Amphitherium
Sign in to saveAmphitherium is an extinct genus of stem cladotherian mammal that lived during the Middle Jurassic of England. It was one of the first Mesozoic mammals ever described. A recent phylogenetic study found it to be the sister taxon of Palaeoxonodon. It is found in the Forest Marble Formation and the Taynton Limestone Formation.
Wikidata facts
- Parent taxon
- Amphitheriidae
- Image
- Amphitherium.jpg
Show 4 more facts
- taxon name
- Amphitherium
- taxon rank
- genus
- Commons category
- Amphitherium
- described by source
- Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary
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Encyclopedic overview
4 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- History
- Classification
- References
Amphitherium is an extinct genus of stem cladotherian mammal that lived during the Middle Jurassic of England. It was one of the first Mesozoic mammals ever described. A recent phylogenetic study found it to be the sister taxon of Palaeoxonodon. It is found in the Forest Marble Formation and the Taynton Limestone Formation.
==Etymology== Amphitherium comes from the Greek amphi meaning 'on both sides', and therion meaning 'wild beast'. This was in reference to de Blainville's incorrect belief that the original fossil jaw of this animal was not a mammal, but something in between mammals and reptiles.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Amphitherium” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.