Reigitherium

Reigitherium Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, Campanian–Maastrichtian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	†Dryolestida
Clade:	†Meridiolestida
Clade:	†Mesungulatoidea
Family:	†Reigitheriidae Bonaparte, 1990
Genus:	†Reigitherium Bonaparte, 1990[1]
Species:	†R. bunodontum
Binomial name
†Reigitherium bunodontum Bonaparte, 1990

Reigitherium was a mammal that lived during the Late Cretaceous, in the (Late Campanian-Maastrichtian). Its fossils have been found in the Los Alamitos and the La Colonia Formations of Argentina.

Description[]

The original specimen of Reigitherium was a fragmentary single molar tooth, with a lot of the surface detail damaged.^[1] It was mistakenly identified as an upper left molar, but new material - including a whole tooth row of this species - clarifies that it was a lower right tooth.^[2]

Reigitherium was a small mammal with simple premolars that increased in size along the tooth row to an enlarged fourth premolar. The molar teeth them decreased in size along the tooth row.

Taxonomy[]

Reigitherium has proven difficult to classify until recently, because the original fossil material was sparse, damaged, and difficult to identify. It was initially thought to be a dryolestid mammal when described in 1990.^[1] Ten years later, Pascual et al. argued that it was a docodont based on the wear patterns they interpreted on the teeth.^[3]

In 2011, Rougier et al. argued again for it being a dryolestoid, within Meridiolestida, an order of Gondwanan dryolestoids.^[4] More complete fossils have now supported this analysis^[2]

A recent phylogenetic study finds it to be the sister taxon to Peligrotherium.^[2] Although the latter is much larger than Reigitherium, they share many tooth and skull characteristics that indicate they are closely related.

References[]

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