Adelobasileus

Adelobasileus Fossil range: Late Triassic
Adelobasileus cromptoni, a mammaliaform from the Late Triassic of Texas.
Scientific classification
(Unranked) :	Amniota
Class:	Synapsida
(Unranked) :	Mammaliaformes
Genus:	Adelobasileus Lucas & Hunt, 1990
Species:	A. cromptoni Lucas & Hunt, 1990

Adelobasileus is a genus of an extinct proto-mammal from the Late Triassic (Carnian), about 225 million years ago. It is poorly represented in the fossil record and is known only from a partial skull recovered from the Tecovas formation in western Texas.

Adelobasileus predates the most advanced non-mammalian cynodonts (tritylodonta and trithelodonta) and all other known Mammaliaformes by 10 million years. In fact, distinct cranial features, especially the housing of the cochlea, suggest that Adelobasileus is a transitional form in the character transformation from cynodonts to Triassic mammals. For this reason, it is thought to be the common ancestor of all modern mammals or a close relative of the common ancestor.

ReferencesEdit

• S.G. Lucas and Z. Lou, Adelobasileus from the upper Triassic of west Texas: the oldest mammal, J. Vert. Paleont, 1993.

External linksEdit

• Adelobasileus from Paleaos
• Evolution: From Reptiles to Mammals

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