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Alphadon ✝

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Description

Alphadon (meaning "first tooth") was a genus of small, primitive mammal that was a member of the metatherians, a group of mammals that includes modern-day marsupials. Its fossils were first discovered and named by George Gaylord Simpson in 1929.

From Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphadon, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Source Data

Source	ID	Link
Global Biodiversity Information Facility ID (GBIF)	4826734	https://www.gbif.org/species/4826734
PaleoBioDB ID (PBDB)	39947	https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=39947

Rank

genus

Taxonomy (GBIF)

Life : Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Didelphimorphia : Didelphidae : Alphadon

Taxonomy (PBDB)

Life : Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Didelphimorphia : Alphadontidae : Alphadon

Taxonomic Status (GBIF)

accepted

Classification
(PBDB,GBIF)

Rank	Name	Author
-	Eukaryota
-	Opisthokonta	Cavalier-Smith 1987
kingdom	Animalia
-	Triploblastica	Lankester 1877
-	Nephrozoa	Jondelius et al. 2002
-	Deuterostomia	Grobben 1908
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1847
subphylum	Vertebrata	Lamarck 1801
superclass	Gnathostomata	Gegenbauer 1874
-	Osteichthyes
-	Sarcopterygii	Romer 1955
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha
-	Tetrapoda
-	Reptiliomorpha	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Anthracosauria	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Batrachosauria
-	Cotylosauria
-	Amniota	Haeckel 1866
-	Synapsida	Osborn 1903
-	Therapsida
infraorder	Cynodontia
-	Epicynodontia	Hopson and Kitching 2001
infraorder	Eucynodontia	Kemp 1982
-	Probainognathia	Hopson 1990
-	Mammaliamorpha	Rowe 1988
-	Mammaliaformes	Rowe 1988
class	Mammalia	Linnaeus 1758
-	Theriamorpha
-	Theriiformes
-	Trechnotheria	McKenna 1975
-	Cladotheria	McKenna 1975
-	Boreosphenida
subclass	Theria	Parker and Haswell 1897
subclass	Metatheria
-	Marsupialia
order	Didelphimorphia	Gill 1872
family	Alphadontidae	Marshall et al. 1990
genus	Alphadon	Simpson 1927

Scientific Name

Alphadon Simpson, 1927

Name Published In

Amer. J. Sci., (5) 14

Opinions (PBDB)

Name	Rank	Opinion	Evidence	Author
Alphadon	genus	belongs to Didelphodontinae	stated without evidence	Simpson, 1927
Alphadon	genus	belongs to Didelphidae	implied	Sloan and Van Valen, 1965
Alphadon	genus	belongs to Didelphinae	stated without evidence	Clemens, 1979
Alphadon	genus	belongs to Didelphidae	stated without evidence	Lillegraven and McKenna, 1986
Alphadon	genus	belongs to Alphadontinae	stated with evidence	Johanson, 1995
Alphadon	genus	belongs to Didelphidae	implied	McKenna and Bell, 1997
Alphadon	genus	belongs to Alphadontidae	stated without evidence	Kielan-Jaworowska et al., 2004
Alphadon	genus	belongs to Peradectidae	stated without evidence	Goin et al., 2006
Alphadon	genus	belongs to Alphadontidae	stated with evidence	Davis, 2007
Alphadon	genus	belongs to Alphadontidae	stated without evidence	Wilson et al., 2010
Alphadon	genus	belongs to Metatheria	stated without evidence	Williamson et al., 2012

Status (PBDB)

extinct

Taxon Size (PBDB)

First Recorded Appearance

101 - 94 Ma
Late/Upper Cretaceous

Last Recorded Appearance

56.0 - 47.8 Ma
Eocene

Environment

terrestrial (based on Mammalia)

Motility

actively mobile (based on Osteichthyes)

Diet

omnivore

Reproduction

viviparous (based on Theria)

Ecospace Comments

an equally opportunistic, omnivorous marsupial compared closely to Marmosa (whose diet "consists mainly of insects and fruits but also includes small rodents, lizards, and birds' eggs": Walker 1979)

Taphonomy

phosphatic (based on Vertebrata)

Primary Reference (PBDB)

G. G. Simpson. 1927. Mesozoic Mammalia. VIII. Genera of Lance mammals other than multituberculates. American Journal of Science 14(80):121-130

