Asioryctitheria
Asioryctitheria ("Asian digging beasts") is an extinct order of early eutherians. Skull structure With the exception of Prokennalestes, these advanced forms lacked a Meckelian groove. Furthermore, they were equipped with double-rooted canines, a lower premolar with a reduced or absent metaconid and a more elongated lower premolar than their predecessors. In addition, the entoconid and hypoconulid on the lower molars are untwinned, the entotympanic is non-existent, the alisphenoid is enlarged, a Vidian foramen is present as well as a promontorium linked to the paroccipital process via the crista interfenestralis. Classification Asioryctitheria contains at least four genera and two families. Sasayamamylos kawaii Kusuhashi et al. 2013 Kennalestidae Kielan-Jaworowska 1981 Kennalestes gobiensis Kielan-Jaworowska 1981 Asioryctidae Szalay 1977 Asioryctes nemegetensis Kielan-Jaworowska 1975 Ukhaatherium nesovi Novacek et al. 1997 References Further reading Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska, Richard L. Cifelli, and Zhe-Xi Luo, Mammals from the Age of Dinosaurs: Origins, Evolution, and Structure (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004), 499–501. External links MESOZOIC MAMMALS; Basal Eutheria Two, an internet directory A eutherian mammal from the Early Cretaceous of Russia at Ingenta Prehistoric eutherians Early Cretaceous genus first appearances Late Cretaceous genus extinctions Early Cretaceous mammals of Asia Late Cretaceous mammals of Asia Fossil taxa described in 1997