Pappotherium

Pappotherium is an extinct genus of mammals from the Albian (early Cretaceous) of Texas, US, known from a fossilized maxilla fragment bearing two tribosphenic molars, discovered within the Glen Rose Formation near Decatur, Wise County, Texas.

Pappotherium Temporal range: 112.6–109 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Family:	†Pappotheriidae Slaughter, 1965
Genus:	†Pappotherium Slaughter, 1965
Species[1]
P. pattersoni Slaughter, 1965
Synonyms
Slaughteria Butler, 1978

The fossil was discovered by Bob H. Slaughter within some deposits dating back to 112.6 – 109 million years ago.[1] On the basis of the morphology of the molars' cusps, in 1965 Slaughter established the new genus Pappotherium and the new species P. pattersoni; he also created an apposite family, Pappotheriidae. Both this family and the genus are nowadays still monotypic.

Slaughter argued that Pappotherium should have been a basal form close to the metatherian-eutherian divergence point; this mammal likely was an arboreal insectivore.[1]

Etymologically speaking, the name Pappotherium is a compound of the Latin words pappus (from ancient Greek πάππος, páppos, “grandfather”) and therium (from ancient Greek θηρίον, thēríon, “beast”, a common suffix among extinct mammals), with the full meaning of “mammal-grandfather”.

The second part of the unique species' name, pattersoni, was instead chosen in honor of the American paleontologist Bryan Patterson.

More recently, it has been recovered as a possible deltatheroidean.[2][3][4] The most recent phylogeny including Pappotherium is reproduced below.[4]

Metatheria	Holoclemensia         Pappotherium       Sulestes     Oklatheridium       Tsagandelta       Lotheridium       Deltatheroides     Deltatheridium       Nanocuris     Atokatheridium                 Marsupialiformes

References

1. Pappotherium on Fossilworks.org
2. Guillermo W. Rougier; Brian M. Davis; Michael J. Novacek (2015). "A deltatheroidan mammal from the Upper Cretaceous Baynshiree Formation, eastern Mongolia". Cretaceous Research. 52, Part A: 167–177. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2014.09.009.
3. S. Bi, X. Jin, S. Li and T. Du. 2015. A new Cretaceous metatherian mammal from Henan, China. PeerJ 3:e896
4. Wilson, G.P.; Ekdale, E.G.; Hoganson, J.W.; Calede, J.J.; Linden, A.V. (2016). "A large carnivorous mammal from the Late Cretaceous and the North American origin of marsupials". Nature Communications. 7: 13734. doi:10.1038/ncomms13734. PMC 5155139. PMID 27929063.

Bibliography

• Slaughter, B. H. 1965, "A therian from the lower Cretaceous (Albian) of Texas", Postilla 93, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, pp. 1–18.
• Davis, B. M. & Cifelli, R. L. 2011, "Reappraisal of the tribosphenidan mammals from the Trinity Group (Aptian–Albian) of Texas and Oklahoma", Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 56 (3), pp. 441–62.