PLoS ONE (Jan 2018)

A high-latitude fauna of mid-Mesozoic mammals from Yakutia, Russia.

  • Alexander Averianov,
  • Thomas Martin,
  • Alexey Lopatin,
  • Pavel Skutschas,
  • Rico Schellhorn,
  • Petr Kolosov,
  • Dmitry Vitenko

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0199983
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 7
p. e0199983

Abstract

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The Early Cretaceous (?Berriasian-Barremian) Teete vertebrate locality in Western Yakutia, East Siberia, Russia, has produced mammal remains that are attributed to three taxa: Eleutherodontidae indet. cf. Sineleutherus sp. (Haramiyida; an upper molariform tooth), Khorotherium yakutensis gen. et sp. nov. (Tegotheriidae, Docodonta; maxillary fragment with three molariform teeth and dentary fragment with one molariform tooth), and Sangarotherium aquilonium gen. et sp. nov. (Eutriconodonta incertae sedis; dentary fragment with one erupted molariform tooth and one tooth in crypt). This is the second occurrence of Mesozoic mammals in high latitudes (paleolatitude estimate N 63-70°) of the Northern Hemisphere. In spite of the presumed Early Cretaceous age based on freshwater mollusks, the Teete mammal assemblage has a distinctive Jurassic appearance, being most similar to the Middle-Late Jurassic mammal assemblages known from Siberia, Russia and Xinjiang, China. The smooth transition from Jurassic to Cretaceous biota in Northern Asia is best explained by stable environmental conditions.