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Santa Rosa Local Fauna
The Santa Rosa local fauna consists of the animals found in the Paleogene fossil site of Santa Rosa in eastern Peru. The age of the Santa Rosa fauna is difficult to determine, but may be Eocene (Mustersan) or Oligocene (Deseadan). History and context Few fossils have been found in the vast rainforests of the Amazon Basin, and Santa Rosa was the first Paleogene fauna to be discovered in the region. The Santa Rosa local fauna was discovered in July 1995, and the discovery was briefly reported in 1996. In 1998, further fossil samples were taken at the site. Though not all of the material had been sorted, a report on the fauna was published in 2004 in a volume edited by Kenneth Campbell of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. The publication was reviewed favorably by Bruce MacFadden in the ''Journal of Mammalian Evolution''. Location and geology The Santa Rosa fossil site is located in eastern Peru's Atalaya Province. It is about north of the town of Breu, south of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paleogene
The Paleogene ( ; British English, also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period, geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million years ago (annum, Mya) to the beginning of the Neogene Period Mya. It is the beginning of the Cenozoic Era of the present Phanerozoic Eon. The earlier term Tertiary Period was used to define the span of time now covered by the Paleogene Period and subsequent Neogene Period; despite no longer being recognised as a formal stratigraphy, stratigraphic term, 'Tertiary' is still widely found in earth science literature and remains in informal use. Paleogene is often abbreviated "Pg" (but the United States Geological Survey uses the abbreviation PE for the Paleogene on the Survey's geologic maps). During the Paleogene, evolution of mammals, mammals diversified from relatively small, simple forms into a large group of diverse animals in the wake of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gondwanathere
Gondwanatheria is an extinct group of mammaliaforms that lived in parts of Gondwana, including Madagascar, India, South America, Africa and Antarctica during the Upper Cretaceous through the Paleogene (and possibly much earlier, if '' Allostaffia'' is a member of this group). Until recently, they were known only from isolated teeth, a few lower jaws, two partial skulls and one complete cranium. They are generally considered to be closely related to the multituberculates and likely the euharamiyidians, well known from the Northern Hemisphere, with which they form the clade Allotheria. Classification For several decades the affinities of the group were not clear, being first interpreted as early xenarthrans, or "toothless" mammals similar to the modern anteater. A variety of studies have placed them as allotheres related to multituberculates, possibly even true multituberculates, closer to cimolodonts than "plagiaulacidans" are. However, a more recent study recovered them as ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polydolopimorphia
Polydolopimorphia is an extinct order of metatherians, more closely related to extant marsupials than other extinct mammals. Known from the Paleocene-Pliocene of South America and the Eocene of Antarctica, they were a diverse group during the Paleogene, filling many niches, before declining and becoming extinct at the end of the Neogene. It is divided into two suborders, Bonapartheriiformes, and Polydolopiformes The morphology of the teeth suggests that polydolopimorphians may be crown group marsupials, nested within Australidelphia. The group contained omnivorous, frugivorous and herbivorous forms. Taxonomy Taxonomical subdivision of the Polydolopimorphia: at .org * Sub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sparassodonta
Sparassodonta (from Ancient Greek, Greek ['], to tear, rend; and , gen. [', '], tooth) is an extinct order (biology), order of carnivore, carnivorous metatherian mammals native to South America, related to modern marsupials. They were once considered to be true marsupials, but are now thought to be a separate side branch that split before the last common ancestor of all modern marsupials. A number of these mammalian predators closely resemble placental predators that evolved separately on other continents, and are cited frequently as examples of convergent evolution. They were first described by Florentino Ameghino, from fossils found in the Santa Cruz beds of Patagonia. Sparassodonts were present throughout South America's long period of "splendid isolation" during the Cenozoic; during this time, they shared the niches for large warm-blooded predators with the flightless Phorusrhacidae, terror birds. Previously, it was thought that these mammals died out in the face of competit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paucituberculata
Paucituberculata is an order of South American marsupials. Although currently represented only by the seven living species of shrew opossums, this order was formerly much more diverse, with more than 60 extinct species named from the fossil record, particularly from the late Oligocene to early Miocene epochs. The earliest paucituberculatans date to the late Paleocene (Itaboraian South American land mammal age). The group went through a pronounced decline in the middle Miocene epoch, which resulted in the extinction of all families of this order except for the living shrew opossums (Caenolestidae). Extinct families of Paucituberculatans include Pichipilidae, Palaeothentidae, and Abderitidae. Classification It is one of two clades of Ameridelphia, a paraphyletic group; genetic studies have shown these animals to be a sister group to Australidelphia (i.e., Didelphimorphia branched off first). The Paucituberculata were once considered to be closely related to South American p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monito Del Monte
The monito del monte or colocolo opossum, ''Dromiciops gliroides'', also called ''chumaihuén'' in Mapudungun, is a diminutive marsupial native only to southwestern South America (Argentina and Chile). It is the only extant species in the ancient order Microbiotheria, and the sole New World representative of the superorder Australidelphia (all other New World marsupials are members of the paraphyletic Ameridelphia). The species is nocturnal and arboreal, and lives in thickets of South American mountain bamboo in the Valdivian temperate rain forests of the southern Andes, aided by its partially prehensile tail. It eats primarily insects and other small invertebrates, supplemented with fruit. Taxonomy and etymology ''Dromiciops gliroides'' is the sole extant member of the order Microbiotheria. It was first described by British zoologist Oldfield Thomas in 1894. The generic name ''Dromiciops'' is based on the resemblance of the monito del monte to the eastern pygmy possum (''Cerca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microbiotheria
Microbiotheria is an australidelphian marsupial order that encompasses two families, Microbiotheriidae and Woodburnodontidae, and is represented by only one extant species, the monito del monte, and a number of extinct species known from fossils in South America, Western Antarctica, and northeastern Australia. Although once thought to be members of the order Didelphimorphia (the order that contains the Virginia opossum), an accumulation of both anatomical and genetic evidence in recent years has led to the conclusion that microbiotheres are not didelphids at all, but are instead most closely related to the Australasian marsupials; together, the microbiotheres and the Australian orders form the clade Australidelphia which are now thought to have first evolved in the South American region of Gondwana. Biogeography The oldest microbiothere currently recognised is ''Khasia cordillerensis'', based on fossil teeth from Early Palaeocene deposits at Tiupampa, Bolivia. Numerous gene ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
