Allotheria (meaning "other beasts", from the Greek , '–other and , '–wild animal) is an extinct branch of successful

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceo ...

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

s. The most important characteristic was the presence of lower molariform

teeth A tooth ( : teeth) is a hard, calcified structure found in the jaws (or mouths) of many vertebrates and used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores and omnivores, also use teeth to help with capturing or wounding prey, tear ...

equipped with two longitudinal rows of cusps. Allotheria includes Multituberculata,

Gondwanatheria 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 '' Allostaff ...

(which may be part of Multituberculata, as the sister group to Cimolodonta), and probably

Haramiyida Haramiyida ("thief" from Arabic الحرامية (al ḥarāmiyah), "thief, bandit") is a possibly polyphyletic order of mammaliaform cynodonts or mammals of controversial taxonomic affinites. Their teeth, which are by far the most common remains ...

, although some studies show them to be more basal mammaliaforms rather than true mammals, therefore differing from true allotheres significantly. Allotheres also had a narrow pelvis, indicating that they gave birth to tiny helpless young like marsupials or laid eggs and gave milk to feed their young like

monotreme Monotremes () are prototherian mammals of the order Monotremata. They are one of the three groups of living mammals, along with placentals (Eutheria), and marsupials (Metatheria). Monotremes are typified by structural differences in their brain ...

s do. This is a feature of all non- placental mammals.

Interpretations

When he first identified Allotheria in 1880, Othniel Marsh regarded this group as an order within Marsupialia. However, in 1997 McKenna and Bell classified Allotheria as an

infraclass In biological classification, class ( la, classis) is a taxonomic rank, as well as a taxonomic unit, a taxon, in that rank. It is a group of related taxonomic orders. Other well-known ranks in descending order of size are life, domain, kingdom ...

Interpretations

References

Further reading