| Reigitherium Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, Campanian–Maastrichtian |
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|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Branch: | †Meridiolestida |
| Family: | †Reigitheriidae |
| Genus: | †Reigitherium Bonaparte, 1990 |
| Species: | †R. bunodontum |
| Binomial name | |
| Reigitherium bunodontum Bonaparte, 1990 |
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Reigitherium bunodontum is a mammal that lived during the Late Cretaceous (Late Campanian-Maastrichtian). Fossils of it have been found in the Los Alamitos and the La Colonia Formations of Argentina.[1]
Reigitherium was initially classified in the order Dryolestida.[2] In 2000 Pascual et al. found it to be a Docodont. Later authors found it to be neither a Dryolestoid nor a Docodont, and found it to be of uncertain placement within Mammalia.[3][4] In 2011, Rougier et al. found it to be a Dryolestoid again, within Meridiolestida, a clade composed of Gondwanan Dryolestoids.[5]It "differs from other Mesozoic mammals including docodontans in that the lower molars decrease in length and notably increase in width posteriorly."[6]