''Leptalestes'' is an extinct genus of

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 in the infraclass

Metatheria Metatheria is a mammalian clade that includes all mammals more closely related to marsupials than to placentals. First proposed by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1880, it is a more inclusive group than the marsupials; it contains all marsupials as well ...

. It was described by B.M. Davis in 2007. A new species, ''L. toevsi'', was described from the late

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

period of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

by John P. Hunter, Ronald E. Heinrich, and David B. Weishampel in 2010.

Species

* ''Leptalestes cooki'' (Clemens 1966) * ''Leptalestes prokrejcii'' (Fox 1979) * ''Leptalestes krejcii'' (Clemens 1966) * ''Leptalestes toevsi'' Hunter et al. 2010

References

External links

''Leptalestes''
at the

Paleobiology Database The Paleobiology Database is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals, plants, and microorganisms. History The Paleobiology Database (PBDB) originated in the NCEAS-funded Phanerozoic Marine Pale ...

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6527881 Prehistoric metatherians Cretaceous mammals of North America Hell Creek fauna Fossil taxa described in 2007