Deltatheridium

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Deltatheridium
Fossil range: Late Cretaceous
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Deltatheroida
Family: Deltatheridiidae
Genus: Deltatheridium
Gregory & Simpson, 1926
Species

Deltatheridium pretrituberculare

Deltatheridium is one of the first species of marsupial mammal. It lived in what is now Mongolia during the Upper Cretaceous. It was a basal metatherian, which places it near start of the linage that lead to the marsupials, such the kangaroo, koala, and opossum.

It had a length of 15 cm (5.9 in). Apart from preying on insects, its diet was also composed of small reptiles and what it could scavenge from left-over carcasses, using its sharp canine teeth.

[edit] References

  • Rougier, G. W.; Wible, J. R.; Novacek, M. J. (1998). "Implications of Deltatheridium specimens for early marsupial history". Nature 396 (6710): 459. doi:10.1038/24856. 

[edit] Other Mesozoic mammals from Mongolia

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