Article
Article
Dryolestida
Article By:
Prothero, Donald R. Occidental College, Los Angeles, California.
Last reviewed:December 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.485900
An extinct order of mammals related to the living marsupials and eutherian (placental) mammals. Along with the closely related symmetrodonts, the Dryolestida (formerly known as the Pantotheria or Eupantotheria) were the most diverse group of mammals during the Jurassic. They are often found in some of the same quarries that yield the giant sauropod dinosaurs. Most were about the size and shape of a shrew or mouse, with teeth adapted for chopping up a diet of insects and they apparently were adapted for living in trees like squirrels. See also: Eutheria; Marsupialia; Symmetrodonta
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