Astroconodon
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Astroconodon Temporal range: 112–94 Ma |
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|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | †Eutriconodonta |
| Family: | †Triconodontidae |
| Subfamily: | †Alticonodontinae |
| Genus: |
†Astroconodon Bryan Patterson, 1951 |
| Type species | |
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Astroconodon denisoni Bryan Patterson, 1951 |
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| Species | |
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†A. delicatus |
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†A. delicatus
†A. denisoni
†A. sp.
Astroconodon is an extinct genus of mammal from the Cretaceous of North America. Part of Eutriconodonta, it was a small sized predator, either a terrestrial insectivore and carnivore, or a semi-aquatic piscivore.
It holds the distinction of being the first Cretaceous eutriconodont ever found.
The type species is A. denisoni. Known from the Antlers Formation, its type specimen, FMNH PM 542, was first described by Bryan Patterson in 1951. It is a generally rather common species, known from a large quantity of isolated teeth, exhibiting a high degree of variability. Its molars are on average 0.59 to 2 millimeters long, and the distal ones see a marked increase in crown height.
A second species, A. delicatus, was later found in the Cedar Mountain Formation. Its type locality is Mussentuchit (OMNH V239). It is smaller than A. denisoni by approximately 80%, and it differs from it, and most North American triconodontids, by lacking a lingual cingulid on the lower molars and premolars.
A third species, currently unnamed, is known from the Twin Mountains Formation. Not much has been said about it.
Always identified as a "triconodont" mammal, recent studies have recovered it as a triconodontid eutriconodont, as most closely related to Alticonodon and Corviconodon (these are in turn each other's sister taxa).
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