A derived dryolestid mammal indicates possible insular endemism in the Late Jurassic of Germany.

ABSTRACT: The Langenberg Quarry near Bad Harzburg has yielded the first Jurassic stem therian mammal of Germany, recovered from Kimmeridgian (Late Jurassic) near shore deposits of a palaeo-island within the Lower Saxony Basin of the European archipelago. The new stem therian is represented by one lower and three upper molars. Hercynodon germanicus gen. et sp. nov. is attributed to the Dryolestidae, a group of pretribosphenic crown mammals that was common in western Laurasia from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. The new taxon is characterised by small size, a reduced cusp pattern in the upper molars lacking a metacone, and enhancement of the shearing crests paracrista and metacrista. Phylogenetic analysis identified Hercynodon gen. nov. as sister taxon of Crusafontia from the Lower Cretac

SUBMITTER: Martin T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8126546 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature