Tikitherium
Tikitherium Temporal range:
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Eulipotyphla |
Family: | Soricidae |
Subfamily: | Crocidurinae |
Genus: | †Tikitherium Datta, 2005 |
Species: | †T. copei
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Binomial name | |
†Tikitherium copei Datta, 2005
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Tikitherium is an extinct
History and discovery
Tikitherium copei was first described by Datta in 2005. The first and only specimen is an upper tooth that was thought to have discovered in the lower part of the Late Triassic Tiki Formation, located in the South Rewa Gondwana Basin, India. Both the genus Tikitherium and the species copei were named by Datta in 2005. The currently only known specimen was deposited in the Paleontology Division of the Geological Survey of India, Calcutta.[2] Although only a single tooth was found, it showed several derived features that are similar to other early mammalian dentitions, but further detailed comparisons showed the various differences that allowed this tooth to specifically stand out on its own.[2]
Classification
Tikitherium is considered to be mammal based on Datta (2005).[2] However, the phylogeny based on Luo and Martin (2007) places Tikitherium and Docodonta as sister taxa, which are Mammaliformes, based on the shared traits of wear facets and platform on the lingual side of the molars. Although Luo and Martin conclude that Tikitherium and Docodonta are the most closely related, it is debated that Woutersia instead may be the sister taxa to Docodonta due to the similarity of their prominent lingual cusps.[3]
Mammaliaformes | |
A 2024 study argued that the tooth was actually the upper fourth premolar of a shrew belonging to the subfamily
Description
Tikitherium is only known from a single upper tooth, originally argued to be a left molar but currently thought to be a right fourth premolar. The tooth closely resembles members of the modern shrew subfamily Crocidurinae in having a "short horseshoe-shaped
Geological and paleoenvironment
Tikitherium was previously thought to have originated from the