A large therian mammal from the Late Cretaceous of South America

A large therian mammal from the Late Cretaceous of South America

Blog Article

Abstract Theria represent an extant clade that comprises placental and marsupial mammals.Here we report on trailmaster challenger 200x the discovery of a new Late Cretaceous mammal from southern Patagonia, Patagomaia chainko gen.et sp.nov., represented by hindlimb and pelvic elements with unambiguous therian features.

We estimate Patagomaia chainko attained a body mass of 14 kg, which is considerably greater than the 5 kg maximum body grandpas best mass of coeval Laurasian therians.This new discovery demonstrates that Gondwanan therian mammals acquired large body size by the Late Cretaceous, preceding their Laurasian relatives, which remained small-bodied until the beginning of the Cenozoic.Patagomaia supports the view that the Southern Hemisphere was a cradle for the evolution of modern mammalian clades, alongside non-therian extinct groups such as meridiolestidans, gondwanatherians and monotremes.