Albertatherium
| Albertatherium Temporal range:Late Cretaceous,
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|---|---|
Scientific classification
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Family: | †Alphadontidae |
| Genus: | †Albertatherium Fox, 1971 |
| Type species | |
| †Albertatherium primus Fox, 1971
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| Species | |
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Albertatherium(meaning "beast ofAlberta") is an extinct genus ofalphadontidmetatheriansthat lived during theLate CretaceousofNorth America.The genus contains two species,Albertatherium primus(the type species), andAlbertatherium secundus.Fossils have been found in theEagle FormationofMontanaand theMilk River Formationof Alberta.[1][2]
Taxonomy
[edit]Albertatheriumis a member of theAlphadontidae,an extinct family of metatherians closely related to marsupials. Recent phylogenetic studies group it with other northern non-marsupial metatherians such asAlphadonandTurgidodon.[3][4]A 2016 phylogenetic analysis is shown below.[5]
References
[edit]- ^Davis, B.M.; Cifelli, R.L.; Cohen, J.E (2016)."First fossil mammals from the Upper Cretaceous Eagle Formation (Santonian, northern Montana, USA), and mammal diversity during the Aquilan North American land mammal age"(PDF).Palaeontologia Polonica.67:101–126.
- ^Johanson, Zerina (1995-02-15)."New information concerning the Late Cretaceous marsupial Albertatherium Fox, 1971".Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.14(4): 595–602.doi:10.1080/02724634.1995.10011581.ISSN0272-4634.
- ^Guillermo W. Rougier; Brian M. Davis; Michael J. Novacek (2015). "A deltatheroidan mammal from the Upper Cretaceous Baynshiree Formation, eastern Mongolia". Cretaceous Research. 52, Part A: 167–177. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2014.09.009.
- ^S. Bi, X. Jin, S. Li and T. Du. 2015. A new Cretaceous metatherian mammal from Henan, China. PeerJ 3:e896
- ^Wilson, G.P.; Ekdale, E.G.; Hoganson, J.W.; Calede, J.J.; Linden, A.V. (2016)."A large carnivorous mammal from the Late Cretaceous and the North American origin of marsupials".Nature Communications.7:13734.doi:10.1038/ncomms13734.PMC5155139.PMID27929063.
