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Deltatheridiidae

Deltatheridiidae
Temporal range: Aptian–Paleocene
Early Cretaceous-Paleocene
Lotheridium bust.png
Lotheridium mengi
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Deltatheroida
Family: Deltatheridiidae
Gregory & Simpson, 1926
Type genus
Deltatheridium
Gregory & Simpson, 1926
Genera
see text
Synonyms
  • Deltatheroididae Kielan-Jaworowska & Nessov, 1990
  • Nanocuridae Fox, Scott & Bryant, 2007

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:


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Wikipedia

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