Lotheridium
genus of fossil mammals
Lotheridium is an extinct genus of deltatheroidan mammals that lived in what is now Asia during the Late Cretaceous, about 72–66 million years ago. The genus contains a single species, Lotheridium mengi, named in 2015 after paleontologist Jin Meng. It is known from a single fossil specimen—a skull with associated lower jaws—found in the Qiupa Formation of Henan Province, China and housed in the collections of the Zhejiang Museum of Natural History. The skull measures 67.3 mm (2.65 in) in length, suggesting Lotheridium was large compared to most other deltatheroidans. Though the preserved skull is almost complete, it has been flattened and the skull roof was crushed during fossilization.
Lotheridium is believed to be a carnivore. It had a short snout and 46 teeth, among which the upper canines are the largest and most elongated. Though its lower canines are far smaller than the upper pair, they are still large enough that there are small gaps in the upper jaw to hold them when the mouth is closed. Its molars are adapted for shearing flesh. They bear unique cusps which can be used to differentiate it from its relatives.
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This entry incorporates text from “Lotheridium” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.