Trapalcotherium
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Trapalcotherium Temporal range: Late Cretaceous (?Maastrichtian) |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Suborder: | Gondwanatheria |
| Family: | Ferugliotheriidae |
| Genus: |
Trapalcotherium Rougier et al., 2009 |
| Species: | T. matuastensis |
| Binomial name | |
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Trapalcotherium matuastensis Rougier et al., 2009 |
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Trapalcotherium is a fossil mammal from the Cretaceous of Argentina in the family Ferugliotheriidae. The single species, T. matuastensis, is known from one tooth, a first lower molar. It is from the Allen Formation, which is probably Maastrichtian in age, and was first described in 2009. The tooth bears two rows of cusps, one at the inner (lingual) side and the other at the outer (labial) side, which are connected by transverse ridges separated by deep valleys. This pattern is reminiscent of Ferugliotherium, a gondwanathere mammal from similarly aged deposits in Argentina, and Trapalcotherium is therefore recognized as a member of the same family Ferugliotheriidae. Ferugliotheriidae is one of two families of gondwanatheres, an enigmatic group without close relationships to any living mammals.
The only known fossil of Trapalcotherium was found at Cerro Tortuga in Río Negro Province, southern Argentina. This locality is in the Allen Formation, one of three formations (rock units) that have yielded Late Cretaceous gondwanathere fossils from Argentina (the others are the Los Alamitos and La Colonia Formations). All three are probably about equally old, from the Maastrichtian (latest Cretaceous, about 71–66 million years ago, mya) and perhaps partly the Campanian (84–71 mya). The mammals from the Allen Formation are known from seven teeth, six of which represent four species of dryolestoids—a group of primitive mammals that dominates the Late Cretaceous mammalian faunas of Argentina. The fauna was described in a 2009 paper by Guillermo Rougier and colleagues, who named Trapalcotherium as well as several new dryolestoids. The generic name, Trapalcotherium, combines the name of the basin where Cerro Tortuga is located, Bajo Trapalca, with the Greek therion "beast", commonly used to mean "mammal" in scientific names. The specific name, matuastensis, derives from Puesto El Matuesto, a shed used by the paleontologists who collected the fossils from the Allen Formation.
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