Fossil tells the 'tail' of an ancient beast

In a May 15 study published in the journal Cretaceous Research, Hoffmann and Senior Curator at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science David Krause, Ph.D., describe the first postcranial remains of a gondwanatherian called Vintana. Until now, Adalatherium's fossilized skeleton represented the only postcranial remains in the gondwanatherian fossil record. Now, Hoffmann and Krause's new study presents additional gondwanatherian postcranial evidence and reveals that a vertebra fossil from the Cretaceous of Madagascar was once a Vintana tailbone. "While the remains represent only an isolated vertebra from Vintana's larger skeleton, its discovery provides key information about the gondwanatherian lineage," says Hoffmann. "Gondwanatherians had uniquely short tail vertebrae and this new discovery tells us that the tail of Vintana was even wider and shorter than the already stubby tail of Adalatherium." More information: David W. Krause et al, First postcranial remains of the Late Cretaceous gondwanatherian mammal Vintana sertichi, Cretaceous Research. Citation: Fossil tells the 'tail' of an ancient beast retrieved 29 May 2023 from https://phys.org/news/2023-05-fossil-tail-ancient-beast.