Repenomamus robustus

Repenomamus Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 125–123.2 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Fossil skull of R. giganticus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	†Gobiconodonta
Family:	†Gobiconodontidae
Genus:	†Repenomamus Li et al., 2000
Type species
†Repenomamus robustus Li et al., 2001
Species
†Repenomamus robustus Li et al., 2000 †Repenomamus giganticus Hu et al., 2005

†Repenomamus robustus Li et al., 2000
†Repenomamus giganticus Hu et al., 2005

Repenomamus is a gobiconodontidmammal genus containing two species, Repenomamus robustus and Repenomamus giganticus. Both species are known from fossils found in China that date to the early Cretaceous period, about 125-123.2 million years ago. R. robustus is one of several Mesozoic mammals for which there is good evidence that it fed on vertebrates, including dinosaurs, though it is not possible to determine if it actively hunted live dinosaurs or scavenged dead ones. R. giganticus is among the largest mammals known from the Mesozoic era.

The fossils were recovered from the lagerstätte of the Yixian Formation in the Liaoning province of China, which is renowned for its extraordinarily well-preserved fossils of feathered dinosaurs. They have been specifically dated to 125-123.2 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period.

Repenomamus is a genus of triconodonts, a group of early mammals with no modern relatives. R. robustus was described by Li, Wang, Wang and Li in 2000, and R. giganticus was described by Hu, Meng, Wang and Li in 2005. The two known species are the sole members of the family Repenomamidae, which was also described in the same paper in 2000. It is sometimes alternatively listed as a member of the family Gobiconodontidae; although this assignment is controversial, a close relationship to this family is well-founded.

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