Necrolestes
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| Necrolestes Fossil range: Early Miocene |
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 N. patagonensis reconstructed as a mole-like animal
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Necrolestes patagonensis ("Grave Robber" or "Thief of the Dead" + Patagonia) is an extinct mammal, suspected to be a marsupial, that lived in the early Miocene of South America.
About one-third of the animal's skeleton - including most of the skull - has been found as disassociated bones of several individuals. The jaw bends up at the tip, possibly supporting a fleshy appendage similar to the sensitive tentacles of the star-nosed mole. Necrolestes is also sometimes reconstructed as a mole-like creature. It probably fed on insects or worms.
Its classification is not firmly resolved due to it being highly apomorphic and having an anatomy unlike any other known mammal, living or extinct. It most likely belongs to the marsupial lineage (Metatheria). On the other hand, the possibility that it is an eutherian cannot be ruled out based on the currently available data, given as how, even as an island, South America had extensive lineages of both marsupial and placental mammals. A review of additional material is to be published in the scientific journal Ameghiniana soon.
[edit] See also
- Plesiorycteropus - another mystery mammal, from the Pleistocene of Madagascar.
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