Steropodontidae

The Steropodontidae was a possible family of monotremes that are known from fossils from the Cretaceous of Australia.

Steropodontidae
Temporal range: Early to Late Cretaceous
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Monotremata
Family: †Steropodontidae
Archer, Flannery, Ritchie, & Jones, 1995
Genera

There are two genera placed in this family: Steropodon and Teinolophos, which have been tentatively placed in the family due to the similarity of the lower molars in these two genera. However, the latter may be more basal.[1] In 2022 was proposed to move Teinolophos into its own family, Teinolophidae.[2]

Taxonomy

The steropodontids were initially placed in the family Ornithorhynchidae but have soon been placed in this family. The differences are that the steropodontids had teeth unlike the ornithorhynchids which had none, and one study of the genus Teinolophos, suggested that it never had a beak.

References
  1. Thomas H. Rich, James A. Hopson, Pamela G. Gill, Peter Trusler, Sally Rogers-Davidson, Steve Morton, Richard L. Cifelli, David Pickering, Lesley Kool, Karen Siu, Flame A. Burgmann, Tim Senden, Alistair R. Evans, Barbara E. Wagstaff, Doris Seegets-Villiers, Ian J. Corfe, Timothy F. Flannery, Ken Walker, Anne M. Musser, Michael Archer, Rebecca Pian and Patricia Vickers-Rich (2016). "The mandible and dentition of the Early Cretaceous monotreme Teinolophos trusleri". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. in press. doi:10.1080/03115518.2016.1180034.
  2. Flannery, T. F.; Rich, T. H.; Vickers-Rich, P.; Ziegler, T.; Veatch, E. G.; Helgen, K. M. (2022). "A review of monotreme (Monotremata) evolution". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. Online edition. doi:10.1080/03115518.2022.2025900.
  • Rich et al. 2001. Monotreme nature of the Early Cretaceous mammal Teinolophos. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 46:113-118


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