Kingdom Animalia Family Sudamericidae Scientific name Gondwanatherium Rank Genus | Suborder Gondwanatheria Species G. patagonicum Higher classification Sudamericidae | |
Similar Sudamerica, Gondwanatheria, Mammal, Bharattherium, Vintana | ||
Gondwanatherium is a genus of mammal from the extinct suborder Gondwanatheria that lived in Patagonia, South America during the "Age of Dinosaurs", specifically the Upper Cretaceous.
The genus and species were named by the Argentinian paleontologist José Bonaparte in 1986 (Bonaparte, 1986). Gondwanatherium means Gondwana beast.
The position of gondwanatherians within class Mammalia is not yet clear.
G. patagonicum
The species Gondwanatherium patagonicum was discovered in Los Alamitos Formation, Río Negro Province, Patagonia, Argentina in deposits dating to the Upper Cretaceous period.
Though earlier than Sudamerica, Gondwanatherium is considered more anatomically derived (advanced). Thus, an ancestral lineage outlived their later, more specialized descendants.