Spinolestes

Spinolestes; Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 125 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
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

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]

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 et all 2015:^[1]

Eutriconodonta

Amphilestidae

	Phascolotherium

	Amphilestes

Amphidontidae



	Juchilestes

Gobiconodontidae

Spinolestes

	Gobiconodon

	Repenomamus

Jeholodens

Yanoconodon

Liaoconodon

Volaticotheria

	Volaticotherium

	Argentoconodon

	Alticonodon

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 conifers, , and several others. Various species of fish and aquatic invertebrates are also known.^[2]

References[]

^ ^a ^b ^c 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

[nature14905-1] 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

[2] Fossilworks: Las Hoyas

[1]

[2]