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Sudamericidae

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sudamericidae
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous to Miocene 70.6–17.5 Ma
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Gondwanatheria
Family: Sudamericidae
Scillato-Yané & Pascual, 1984
Genera
Synonyms
  • Gondwanatheriidae Bonaparte, 1986

Sudamericidae is a family of gondwanathere mammals that lived during the late Cretaceous to Miocene. Its members include Lavanify and Vintana from the Cretaceous of Madagascar, Bharattherium (=Dakshina) from the Cretaceous of India, Gondwanatherium from the Cretaceous of Argentina, Sudamerica from the Paleocene of Argentina, and unnamed forms from the Eocene of Antarctica (closely related to Sudamerica) and Cretaceous of Tanzania.[2] More recently, Patagonia, a mammal from the Colhuehuapian stage of the Miocene of southern South America, has been suggested to be a sudamericid.[1]

Vintana is one of the most complete gondwanathere remains, and offers an insight to the anatomy and habits of sudamericids as a whole. It possesses massive lateral flanges in its skull, and bears massive olfactory bulbs. At 20 pounds (9.1 kg), it is one of the largest Mesozoic mammals known, and it is either closely related to archosaurs (birds and crocodilians) or Laurasiatheria (eulipotyphlans, chiropterans, carnivorans, pholidotes, artiodactyls, and perissodactyls) and Euarchontoglires (rodents, lagomorphs, treeshrews, primates, and colugos)

References

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  1. ^ a b Nicolás R. Chimento; Federico L. Agnolin; Fernando E. Novas (2015). "The bizarre 'metatherians' Groeberia and Patagonia, late surviving members of gondwanatherian mammals". Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology. 27 (5): 603–623. Bibcode:2015HBio...27..603C. doi:10.1080/08912963.2014.903945. hdl:11336/85076. S2CID 84565271.
  2. ^ Gurovich and Beck, 2009; Krause et al., 1997; Prasad, 2008; Prasad et al., 2007; Wilson et al., 2007

Literature cited

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