Spinolestes
Spinolestes is an extinct mammal genus from the Early Cretaceous of Spain. A gobiconodontid eutriconodont, it is notable for the remarkable degree of preservation, offering profound insights to the biology of non-therian mammals.[1]
| Spinolestes Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | †Gobiconodonta |
| Family: | †Gobiconodontidae |
| Genus: | †Spinolestes Martin, 2015 |
| Species: | †S. xenarthrosus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Spinolestes xenarthrosus Martin, 2015 | |
Description
Soft tissue
Hair is very well preserved, down to the cellular level; among fossil mammals it is among the best preserved.[1]
Phylogeny
Cladogram after Thomas Martin et al. 2015:[1]
| Eutriconodonta |
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Ecology
The environment of Las Hoyas dates to the Barremian, and it was probably a tropical or subtropical wetland habitat, based on its vegetation: Bennettitales, Brachyphyllum, Pagiophyllum, Sphenolepis and Cupressinocladus conifers, Weitchselia reticulata, Montsechia vidali and several others. Various species of fish and aquatic invertebrates are also known.[2]
References
- Thomas Martin, Jesús Marugán-Lobón, Romain Vullo, Hugo Martín-Abad, Zhe-Xi Luo & Angela D. Buscalioni (2015). A Cretaceous eutriconodont and integument evolution in early mammals. Nature 526, 380–384. doi:10.1038/nature14905
- Fossilworks: Las Hoyas
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