A high-latitude fauna of mid-Mesozoic mammals from Yakutia, Russia

• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Yakutia; Siberia
• Online Access: https://dspace.kpfu.ru/xmlui/handle/net/149245

The Early Cretaceous (?Berriasian-Barremian) Teete vertebrate locality in Western Yakutia, East Siberia, Russia, has produced mammal remains that are attributed to three taxa: Eleutherodontidae indet. cf. Sineleutherus sp. (Haramiyida; an upper molariform tooth), Khorotherium yakutensis gen. et sp. nov. (Tegotheriidae, Docodonta; maxillary fragment with three molariform teeth and dentary fragment with one molariform tooth), and Sangarotherium aquilonium gen. et sp. nov. (Eutriconodonta incertae sedis; dentary fragment with one erupted molariform tooth and one tooth in crypt). This is the second occurrence of Mesozoic mammals in high latitudes (paleolatitude estimate N 63-70°) of the Northern Hemisphere. In spite of the presumed Early Cretaceous age based on freshwater mollusks, the Teete mammal assemblage has a distinctive Jurassic appearance, being most similar to the Middle-Late Jurassic mammal assemblages known from Siberia, Russia and Xinjiang, China. The smooth transition from Jurassic to Cretaceous biota in Northern Asia is best explained by stable environmental conditions.