- Alphadon
Taxobox
name = "Alphadon"
status = Fossil
fossil_range = LateCretaceous
regnum =Animalia
phylum =Chordata
classis =Mammal ia
subclassis =Theria
unranked_ordo =Metatheria
ordo =Alphadontia
familia =Alphadontidae
genus = "Alphadon"
genus_authority = Simpson, 1927"Alphadon" (meaning “first tooth”) was a small, primitive
mammal that was a member of themetatheria ns, a group of mammals that includes modern-daymarsupials . The first fossil of "Alphadon" was discovered and named byGeorge Gaylord Simpson in 1929.The appearance of this animal is only a guess because only facts about the teeth are known. The appearance is mainly based on the look of today's
opossum . "Alphadon" usually grew to 1 foot (30 cm), making it one of the largestMesozoic mammals."Alphadon" lived in the late
Cretaceous period and may have had a large variety in its diet, eating fruit, insects, and occasionally small vertebrates."Alphadon" lived in North America, ranging as north as Alberta and as south as New Mexico. It lived alongside dinosaurs like "
Tyrannosaurus " and "Triceratops ".There are twelve different named species in the genus "Alphadon". On Gaylord's fossil hunt, he discovered and named the type "A. marshi".
External links
* [http://www.fmnh.helsinki.fi/users/haaramo/metazoa/deuterostoma/chordata/synapsida/Metatheria/Boreometatheria/Alphadontidae.htm Alphadontidae]
* [http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/glossary/indexa2.shtml "Alphadon" at Enchanted Learning]
* [http://www.paleocene-mammals.de/marsupials.htm Image and information on "Alphadon"]
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