In Depth Discovered in 1972 by Dimitar Kovachev, Kalimantsia did not get named until 2001. Although based upon the description of a skull, Kalimantsia is known to have had a shorter snout than many other known chalicotheres, something that might suggest a foraging specialisation in tougher types of vegetation that required a stronger bite (an … Read more
In Depth The discovery of Fruitafossor made many palaeontologists sit up and pay attention, because here was a digging mammal that existed one hundred million years before the previously known Cenozoic ancestors of today’s mammalian diggers. Although it appears that Fruitafossor was not related to any of today’s existing mammals, it employed its powerful forearms, … Read more
In Depth A relative of the better known Diacodexis, Indohyus has been speculated to be a member of a group of mammals that were possibly related to the mammals whose descendants would eventually go on to become the whales. This stems back to study of Indohyus which revealed that it had bones denser than most … Read more
In Depth Heishanobaatar is a genus of multituberculatan mammal that lived in China during the early Cretaceous. Further Reading - New multituberculate mammals from the Lower Cretaceous (Shahai and Fuxin formations), northeastern China. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30(5):1501-1514. - N. Kusuhashi, Y. Hu, T. Setoguchi & H. Matsuoka - 2010.
In Depth When you translate the full name of Acrophyseter deinodon into English you end up with ‘acute sperm whale terrible teeth’. The genus part of ‘acute sperm whale’ is a reference to the upturned bend in the jaws, suggesting that Acrophyseter may have approached prey from below. The species name deinodon, or ‘terrible teeth’ … Read more
In Depth Salishicetus is a genus of toothed baleen whale that lived during the Oligocene period. Further Reading – Salishicetus meadi, a new aetiocetid from the late Oligocene of Washington State and implications for feeding transitions in early mysticete evolution. - Royal Society Open Science 5(4):172336. - C. M. Peredo & N. D. Pyenson - … Read more
In Depth Ambulocetus is a very important transitional fossil as it displays the link between terrestrial mammals and the early whales. Ambulocetus acquired its name from the idea that it could both swim by undulating its back as well as leave the water and walk on land. However a 2016 study by Ando & Fujiwara … Read more
In Depth Harpagophagus is but one of many ‘bear dog’ genera that lived in Europe during the Oligocene. Further Reading Further reading- Deux nouveaux carnassiers de Phosphorites du Quercy. – Annales de Paleontologie 57:117-127. – L. De Bonis – 1971.
In Depth When described in 2003, Sinodelphys was the oldest confirmed and definitive marsupial mammal. Sinodelphys was very small, only about fifteen centimetres long, and is thought to have lived most of its life either hidden up trees or amongst dense undergrowth well out of reach of predatory dinosaurs that would have been running around … Read more
In Depth Invictokoala is a genus of koala that lived in Australia, for most of the latter half of the Pleistocene. Further Reading - Invictokoala monticola gen. et sp. nov. (Phascolarctidae, Marsupialia), a Pleistocene plesiomorphic koala holdover from Oligocene ancestors. - Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 9(2):327-335. - G. J. Price & S. A. Hocknull - … Read more