Argentodites
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Argentodites Temporal range: Late Cretaceous |
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| Scientific classification (disputed) | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Multituberculata or Gondwanatheria |
| Genus: |
Argentodites Kielan-Jaworowska et al., 2007 |
| Species: | A. coloniensis |
| Binomial name | |
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Argentodites coloniensis Kielan-Jaworowska et al., 2007 |
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Argentodites is a possible multituberculate mammal from the Cretaceous of Argentina. The single species, Argentodites coloniensis, is known from a single blade-like fourth lower premolar (p4) from the La Colonia Formation, which is mostly or entirely Maastrichtian (latest Cretaceous) in age. The p4 is 4.15 mm long and bears eight cusps on its upper margin and long associated ridges on both sides. The enamel consists of prisms that are completely or partly surrounded by a sheath and that are on average 6.57 μm apart. Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska, who described and named the fossil in 2007, regarded it as a multituberculate, perhaps a cimolodontan—and thus, a member of a mostly Laurasian (northern) group and an immigrant to Argentina from North America—on the basis of the shape of the tooth and features of its enamel. In 2009, however, two teams argued that Argentodites may in fact be close to or identical with Ferugliotherium, a member of the small Gondwanan (southern) group Gondwanatheria; although their relationships are disputed, gondwanatheres may themselves be multituberculates.
Argentodites is known from a single premolar tooth, MPEF 604, in the collections of the Museo Paleontológico "Egidio Feruglio" in Trelew, Argentina. It is from the middle part of the La Colonia Formation of Chubut Province, Argentina, which is Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian and perhaps partly Campanian) in age. The premolar was described in 2007 by Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska and colleagues as a new genus and species, Argentodites coloniensis. The generic name, Argentodites, combines "Argentina" with the Ancient Greek hodites "traveler", in reference to the animal's presumed migration from North America to Argentina, and the specific name, coloniensis, refers to the La Colonia Formation.
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