Trechnotheria
Trechnotheria is a group of mammals that includes the therians and some fossil mammals from the Mesozoic Era. In the Jurassic through Cretaceous periods, the group was only found in the area which is now modern Asia and Africa.[2]
| Trechnotheria Temporal range: Late Triassic - Holocene,
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| Kangaroo with her joey | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Theriiformes |
| Clade: | Trechnotheria McKenna, 1975 |
| Subgroups[1] | |
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When the group Trechnotheria was first defined, it was said to be a "superlegion". Since then it has been given many different ranks.[3] Later, a definnition based on nodes was created for Trechnotheria. This clade was imcluded the last common ancestor of Zhangheotherium and living therian mammals and all of its descentants.[4]
Characteristics
Like most mammal groups from the Mesozoic Era, early trechnotherians are known mainly from their teeth. One of the features of this group which is the most noticable is their large teeth. The features of the shoulder blade, tibia, humerus, and ankle joint are also used to define which animals are in this clade.[1]
Trechnotheria Media
Fruitafossor windscheffeli, an early termite-eating mammal from the Late Jurassic of Colorado, digital
Jeholodens jenkinsi, a triconodont mammal from the Middle Cretaceous of China, pencil drawing, digital coloring
Eight lower jaw of Tinodon bellus, Marsh; inner view.
Zhangheotherium quinquecuspidens
Akidolestes skeleton
Diagram of the skull of Cronopio an extinct mammal from the Late Cretaceous of South America, based on figures in "Highly specialized mammalian skulls from the Late Cretaceous of South America" by Guillermo W. Rougier, Sebastián Apesteguía & Leandro C. Gaetano, published in 2011 in Nature. Skull is depicted in top down (upper) and side on (lower) views. Scale bar = 5 mm
Reprodução do esqueleto de um Henkelotherium guimarotae, com c.5cm, exposto no Museo Geológico de Lisboa (Portugal).
Artistic reconstruction of Vincelestes
Related pages
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Luo, Z.−X.. In quest for a phylogeny of Mesozoic mammals. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 47 (1) (2002). p. 1–78.
- ↑ Trechnotheria - Mammalia. Paleobiology Database. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
- ↑ McKenna, Malcolm C.. Classification of Mammals: Above the Species Level (1997)Columbia University Press. p. 43. ISBN 9780231528535.
- ↑ Kielan-Jaworowska, Zofia. Mammals from the age of dinosaurs: origins, evolution, and structure (5 February 2005)Columbia University Press. p. 366. ISBN 978-0-231-11918-4.