Alticonodon

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Alticonodon
Temporal range:
Ma
↓
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: †Eutriconodonta
Family: †Triconodontidae
Subfamily: †
Alticonodontinae
Genus: †Alticonodon
Fox, 1969
Species:
†A. lindoei
Binomial name
†Alticonodon lindoei
Fox, 1969

Alticonodon is a genus of extinct mammal from the

eutriconodonts, and is a fairly more specialised animal than earlier representatives of this clade.[1]

Description

Alticonodon is currently a monotypic genus, represented exclusively by A. lindoei. It is known from the Milk River Formation deposits of the early Campanian of Alberta, Canada. It is known from two specimens: a dentary fragment bearing two molars, and an isolated lower last molar.

Classification

Alticonodon has been consistently recovered as a

triconodontid, and more specifically as an alticonodontine,[2] though the latter term may be redundant in relation to the rest of Triconodontidae.[3]

Biology

Compared to earlier eutriconodonts, Alticonodon has molars better specialised for shearing.

carnivorous habits,[4]
it can be inferred that Alticonodon was hypercarnivorous.

This ecological specialisation might have come due to competition with other mammals in the region, such as the various metatherians.[1]

Ecology

The

turtles and fish
.

The mammalian fauna was primarily dominated by

symmetrodont Symmetrodontoides, and Potamotelses and picopsids. These were the last non-therian mammals (other than the highly successful multituberculates) in North America
, suggesting a relictual element to the region's fauna.

References

  1. ^ a b c R. C. Fox. 1969. Studies of Late Cretaceous vertebrates. III. A triconodont mammal from Alberta. Canadian Journal of Zoology 47:1253-1256
  2. Argentoconodon fariasorum
    (Mammaliaformes, Triconodontidae) from the Jurassic of Argentina and its bearing on triconodont phylogeny. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 31(4):829-843 [R. Benson/R. Benson]
  3. doi:10.1038/nature14905
  4. ISBN 0-231-11918-6
    .
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