A high-latitude fauna of mid-Mesozoic mammals from Yakutia, Russia

PLoS One. 2018 Jul 25;13(7):e0199983. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0199983. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

The Early Cretaceous (?Berriasian-Barremian) Teete vertebrate locality in Western Yakutia, East Siberia, Russia, has produced mammal remains that are attributed to three taxa: Eleutherodontidae indet. cf. Sineleutherus sp. (Haramiyida; an upper molariform tooth), Khorotherium yakutensis gen. et sp. nov. (Tegotheriidae, Docodonta; maxillary fragment with three molariform teeth and dentary fragment with one molariform tooth), and Sangarotherium aquilonium gen. et sp. nov. (Eutriconodonta incertae sedis; dentary fragment with one erupted molariform tooth and one tooth in crypt). This is the second occurrence of Mesozoic mammals in high latitudes (paleolatitude estimate N 63-70°) of the Northern Hemisphere. In spite of the presumed Early Cretaceous age based on freshwater mollusks, the Teete mammal assemblage has a distinctive Jurassic appearance, being most similar to the Middle-Late Jurassic mammal assemblages known from Siberia, Russia and Xinjiang, China. The smooth transition from Jurassic to Cretaceous biota in Northern Asia is best explained by stable environmental conditions.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Archaeology*
  • Geography
  • Mammals*
  • Russia
  • Tooth

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Research, http://www.rfbr.ru/rffi/ru/, 17-54-12041-NNIO (Dr. Alexander Averianov); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, http://www.dfg.de/, MA 1643/22-1 (Prof. Thomas Martin); Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, АААА-А17-117022810195-3 (Dr. Alexander Averianov); and Program of the Russian Academy of Sciences Presidium "Evolution of the organic world". The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.