Astroconodon
Astroconodon Temporal range:
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Clade: | †Eutriconodonta |
Family: | †Triconodontidae |
Subfamily: | † Alticonodontinae
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Genus: | †Astroconodon Patterson, 1951 |
Type species | |
†Astroconodon denisoni Patterson, 1951
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Species | |
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Astroconodon is an extinct genus of mammal from the
.It is the first Cretaceous eutriconodont found.[1][2]
Description
The type species is A. denisoni. Known from the
A second species, A. delicatus, was later found in the Cedar Mountain Formation. Its type locality is Mussentuchit (OMNH V239). It is smaller than A. denisoni by approximately 80%, and it differs from it, and most North American triconodontids, by lacking a lingual cingulid on the lower molars and premolars.[4]
A third species, currently unnamed, is known from the Twin Mountains Formation. Not much has been said about it.[2][4]
Phylogeny
Always identified as a "
Biology
Because of its abundance on
Terrestrial or aquatic, Astroconodon, like most eutriconodonts, was almost certainly a predator. Like in most eutriconodonts, its triconodont molars were adapted for shearing, much ike the carnassials of therian carnivores.[2]
Palaeoecology
Astroconodon occurs in several fossil formations, most depicting
References
- ^ a b c B. Patterson. 1951. Early Cretaceous mammals from northern Texas. American Journal of Science 249:31-46
- ^ ISBN 0-231-11918-6.
- ^ a b Bob H. Slaughter, Astroconodon, the Cretaceous Triconodont, Journal of Mammalogy, Vol. 50, No. 1 (Feb., 1969), pp. 102-107
- ^ a b c R. L. Cifelli and S. K. Madsen. 1998. Triconodont mammals from the medial Cretaceous of Utah. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 18(2):403-411
- S2CID 4428972.
- ^ Goldberg, Faunal composition, non-marine vertebrates, of the upper Cedar Mountain Formation (Cretaceous : Albian-Cenomanian), central Utah, Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oklahoma, 2000. Includes bibliographical references.