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Sparassocynus (Marsupialia, Didelphidae), a peculiar mammal from the late Cenozoic of Argentina
Author(s) -
Reig O. A.,
Simpson G. G.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
journal of zoology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.915
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1469-7998
pISSN - 0952-8369
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7998.1972.tb01742.x
Subject(s) - marsupial , biology , carnivore , mammal , eutheria , skull , pleistocene , dentition , cenozoic , early pleistocene , shrew , convergent evolution , zoology , paleontology , phylogenetics , structural basin , gene , phanerozoic , biochemistry , predation
The extinct genus Sparassocynus is known from the Montehermosan, Chapadmalalan, and Uquian stages of Argentina, spanning the Pliocene‐Pleistocene transition, and a relative occurs in the older Huayquerian. After a taxonomict review, the morphology of skull, mandible, and dentition is described. The short, triangular face, wide zygomata, broad cranium with large completely bone‐enclosed hypo‐ and epitympanic sinuses, and carnassialized molars are unique among known American marsupials. All these characters are functionally convergent toward living Australian phascogaline dasyurids, small marsupial carnivores, although phylogenetically Sparassocynus clearly represents a moderately specialized offshoot of the American family Didelphidae. It represents a small steppe carnivore now ecologically replaced, at least in part, by placental carnivores that spread from North America in the late Pliocene and Pleistocene.