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“Triconodonts”

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Mesozoic Mammals from South America and Their Forerunners

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Abstract

“Triconodonts” is used here for mammaliaforms with three main cusps aligned along the mesiodistal axis of the postcanines, or forming a very broad (obtuse) triangle. This is not a natural group, but some of the smaller clades are, for example, Eutriconodonta and Amphilestheria. “Triconodonts” were abundant in Laurasian landmasses during the Jurassic and to a lesser degree during the Cretaceous. In contrast, the South American fossil record is scarce and the two known taxa come from a single locality in the Early–Middle Jurassic of central Patagonia; even there they are rare members of the fauna and the materials rather poorly preserved. In this chapter, we summarize the known species from Argentina, which includes an amphilestherian and an eutriconodontan. Putative “triconodonts” from the Late Cretaceous of Argentina are regarded as premolars of meridiolestidans following recent re-interpretation (see Chap. 6).

Triconodonts not only had a long phylogenetic history, they also played a central role in the development of paleontological theories. Among the first fossil mammals to be discovered in Mesozoic rocks was a triconodont, and the group subsequently figured prominently in the writings of Richard Owen, O. C. Marsh, H. F. Osborn, W. K. Gregory, and others concerned with the origin and evolution of mammals.

Farish A. Jenkins Jr and Alfred W. Crompton

Triconodonta, 1979

In: Mesozoic Mammals: The First Two-Thirds of Mammalian History

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA

    Guillermo W. Rougier

  2. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”-CONICET, Sección Paleontología de Vertebrados, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Agustín G. Martinelli

  3. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales, Centro Científico Tecnológico-CONICET, Mendoza, Argentina

    Analía M. Forasiepi

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  1. Guillermo W. Rougier
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  2. Agustín G. Martinelli
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Correspondence to Guillermo W. Rougier .

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Rougier, G.W., Martinelli, A.G., Forasiepi, A.M. (2021). “Triconodonts”. In: Mesozoic Mammals from South America and Their Forerunners. Springer Earth System Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63862-7_5

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