Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

An Upper Cretaceous Symmetrodont from Alberta, Canada

  • Letter
  • Published:

From Nature

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Abstract

THE Order Symmetrodonta consists of small Mesozoic therian mammals with tricuspid molars of pretribosphenic type. The order includes species probably ancestral to Jurassic eupantotheres1 and hence to marsupials (Metatheria) and placentals (Eutheria), and it includes less central lineages that have left no known descendants. Symmetrodont fossils are uncommon, and those that are found are mostly fragmentary jaws with teeth. The geologically oldest symmetrodonts are from the Rhaetic of Wales (Kuehneotherium2); Upper Jurassic (Spalacotherium, Tinodon, Eurylambda, Amphidon) and Lower Cretaceous (Spalacotherium, Spalacotheraides, Manchurodon) symmetrodonts are known from Eurasia and North America3–7. Here I report the discovery of the first Upper Cretaceous symmetrodont, from the early Campanian8 Upper Milk River Formation9, Alberta, Canada.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Mills, J., Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond., 175, 117 (1964).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Kermack, D., Kermack, K., and Mussett, F., J. Linn. Soc. (Zool.), 47, 407 (1968).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Simpson, G. G., Catalogue of the Mesozoic Mammalia in the Geological Department of the British Museum (Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.), London, 1928).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Crompton, A., and Jenkins, F., Science, 155, 1006 (1967).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Clemens, W., and Lees, P., in Early Mammals (edit. by Kermack, D., and Kermack, K.), J. Linn. Soc. (Zool. Suppl., No. 1), 50, 117 (1971).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Patterson, B., Fieldiana, Zool., 37, 689 (1955).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Yabe, H., and Shikama, T., Proc. Imp. Acad. Japan, 14, 353 (1938).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Williams, G., and Burk, C., in Geological History of Western Canada (edit. by McCrossan, R., and Glaister, R.), 1969 (Alberta Soc. Petrol. Geol., Calgary, 1964).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Russell, L., and Landes, R., Mem. Geol. Surv. Canad., 223 (1940).

  10. Fox, R., Canad. J. Zool., 47, 1253 (1969).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Fox, R., Canad. J. Earth Sci., 8, 916 (1971).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Fox, R., in Early Mammals (edit. by Kermack, D., and Kermack, K.), J. Linn. Soc. (Zool. Suppl., No. 1), 50, 145 (1971).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Fox, R., Canad. J. Earth Sci. (in the press).

  14. Fox, R., Nature, 227, 630 (1970).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Fox, R., Nature, 220, 1046 (1968).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Shikama, T., Proc. Imp. Acad. Tokyo, 23, 76 (1947).

    Google Scholar 

  17. McKenna, M., Ann. NY Acad. Sci., 167, 217 (1969).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. Kielan-Jaworowska, Z., Palaeont. Pol., 19, 171 (1969).

    Google Scholar 

  19. Kielan-Jaworowska, Z., Palaeont. Pol., 21, 35 (1970).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Geology and Zoology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta

    RICHARD C. FOX

Authors
  1. RICHARD C. FOX
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

FOX, R. An Upper Cretaceous Symmetrodont from Alberta, Canada. Nature 239, 170–171 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1038/239170b0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/239170b0

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation