Allotheria
| Allotheria Temporal range: Late Triassic-Oligocene, 216.5–33.9 Ma |
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| Skull of Ptilodus | |
Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Subclass: | Theriiformes |
| Infraclass: | †Allotheria Marsh, 1880 |
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Allotheria (meaning "other beasts", from the Greek αλλός, allos-other and θήριον, 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. Allotheria includes Multituberculata, probably Haramiyida,[1] and possibly the enigmatic Gondwanatheria.[2]
Allotheres also had a narrow pelvis, indicating that they gave birth to tiny helpless young like marsupials do.
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[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 Allotheria as an infraclass.
[edit] In Popular Culture
The song "Mammal" by They Might Be Giants includes a reference to this extinct group as "dead Uncle Allotheria".
[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.
[edit] References
- ^ Luo, Z.-X.; Kielan-Jaworowska, Z.; Cifelli, R.L. (2002). "In quest for a phylogeny of Mesozoic mammals". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 47 (1): 1–78.
- ^ Krause, D. W.; Prasad, G. V. R.; Koenigswald, W. V.; Sahni, A.; Grine, F. E. (1997). "Cosmopolitanism among Gondwanan Late Cretaceous mammals". Nature 390 (6659): 504–507. Bibcode 1997Natur.390..504K. doi:10.1038/37343.
