Newly-Identified Prehistoric Mammal Has Features Never Seen Before
/ CBS News
(credit: DMNS/Andrey Atuchin)
Adalatherium hui lived alongside dinosaurs in the Latest Cretaceous period, ~66 million years ago -- and experts say it had several unique features.
(credit: DMNS/Scott Hartman)
About the size of an opossum, it is very large for a mammal that lived alongside dinosaurs. Anything larger than a mouse is extraordinary for this time period.
(credit: DMNS)
Adalatherium had one very large hole on the top of its snout for which there is just no parallel in any known mammal, living or extinct.
(courtesy: Triebold Paleontology)
The teeth of Adalatherium are vastly different in construction than any known mammal.
(credit: DMNS)
It had more holes (foramina) on its face than any known mammal, holes that served as passageways for nerves and blood vessels supplying a very sensitive snout that was covered with whiskers.
(credit: DMNS)
Its backbone had more vertebrae than any Mesozoic mammal and one of its leg bones was strangely curved.
(courtesy: Triebold Paleontology)
The specimen was dug up in Madagascar in 1999. Experts say the discovery is remarkable for multiple reasons.
(credit: National Geographic Society/Maria Stenzel)
It is the first Mesozoic record of a mammal that confirms evolution on islands led to the development of features not found in mainland species (e.g., bizarre teeth, more vertebrae, and more holes in the skull than other mammals).
(credit: DMNS)
It is the only specimen of Adalatherium ever found -- and it is the most complete skeleton of any mammal from the entire Mesozoic period of the southern hemisphere.