Deltatheridiidae Temporal range: Aptian–Paleocene Early Cretaceous-Paleocene |
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Lotheridium mengi | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | †Deltatheroida |
Family: |
†Deltatheridiidae Gregory & Simpson, 1926 |
Type genus | |
Deltatheridium Gregory & Simpson, 1926 |
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Genera | |
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Synonyms | |
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Deltatheridiidae is an extinct family of basal carnivorous metatherians that lived in the Cretaceous and were closely related to marsupials. Their fossils are restricted to Central Asia (Mongolia and Uzbekistan) and North America (United States - Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Wyoming). They mostly disappeared in the KT event, but a ghost lineage, currently represented by Gurbanodelta, survived until the late Paleocene by decreasing in size and becoming insectivorous.
The family consist in six genera: