Herpetotherium

Herpetotherium Temporal range: Early Eocene – Early Miocene
H. huntii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Infraclass:	Metatheria
Family:	Herpetotheriidae
Genus:	Herpetotherium Cope, 1873
Type species
H. fugax
Species
H. fugax H. huntii H. knighti H. merriami H. valens H. youngi

Herpetotherium is an extinct genus of metatherian mammal.

Herpetotherium fugax

Restoration

Fossils have been found in California, Oregon, Texas, Florida, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, and Saskatchewan.^[1] The oldest species, H. knighti, is dated to around 50.3 mya,^[2] and the most recent, an unnamed species, may be as recent as 15.97 mya.^[1] A morphological analysis of marsupials and basal metatherians conducted in 2007 found Herpetotherium to be the sister group to extant marsupials.^[3]

Species

• H. fugax (syn. Didelphys pygmaea, H. scalare, H. tricuspis, Peratherium fugax) (type)
• H. huntii
• H. knighti (syn. Centracodon delicatus, Entomacodon minutus, Peratherium morrisi)
• H. merriami
• H. valens (syn. Peratherium donahoei)
• H. youngi (syn. Peratherium spindleri)

References

1. "Taxonomic occurrences of Herpetotherium recorded in the Paleobiology Database". Retrieved 5 December 2013.
2. "Taxonomic occurrences of Herpetotherium knighti recorded in the Paleobiology Database". Retrieved 5 December 2013.
3. Sánchez-Villagra, Marcelo; Ladevèze, Sandrine; Horovitz, Inés; Argot, Christine; Hooker, Jeremy J.; Macrini, Thomas E.; Martin, Thomas; Moore-Fay, Scott; de Muizon, Christian; Schmelzle, Thomas; Asher, Robert J. (2007). "Exceptionally preserved North American Paleogene metatherians: adaptations and discovery of a major gap in the opossum fossil record". Biology Letters. 3 (3): 318–322. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2007.0090. PMC 2390683. PMID 17426007.

External links

• 3D Digital skull of Herpetotherium fugax.
• Fossil Mammals at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument