Patagorhynchus

Patagorhynchus is a genus of prehistoric monotreme mammal from the Late Cretaceous Early Maastrichtian age of Santa Cruz province, Argentina. It is known from a single species: Patagorhynchus pascuali.[1] The holotype, MPM-PV-23087, consists of a lower right molar attached to a fragment of dentary. It was collected in the Chorillo Formation of Rio Gallegos, Santa Cruz, Argentina in 2022 and is housed in the Museo Padre Molina.[1]

Patagorhynchus
Temporal range: Early Maastrichtian
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Monotremata
Genus:
†Patagorhynchus

Chimento et al., 2023
Species:
†P. pascuali
Binomial name
Patagorhynchus pascuali
Chimento et al., 2023

Etymology

The genus name comes from Patago, referring to Patagonia and Greek rhynchus, meaning nose. The species name pascuali honors Argentine paleomammalogist Rosendo Pascual.

Evolution

Patagorynchus represents the oldest known monotreme species from South America, indicating that they had already arrived in the region by the end of the Cretaceous, and were present in Antarctica during the Late Cretaceous.[2][1]

References
  1. Chimento, Nicolás R.; Agnolín, Federico L.; Manabe, Makoto; Tsuihiji, Takanobu; Rich, Thomas H.; Vickers-Rich, Patricia; Novas, Fernando E. (2023-02-16). "First monotreme from the Late Cretaceous of South America". Communications Biology. 6 (1): 146. doi:10.1038/s42003-023-04498-7. ISSN 2399-3642. PMC 9935847. PMID 36797304.
  2. Thompson, Joanna (2023-03-10). "Ancient platypus-like fossil could rewrite the history of egg-laying mammals". Live Science. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
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