Volaticotheria
| Volaticotherini Temporal range: Toarcian–Berriasian |
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| Life restoration of Volaticotherium | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | †Eutriconodonta |
| Tribe: |
†Volaticotherini Meng et al., 2006 |
| Type species | |
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†Volaticotherium antiquum Meng et al., 2006 |
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Volaticotherini is a clade of eutriconodont mammals from the Mesozoic. In addition to the type genus Volaticotherium, it includes the genera , Ichthyoconodon, and potentially Triconolestes.
Since most remains are primarily teeth, they are foremostly diagnosticated by their highly distinctive molars. However, the remains of one species, Volaticotherium antiquum, show that at least some members of this clade were capable of gliding. and shares similar post-cranial features that also indicate aerial locomotion. As such, this clade contains the oldest known aerial mammals.
Volaticotherini is phylogenetically defined as the clade derived from the most recent common ancestor of Argentoconodon, Ichthyoconodon, and Volaticotherium.
Ichthyoconodon was the first described member of this group, back in 1995, previously usually ranked among eutriconodonts, albeit tentatively due to its atypical teeth. Volaticotherium, described in 2006, provided a fairly complete skeleton and led to the erection of a distinct family, Volaticotheridae, and order, Volaticotheria, to house the genus, and allowed Ichthyoconodon to be recognized as a potential relative. Volaticotheria was considered the sister taxon of a clade comprising eutriconodonts, multituberculates, and trechnotheres. However, not long after, an eutriconodont identity was suspected, and Volaticotheria has since fallen into disuse.
Subsequent analyses have consistently recovered Argentoconodon as the sister taxon of Volaticotherium, with Ichthyoconodon as the sister taxon of that clade and thus the basalmost volaticotherin. The North American genus Jugulator may be the sister taxon of Volaticotherini. These were moved to the eutriconodont family Triconodontidae, as part of the alticonodontine assemblage, and the clade was renamed Volaticotherini accordingly. However, other sources consider the clade to be a separate family from Triconodontidae, as Volaticotheridae. This may be supported by other, more recent analyses, which find the clade to be more basally placed within Eutriconodonta.
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