First monotreme from the Late Cretaceous of South America.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Chimento NR
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9935847 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
First monotreme from the Late Cretaceous of South America.
Chimento Nicolás R NR Agnolín Federico L FL Manabe Makoto M Tsuihiji Takanobu T Rich Thomas H TH Vickers-Rich Patricia P Novas Fernando E FE
Communications biology 20230216 1
Monotremata is a clade of egg-lying mammals, represented by the living platypus and echidnas, which is endemic to Australia, and adjacent islands. Occurrence of basal monotremes in the Early Cretaceous of Australia has led to the consensus that this clade originated on that continent, arriving later to South America. Here we report on the discovery of a Late Cretaceous monotreme from southern Argentina, demonstrating that monotremes were present in circumpolar regions by the end of the Mesozoic, ...[more]
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