Vincelestes
| Vincelestes | |
|---|---|
| |
| Artist's restoration | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Clade: | Prototribosphenida
|
| Family: | †Vincelestidae Bonaparte, 1986 |
| Genus: | †Vincelestes Bonaparte, 1986 |
| Species: | †V. neuquenianus
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| Binomial name | |
| †Vincelestes neuquenianus Bonaparte, 1986
| |
Vincelestes ("Vince's thief") is an extinct genus of mammal that lived in what is now South America during the Early Cretaceous. It is closely related to modern therian mammals as part of Cladotheria.
Description
Vincelestes neuquenianus is the only species known to date. Specimens were found in La Amarga Formation of southern Neuquén Province, Argentina. The remains of only nine individuals were recovered from this site.[1]
The back teeth of Vincelestes were similar to those of therians in that they were capable of cutting and grinding. This enabled them to process food more efficiently.[2]
Diet
In one study on Mesozoic mammal mandibles, Vincelestes plots with herbivorous and omnivorous taxa.[3]
Phylogeny
Although not the direct ancestor of therians, Vincelestes is important because it gives an idea of what the ancestor of both
Some studies inversely recovered the genus as an australosphenidan,[5][6] although current thought places Vincelestes as sister to marsupials and placental mammals.[7][8][9]
References
- ^ Guillermo W. Rougier , Agustín G. Martinelli , Analía M. Forasiepi, Mesozoic Mammals from South America and Their Forerunners, 2012
- ^ Guillermo W. Rougier , Agustín G. Martinelli , Analía M. Forasiepi, Mesozoic Mammals from South America and Their Forerunners, 2012
- PMID 33623117.
- ^ Guillermo W. Rougier , Agustín G. Martinelli , Analía M. Forasiepi, Mesozoic Mammals from South America and Their Forerunners, 2012
- ^ Chimento, Nicolas; Agnolin, Federico; Martinelli, Agustin (May 2016). "Mesozoic Mammals from South America: Implications for understanding early mammalian faunas from Gondwana". Historia Evolutiva y Paleobiogeográfica de los Vertebrados de América del Sur. pp. 199–209.
- .
- PMID 29795343.
- PMID 29899454.
- ^ Guillermo W. Rougier , Agustín G. Martinelli , Analía M. Forasiepi, Mesozoic Mammals from South America and Their Forerunners, 2012
Further reading
Prehistoric mammals portal
- Turner, A. (2004). National Geographic Prehistoric Mammals. Firecrest Books. p. 46.
- Kielan-Jaworowska, Z.; Cifelli, R.; Luo, Z. (2004). Mammals from the Age of Dinosaurs: Origins, Evolution, and Structure. Columbia University Press. p. 399. ISBN 9780231119184.