''Vintana sertichi'' is an early gondwanatherian

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

dating from the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''cre ...

, approximately 66 million years ago. Scientists found the lone

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

, a skull, on

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

's west coast in the

Maastrichtian The Maastrichtian ( ) is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age (uppermost stage (stratigraphy), stage) of the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or Upper Cretaceous series (s ...

Maevarano Formation The Maevarano Formation is a Late Cretaceous sedimentary formation (geology), rock formation found in the Mahajanga Province of northwestern Madagascar. It is most likely Maastrichtian in age, and records a seasonal, semiarid environment with rive ...

. ''Vintana'' is extremely relevant to the understanding of

gondwanatheres Gondwanatheria is an extinct group of mammaliaforms that lived in parts of Gondwana, including Madagascar, India, South America, Africa, and Antarctica during the Upper Cretaceous through the Miocene (and possibly much earlier, if ''Allostaffia'' ...

because it is the first well-preserved skull, as opposed to previous fragments and teeth. Establishing a connection with

multituberculates Multituberculata (commonly known as multituberculates, named for the multiple tubercles of their teeth) is an extinct order of rodent-like mammals with a fossil record spanning over 130 million years. They first appeared in the Middle Jurassic, a ...

and

haramiyida Haramiyida is a possibly Paraphyly, paraphyletic order of Mammaliaformes, mammaliaform cynodonts or mammals of controversial taxonomic affinites. Their teeth, which are by far the most common remains, resemble those of the multituberculates. Howe ...

ns in the theriiform clade

Allotheria Allotheria (meaning "other beasts", from the Ancient Greek language, Greek , '–other and , '–wild animal) is an extinct clade of mammals known from the Mesozoic and early Cenozoic. Shared characteristics of the group are the presence of lower ...

, it is a rather unusual animal, either closely associated with the

archosaur Archosauria () or archosaurs () is a clade of diapsid sauropsid tetrapods, with birds and crocodilians being the only extant taxon, extant representatives. Although broadly classified as reptiles, which traditionally exclude birds, the cladistics ...

s or

Euarchontoglires Euarchontoglires (from: '' Euarchonta'' ("true rulers") + '' Glires'' ("dormice")), synonymous with Supraprimates, is a clade and a superorder of placental mammals, the living members of which belong to one of the five following groups: rodents ...

and

Laurasiatheria Laurasiatheria (; "Laurasian beasts") is a superorder of Placentalia, placental mammals that groups together true insectivores (eulipotyphlans), bats (chiropterans), carnivorans, pangolins (Pholidota, pholidotes), even-toed ungulates (Artiodacty ...

, possessing massive lateral flanges in its skull whose exact purpose is poorly understood, as well as massive olfactory bulbs. A rather large animal at a weight of , ''Vintana'' also represents another example of a considerably large Mesozoic mammal alongside ''

Adalatherium ''Adalatherium'' ( ''Adàla'', 'crazy' in Malagasy and ''therium'', 'beast' in Greek) is an extinct gondwanatherian that lived in Madagascar during the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous. The discovery of the first nearly-complete skelet ...

'', another gondwanathere from same formation, this body mass is only exceeded by ''

Repenomamus ''Repenomamus'' (Latin: "reptile" (reptilis), "mammal" (mammalis)) is a genus of opossum- to badger-sized Gobiconodontidae, gobiconodontid mammal containing two species, ''Repenomamus robustus'' and ''Repenomamus giganticus''. Both species are kn ...

'' and ''

Patagomaia ''Patagomaia'' is an extinct mammal of uncertain affinities, originally described as a therian mammal, from the Maastrichtian Chorrillo Formation of Argentina. It is the largest Mesozoic mammal yet known, with weight estimates of around . The ty ...

''.

References

External links

* Cretaceous Madagascar Cretaceous mammals of Africa Fossils of Madagascar Fossil taxa described in 2014 Maevarano fauna Maastrichtian life Taxa named by David W. Krause Taxa named by Simone Hoffmann Taxa named by John R. Wible Taxa named by E. Christopher Kirk Taxa named by Julia A. Schultz Taxa named by Wighart von Koenigswald Taxa named by Joseph R. Groenke Taxa named by James B. Rossie Taxa named by Patrick M. O'Connor (herpetologist) Taxa named by Erik R. Seiffert Taxa named by Elizabeth R. Dumont Taxa named by Waymon L. Holloway Taxa named by Raymond R. Rogers Taxa named by Lydia J. Rahantarisoa Taxa named by Addison D. Kemp Taxa named by Haingoson Andriamialison {{Cretaceous-mammal-stub

See also

References

External links