Dharragarra, Kollikodon, Opalios, Parvopalus, and Steropodon.