Extraordinary fossil find reveals details about the weight and diet of extinct saber-toothed marsupi
Date:
October 12, 2023
Source:
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Summary:
A 13-million-year-old saber-toothed marsupial skeleton discovered during paleontological explorations in Colombia is the most complete specimen recovered in the region.
Recent paleontological explorations in the Tatacoa Desert in Colombia led to the recovery of the most complete skeleton of a "saber-toothed marsupial" discovered in northern South America. The specimen belongs to the species Anachlysictis gracilis, which is part of a group of extinct predatory mammals known as sparassodonts, that lived in South America during the Cenozoic, after the extinction of the dinosaurs.
This species lived approximately 13 million years ago in the area known among paleontologists as 'La Venta', in the current La Tatacoa desert, a tropical dry forest that "at that time was a tropical rainforest, similar to the current Amazon," said Dr. Catalina Suarez, a Swiss National Science Foundation fellow working at the Argentine Institute of Nivology, Glaciology and Environmental Sciences, who led the analysis of the remains and the publication of their results in the scientific journal Geodiversitas.
Prior to this finding, only a piece of a mandible and few additional remains had been found for this species related to living marsupials such as kangaroos, koalas, or opossums. Before it disappeared, A. gracilis was one of a number of terrestrial carnivores in South America, like the pumas, wildcats, foxes, bears and others that currently roam our continent.
"Thanks to this discovery, we were able to learn new details about this fascinating species," said Suarez. "The analyses allowed us to understand what these extinct predators were like and how they lived in Neotropical South America millions of years ago."
More:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/10/231012111657.htm
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