Fossil of Ancient Groundhog-like Mammal Discovered in Madagascar
Posted on November 6, 2014
Researchers from Stony Brook University discovered the fossil of a groundhog-like mammal in Madagascar. The creature lived 66 to 70 million years ago. It lived alongside dinosaurs in Madagascar during the Late Cretaceous. The artists interpretation above shows what the creature may have looked like with a dinosaur in the background.
The researchers named the creature Vintana sertichi. Vintana belongs to a group of early mammals that are known as gondwanatherians. The name "vintana" means luck. The skull fossil discovered in 2010 measures nearly five inches long (125 mm). The skull was found by chance inside a scanned sandstone block the researchers thought was filled with fish fossils.
The scientists estimate Vintana weighed about 20 pounds (9 kg). This is two or three times the size of a modern groundhog. The skull had huge eye-sockets and scimitar-shaped flanges which likely held large chewing muscles.
Paleontologist David Krause of Stony Brook University, lead author of the study, says in a statement, "We know next to nothing about early mammalian evolution on the southern continents. This discovery, from a time and an area of the world that are very poorly sampled, underscores how very little we know. No paleontologist could have come close to predicting the odd mix of anatomical features that this cranium exhibits."
Krause notes in this video about the unique discovery that most mammals found during the same period as dinosaurs were shrew or mouse sized. This animal was huge for a mammal living during the time period. He says the discovery "really shakes things up." Take a look:
A research paper on Vintana was published here in the journal Nature.
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