Additional data on early Paleocene metatherians (Mammalia) from Punta Peligro (Salamanca Formation, Argentina): comments based on petrosal morphology

2009/03/02 by Analía M. Forasiepi, Guillermo W. Rougier · 2 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Social Sciences · #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Bat Biology and Ecology Studies #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology #Humanities #Biology #Art

paper · doi:10.1111/j.1439-0469.2008.00519.x

openalex publication_date 2009/03/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31

Abstract

Metatherian remains from Punta Peligro (Chubut Province, Argentina; Salamanca Formation, early Paleocene) are scarce, but at present, there are at least four different taxa known by dental remains. We describe here an incomplete petrosal showing metatherian affinities. Among the dentally known taxa from the same stratigraphic levels, the overall size of the petrosal fits that predicted for Derorhynchus, which in turn was assigned to the order Didelphimorphia. The features of the petrosal we describe do not correspond with the morphology observed among didelphoid marsupials, the only members of Didelphimorphia with well known basicrania, suggesting that if the association of petrosal and dental remains is correct, then referral of Derorhynchus to the Didelphimorphia has to be revised. The taxonomic content of this group of marsupials, as presently interpreted, represents a paraphyletic or polyphyletic grouping of metatherians.

Citations

• The Trisulcate Petrosal Pattern of Mammals
• New Discoveries of “Opposum-Like” Marsupials from Antarctica (Seymour Island, Medial Eocene)
• First discovery of monotremes in South America
• Australia's Oldest Marsupial Fossils and their Biogeographical Implications
• A new carnivorous marsupial from the Palaeocene of Bolivia and the problem of marsupial monophyly
• First combined cladistic analysis of marsupial mammal interrelationships
• The Gondwanan and South American Episodes: Two Major and Unrelated Moments in the History of the South American Mammals
• Cretaceous eutherians and Laurasian origin for placental mammals near the K/T boundary
• An Early Cretaceous Tribosphenic Mammal and Metatherian Evolution

Cited by

• Cranial Anatomy of the Earliest Marsupials and the Origin of Opossums
• Sparassodonta [wikipedia]

Related

• †Estelestes ensis (Mammalia, Metatheria) from the early Eocene of Baja California (Mexico) as a generalized polydolopimorphian
• The bizarre ‘metatherians’GroeberiaandPatagonia, late surviving members of gondwanatherian mammals
• An emerging consensus in the evolution, phylogeny, and systematics of marsupials and their fossil relatives (Metatheria)
• New mandibular remains of Callistoe (Metatheria, Sparassodonta) reveal unexpected anatomical, functional, and evolutionary aspects of this carnivorous genus
• New material of Incadelphys antiquus (Pucadelphyda, Metatheria, Mammalia) from the early Palaeocene of Bolivia reveals phylogenetic affinities with enigmatic North and South American metatherians