Gondwanatheria

order of tetrapods

Gondwanatheria is an extinct group of mammals that lived during the Upper Cretaceous to the Miocene. They lived in the Southern Hemisphere continents which had been part of the supercontinent Gondwana.[1]

Gondwanatheria
Temporal range: Upper CretaceousMiocene
70.6–17.5 mya
Scientific classification
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Gondwanatheria
Subgroups

These mammals are known only from isolated teeth and a few lower jaws. Because of these fragmentary remains, their relationships are unclear. Later finds have improved our knowledge of them.[2] It was thought previously that climate changes at the Eocene–Oligocene boundary had caused their extinction.[3]

Fossils have come from South America, India and Antarctica, where gondwanatherids lived in the lush forests which once covered much of the world.

References

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  1. Krause D.W. and others 2020. Introduction to Adalatherium hui (Gondwanatheria, Mammalia) from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology [1]
  2. Strickland, Ashley (18 December 2020). "This 'crazy beast' was a weird early mammal that lived among dinosaurs". CNN News. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  3. Reguero M.A., Sergio A.M. and Santillana S.N. 2002. Antarctic peninsula and South America (Patagonia) Paleogene terrestrial faunas and environments: biogeographic relationships. Palaeogeography-Palaeoclimatology-Palaeoecology 179, pages 189–210.