Allotheria
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Allotheria Fossil range: Late Triassic– Early Oligocene |
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| Skull of Ptilodus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Subclass: | †Allotheria Marsh, 1880 |
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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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