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphadon

Fossil Distribution

Subtaxa

Name	Status	Fossil Occurrences	Oldest	Youngest
Alphadon attaragos ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	6	83.5 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous	83.5 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous
Alphadon eatoni ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	1	70.6 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous	70.6 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous
Alphadon halleyi ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	27	86.3 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous	70.6 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous
Alphadon marshi ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	30	83.5 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous	70.6 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous
Alphadon perexiguus ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	1	83.5 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous	83.5 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous
Alphadon sahnii ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	6	83.5 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous	83.5 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous
Alphadon wilsoni ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	3	70.6 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous	70.6 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous

Synonymy List

Year	Name and Author
1927	Alphadon Simpson p. 122
1929	Alphadon Simpson pp. 117, 126-127
1965	Alphadon Sloan and Van Valen p. 221
1979	Alphadon Clemens p. 193
1986	Alphadon Lillegraven and McKenna p. 27
1995	Alphadon Johanson p. 601
1996	Alphadon Johanson p. 1028

Year	Name and Author
1997	Alphadon McKenna and Bell
2004	Alphadon Kielan-Jaworowska et al. pp. 443, 453-454 figs. 12.5B,C, 12.11A
2006	Alphadon Goin et al.
2007	Alphadon Davis p. 218
2010	Alphadon Wilson et al. p. 513
2012	Alphadon Williamson et al.

References

Simpson G. G. (1927) Mesozoic Mammalia. VIII. Genera of Lance mammals other than multituberculates, American Journal of Science 14 80, 121-130 doi:10.2475/ajs.s5-14.80.121

Simpson G. G. (1929) American Mesozoic Mammalia, Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of Yale University 3 1, 1-171

Sloan R. E., Van Valen L. (1965) Cretaceous mammals from Montana, Science 148 3667, 220-227

Lillegraven J. A., McKenna M. C. (1986) Fossil mammals from the "Mesaverde" Formation (Late Cretaceous, Judithian) of the Bighorn and Wind River basins, Wyoming, with definitions of Late Cretaceous North American Land-Mammal "Ages", American Museum Novitates 2840, 1-68

Johanson Z. (1995) New Information Concerning the Late Cretaceous Marsupial Albertatherium Fox, 1971, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 14 4, 595-602

Johanson Z. (1996) New marsupial from the Fort Union Formation, Swain Quarry, Wyoming, Journal of Paleontology 70 6, 1023-1031

McKenna M. C., Bell S. K. (1997) , Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level, 1-640

Kielan-Jaworowska Z., Cifelli R. L., et al (2004) Mammals from the age of dinosaurs: Origins, evolution, and structure, Columbia University Press, New York, 1-630

Goin F. J., Pascual R., et al (2006) The earliest Tertiary therian mammal from South America, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 26 2, 505-510

Davis B. M. (2007) A revision of “pediomyid” marsupials from the Late Cretaceous of North America, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 52 2, 217-256

Wilson G. P., Dechesne M., et al (2010) New latest Cretaceous mammals from northeastern Colorado with biochronologic and biogeographic implications, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30 2, 499-520

Williamson T. E., Brusatte S. L., et al (2012) The phylogeny and evolution of Cretaceous–Palaeogene metatherians: cladistic analysis and description of new early Palaeocene specimens from the Nacimiento Formation, New Mexico, Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 10 4, 625-651

Nomenclator Zoologicus. A list of the names of genera and subgenera in zoology from the tenth edition of Linnaeus, 1758 to the end of 2004. Digitised by uBio from vols. 1-9 of Neave (ed.), 1939-1996 plus supplementary digital-only volume. http://ubio.org/NomenclatorZoologicus (as at 2006). - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

SN2000/McKenna & Bell, 1997 - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

SN2000: Brands, S. J. (compiler) 1989-2005. Systema Naturae 2000. Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2006 version). Available online at http://sn2000.taxonomy.nl/. - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

as per family - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Amer. J. Sci., (5) 14 - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Data courtesy of: PBDB: The Paleobiology Database, Creative Commons CC-BY licenced. , GBIF: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, various licences, iDigBio, various licences, and EOL: The Encyclopedia of Life (Open Data Public Domain). Because fossils are made of minerals too!

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