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Allotheria
Fossil range: Late Triassic - Early Oligocene
Gobiconodon
Gobiconodon, a triconodont.
Scientific classification

Class:

Mammalia

Subclass:

Allotheria
Marsh, 1880

Orders:

  • Gondwanatheria
  • Haramiyida
  • Multituberculata
  • Triconodonta
  • Volaticotheria

Allotheria ("other beasts", from the Greek allos-other and therion-wild animal) was a branch of successful mesozoic mammals. The most important characteristic was the presence of lower molariform teeth equipped with two longitudinal rows of cusps.

Interpretations[]

When he first identified Allotheria in 1880, Othniel Marsh regarded this group as an order within Marsupialia. But in 1997, McKenna and Bell classified Allothera as an infraclass.

Further reading[]

Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska, Richard L. Cifelli, and Zhe-Xi Luo, Mammals from the Age of Dinosaurs: Origins, Evolution, and Structure (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004), 249.

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